Katniss Everdeen

Katniss Everdeen
The Hunger Games trilogy character
A portrait of Katniss in the UK edition of The Hunger Games
First appearance	The Hunger Games
Last appearance	Mockingjay
Created by	Suzanne Collins
Portrayed by	Jennifer Lawrence
Information
Nickname(s)	"Catnip" (Gale) "The Mockingjay" (the rebels) "The Girl On Fire" (Cinna) "Sweetheart" (Haymitch and Peeta) "Fire Girl" (Thresh)
Gender	Female
Family	Mrs. Everdeen (mother) Mr. Everdeen (deceased father) Primrose Everdeen (deceased sister) Unnamed daughter Unnamed son
Significant other(s)	Peeta Mellark (husband)

Katniss Everdeen is the main character of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games trilogy. Her name comes from an edible plant called katniss. Jennifer Lawrence is set to portray Katniss in the upcoming movie The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross.

Katniss and her family come from District 12, a coal-mining district in Appalachia that is the poorest and least populated district in the fictional autocratic nation of Panem. In the course of the first book, The Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers to replace her sister, Primrose Everdeen, after she is called forth during Reaping Day, a day in which, annually, one male and one female teenage tribute are called forth from each district to fight to the death in an arena in what are known as the Hunger Games. Katniss, alongside fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark, compete in the Games together. She uses her knowledge of hunting and archery to survive, and the two become the victors after defying the Capitol's attempt to force one to kill the other. Throughout the next two novels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, Katniss becomes the symbol of a rebellion for the twelve districts against the Capitol's oppression, and ultimately decides the final balance of power in Panem by killing the aspiring president of District 13, the vanguard of the rebellion, for attempting to oppress the defeated Capitol itself.

Origins

The idea for the trilogy was based in part on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, in which seven boys and seven girls from Athens are sent every nine years against their will to be devoured by the Minotaur, a cycle that doesn't stop until Theseus kills the Minotaur. Collins, who heard the story when she was eight years old, was unsettled by its ruthlessness and cruelty. Collins said, "In her own way, Katniss is a futuristic Theseus." Collins also characterized the novels with the fearful sensations she experienced when her father was fighting in the Vietnam War.

In the novels, Katniss is extensively knowledgeable in foraging, wildlife, hunting, and survival techniques. Collins knew some of this background from her father, who grew up in the Great Depression and was forced to hunt to augment an extremely low food supply, although Collins saw her father bring home food from the wild during her own childhood as well. In addition, Collins researched the subject using a large stack of wilderness survival guidebooks.

Katniss and the other tributes are, in their time before participating in their Hunger Games, compelled to compete for the hearts of sponsors who donate money that can be used to buy vital supplies for them when they are in the arena. The concept of how the audiences carry nearly as much force as actual characters is based on how, in reality television and in the Roman games, the audience can both "respond with great enthusiasm or play a role in your elimination," as Collins said.

Name

Katniss' name comes from a plant that is more commonly known as Sagittaria, which is a tuber plant usually found in water. The root of this plant can be eaten, as Katniss does in the book. Her father once said: "As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve." This name also means "belonging to an arrow" in Latin, which may have a connection with Katniss's skill with a bow and arrow. The plant also shares its name with a constellation in the Zodiac called Sagittarius, or "The Archer", which may also reference Katniss's skills in archery.

In the books

The Hunger Games

Main article: The Hunger Games

In District 12's Reaping, Katniss's 12-year old sister, Prim, is drawn as the female tribute. Aware that her sister lacks her survival skills, Katniss volunteers to take her place in the Games. The male tribute chosen from District 12, Peeta Mellark, is also Katniss' age. Katniss is uncomfortable in Peeta's presence due to her feelings of indebtedness to him, combined with the certain knowledge that for her to live, Peeta must die. The two tributes are taken for training and public exposure to the Capitol, where they are coached by Haymitch Abernathy, the only living winner from District 12 and a notorious alcoholic. They are also accompanied by Effie Trinket, the district's liaison to the Capitol. As part of their strategy, Katniss and Peeta act as a team, which is unusual due to all tributes' knowledge that in the end they must kill each other to survive.

When Katniss appears before the gamemakers, she becomes infuriated at their inattentiveness and shoots an arrow at a pig they are eating. When they are given scores for their training exhibition, Katniss is surprised to get an 11 out of 12, the highest score. During a public interview before the Games, Peeta claims to be desperately in love with Katniss, but she doesn't believe he's telling the truth. However, despite her anger at Peeta at what she feels to be a game strategy on his part, she decides to play along as a strategy to get sympathy from potential sponsors, who provide gifts to tributes in the arena and can be crucial to a tribute's survival.

Katniss proves an able player and is able to interpret the gifts she receives as signals about how to successfully negotiate the Games. Halfway through the Games a new rule is introduced: if both tributes from one district are the last two left alive, they can both be co-victors. Katniss immediately searches for and finds a seriously injured Peeta, and the two work together to become the last tributes alive, while at the same time carrying on a passionate romance for the cameras. After their final competitor, Cato, is killed, the new rule is declared invalid. Either Katniss or Peeta must die in order for the other to leave the arena, with Peeta attempting to force Katniss to kill him. Because the Capitol must have a winner from the games to exhibit, Katniss suggests that they both eat poisonous Nightlock berries, and therefore die together. After placing berries in their mouth, they are hastily interrupted and both allowed to live. But since Katniss Everdeen has humiliated the Capitol and its rules, she becomes a political target and inadvertently inspires a rebellion in the districts.

Peeta is heartbroken and believes that Katniss was only acting as if she loved him in the arena, but Katniss herself is unsure of her feelings towards both Peeta and her friend Gale. She feels that Peeta is a caring, open, and virtuous boy whom she ultimately doesn't deserve, so she is slow to acknowledge her romantic feelings for him. Peeta also comes from a wealthier background and never faced death by starvation or poverty, leading to a growing rift between them. Gale comes from a similar background and, like Katniss, has felt the pressure to provide for his family from a young age, and shares an unusual willingness to enter the woods to hunt. Gale is strong, independent, and willing to make any sacrifice to protect his loved ones, though Katniss feels that he may endanger himself by not hiding his hatred of the Capitol well enough. Katniss knows that Gale loves her, but is confused about her feelings for Peeta and has always thought of Gale as a friend, unsure whether she has romantic feelings for one, both, or neither of them.

Catching Fire

Main article: Catching Fire (2009 novel)

Katniss and Peeta go on the Victory Tour, which is a visit to each district by the winners, strategically placed between each Hunger Games. Katniss becomes aware that uprisings are erupting across several districts. In addition, the nation's leader, President Snow, is forcing Katniss to convince the nation that she is really in love with Peeta and that her suicide pact was an act of love rather than defiance, in order to quell dissent. Gale has been presented to the nation as her cousin, but President Snow implies his knowledge that Katniss has feelings for him and threatens to have him killed to gain leverage over Katniss.

In order to save her family and friend, Katniss agrees to follow the Capitol's agenda. Peeta does the same when he realizes what is at stake. Peeta even proposes marriage to her, and she accepts, but even at that point President Snow conveys to her that her actions are insufficient. Katniss comes to realize that the rebellion in the districts is not within her power to suppress, making it impossible for her to satisfy President Snow's demands. Katniss is also confused as to the nature of her feelings for both Gale and Peeta, both of which are complicated by her fears for the future and her unwillingness to have children who could themselves be subjected to the Hunger Games. When the Quarter Quell—a special Games that takes place every 25 years and has a special set of rules—is announced, it is proclaimed that all of the current year's tributes will be selected from the pool of previous Games victors. District 12 has only three living victors: Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch Abernathy, who won the 50th Games and successfully mentored Katniss the year before. As Katniss is the only living female victor in District 12, she is the only possible female tribute, and Peeta volunteers to take Haymitch's place when Haymitch is selected. Katniss and Peeta return to the arena, working closely to survive and forming alliances and close friendships in the process.

Katniss is taken from the arena and discovers that the tributes of many districts had coordinated an escape plan and used a stolen hovercraft to fly to District 13, which was not destroyed as the Capitol had claimed. However, during the escape, Peeta is captured by the Capitol and afterwards, Gale informs Katniss that District 12 was bombed and destroyed but that her family is safe.

Mockingjay

Main article: Mockingjay

In Mockingjay, Katniss visits the subterranean civilization of District 13 and meets with the people and their leader, President Alma Coin, after being taken to see the remains of District 12. A love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale slowly unfolds, forcing Katniss to decide whom she really wants to be with—a situation complicated by the fact that Peeta is currently being tortured in the Capitol while Gale is at Katniss's side.

Katniss agrees to be the symbolic leader of their rebellion: "the Mockingjay", the face of the rebels. She discovers that Cinna has been killed, but the rest of her prep team survived in District 13's captivity; they prep Katniss for the cameras when she agrees to start doing propaganda pieces for the rebels. Katniss becomes increasingly emotionally strained by the horrors she is witnessing—wholesale slaughter, the destruction of the only home she has ever known, with 90% of the citizens of District 12 dead, many friends killed due to their association with her, and Peeta being beat on live T.V. After a rescue mission in which a team from 13 brings Peeta back, she finds out his memories have been distorted by tracker jacker venom, a mind-control torture referred to as "hijacking". He now hates and wants to kill Katniss, believing she is a muttation created by the Capitol. Katniss becomes even more determined to kill Snow.

She, along with a group of sharpshooters that include Gale, Peeta, and Finnick Odair (from the Quarter Quell in the previous book), sneak into the Capitol at the cost of several of their own lives, planning to kill Snow. As they get close to the presidential mansion, an array of bombs are dropped from a Hovercraft, with only some exploding, and killing the refugee Capitol children on whom they were dropped. Rebel medics, including Prim, rush to help the children, but as they arrive, the rest of the bombs explode. Prim is killed in front of Katniss, while Katniss's body is severely burned. Although she makes a remarkable physical recovery, Katniss temporarily loses the ability to speak, horrified by the death of her sister.

Meanwhile, President Snow is arrested, found guilty of his crimes against the people of Panem, and sentenced to death. Per Katniss' request, she is designated his executioner. Before the execution, Snow tells Katniss that the bombs weren't his but the rebels' way of gaining sympathy in the Capitol for their cause, making it look like the work of Snow. Although she initially refuses to believe Snow, Katniss realizes that the attack method was identical to a trap Gale and fellow Quarter Quell tribute Beetee had designed. Eventually, Katniss comes suspect that Coin bombed the children in order to trick the Capitol citizens into thinking that the government had killed their children, therefore winning the loyalty of the Capitol's citizens.

Furthermore, Coin has decided that the Hunger Games will continue, but this time only children from the Capitol. However, she seeks the approval of the surviving victors before making these games official, and Katniss votes yes as a means of avenging Prim's death. Just before Snow's execution, Katniss realizes that Snow was telling her the truth and impulsively turns and kills Coin instead. She is arrested and placed in solitary confinement, where she attempts to commit suicide by starving herself. However, she is ultimately released on the grounds that she wasn't mentally well at the time of the assassination and is required to return to District 12. Katniss goes back to her home in Victor's Village (a house victors get when they win the Games in their District) and is put under care.

Driven into a deep depression, Katniss refuses to leave her house until Peeta (who by then has largely recovered from his brainwashing) returns to District 12 to plant primroses outside, in memory of her sister. Katniss begins to regain her mental health, and she and Peeta deal with their feelings by creating a book composed of information about their deceased friends and family (eventually Haymitch joins them in this project). Gale has a 'fancy job' in District 2 and her Mother is working in District 4 as medical personnel. Katniss realizes that she is no longer in love with Gale, feeling his desire for revenge against his enemies too closely parallels her own personality, she and Gale has the same fire, rage. She ultimately falls in love with Peeta because she needs Peeta's calm and rebirth. In the epilogue, more than 20 years later, she speaks as an adult and is married to Peeta. After 15 years of asking, Katniss agreed to have children with Peeta. They have two children, a girl and a boy. She still has nightmares and will one day explain to her children about it. The Hunger Games are a thing of the past and are merely something taught in school to her children, her daughter who is the eldest know some what little about their Parent's roles in the Hunger Games and she will tell the boy one day.

Characterization

Background

Katniss and her family live in the futuristic nation of Panem, located on the continent once known as North America, which was destroyed in a global war. Panem is run by an all-powerful city called the Capitol, located in the Rocky Mountains, which is surrounded by 12 districts, each having a specific purpose in supplying something to the Capitol. The story starts in District 12, Katniss's home, the coal-mining district. District 12 is the poorest of the districts, and Katniss lives with her mother and sister in the poorest part of town, the Seam.

Katniss's father, a coal miner, was killed in a mine explosion when Katniss was 11. Upon her husband's death, Katniss's mother went into a deep depression and was unable to care for her children. On the brink of starvation, Katniss wandered into the richer part of town, hoping to steal some scraps from the garbage bins of rich merchants. The baker's son, Peeta, whom she did not know, took a beating from his mother for intentionally burning some bread, knowing that he would be told to throw them out. He was told to give the two loaves of bread to the pig, but instead gave them to Katniss. Katniss took them home to her family, who had not eaten in days. The bread gave them hope and kept them motivated, leaving Katniss feeling resentfully indebted to Peeta.

A few days after the incident with the bread, Katniss decided to go into the woods surrounding her district to hunt illegally and gather plants to eat, which was how her father had gotten most of the family's food before he died. There she met a boy named Gale Hawthorne. Together, they provide for both their families and develop a strong friendship.

Katniss's mother slowly surfaces from her depression and is able to return to her job as an apothecary, and Katniss makes an effort to forgive her. However, despite her mending relationship with her mother and strong friendship with Gale, Katniss remains adamant that Prim, her younger sister, is "the only person she's certain she loves".

Appearance

Katniss is 16 years old in The Hunger Games and 17 in Catching Fire and Mockingjay, and is described as having long, straight black hair, usually in a braid down her back; gray eyes; and olive skin. These traits are common in the Seam, which is where the lower class miners of District 12 live. She is small in stature and light for her age, being one of the smallest tributes in her games, but due to her outdoor life, she is strong for her size. Katniss is not very image-conscious, to the consternation of Venia, one of her stylists. In the first book, her hearing in one ear is destroyed because of an explosion caused in the arena, but it is fixed in the Capitol in the end, as are all of her other major and more minor injuries including the erasing of any scars. Before entering the arena the first time, Katniss had many minor scrapes and cuts, and her outward appearance was very much imperfect. However, after she won, they were repaired by the Capitol doctors. Most notable about her appearance and demeanor, however, was the image she unconsciously projected, as noted by her co-tribute, televised boyfriend and eventual husband Peeta.

Personality

Collins has described Katniss as being an independent survivalist, lethal, but good at thinking outside the box. Katniss's past hardships (her father's death, mother's depression, and near starvation) have made her a survivor, and she will endure hardship and hard work to preserve her own life and the life of her family. She has shown she will protect those she loves, no matter the cost to herself, as shown when she volunteers for the Games to save her little sister Prim, when she shields Gale to keep him from being whipped, even when it means a lash for herself, and when she stoically decides during her second Games to die to save Peeta. Because the majority of her time before the Games was spent keeping herself and her family alive, she does not understand many social cues and is often ignorant of other people's emotions, such as when she doesn't recognize Gale's hints at his growing affection for her. She has no experience with romance or love other than that of her family, and doesn't believe she wants it. She plans never to be married nor have children that would grow up subject to the reaping. In Catching Fire, Katniss struggles to understand Panem political issues as she has had very little education or experience of politics. She also gradually realizes that there are more important things than survival and decides she is willing to die for Peeta and the rebellion.

Skills

Katniss is a highly skilled archer, hunter, and trapper, having learned these from her father and Gale, honed to keep her family from starving. She uses her archery and her daring to score an 11 (out of a possible 12) during the pre-games judging. She has been well educated on edible, medicinal, and poisonous plant life of District 12. Additionally, she has a singing voice that is so beautiful birds stay quiet to listen, also from her father, although she has been reluctant to sing since his death. Katniss is a skilled tree-climber, which has benefited her in hunting and the Games. She is usually very logical except for times when her emotions get in the way. Peeta mentions that she has an effect on people around her, the image she projects.

Critical reception

Katniss has received positive to mixed reviews. In a review for The Hunger Games, Stephen King said she was a "cool kid" with a "lame name," before adding, "once I got over [her] name...I got to like her a lot." Francisca Goldsmith said, "Although Katniss may be skilled with a bow and arrow and adept at analyzing her opponents’ next moves, she has much to learn about personal sentiments, especially her own." Publishers Weekly says, "It's a credit to Collins's skill at characterization that Katniss, like a new Theseus, is cold, calculating and still likable." The Cleveland Plain Dealer stated in a review for Catching Fire that "Katniss in a pensive mood seems out of step with the kick-butt assassin," before adding that her loyalty and kindheartedness were enjoyed. John Green, in the New York Times, called Katniss a "memorably complex and fascinating heroine". Also in The New York Times, Katie Roiphe said that Katniss in Mockingjay was "a great character without being exactly likable. [She] is bossy, moody, bratty, demanding, prickly", and commented that this is what makes many recent literature heroines likable. Entertainment Weekly compared Katniss to Bella Swan from the Twilight Saga and said that "unlike Twilight's passive, angsty Bella, Katniss is a self-possessed young woman who demonstrates equal parts compassion and fearlessness." Laura Miller of Salon finds Katniss too virtuous and without motivation, negatively contrasting Katniss to Bella of Twilight, saying, "In some ways, Katniss is more passive than Bella, allowed to have all kinds of goodies but only if she demonstrates her virtue by not really wanting them in the first place," and, "For all her irritating flaws, Bella, at least, has the courage of her desire. For what, besides a well-earned vengeance, does Katniss Everdeen truly hunger?"

Film adaptation

Jennifer Lawrence portrays Katniss Everdeen in the film adaptations.

Actresses Lyndsy Fonseca and Kaya Scodelario expressed interest in the film and received scripts in October 2010, while Oscar-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld met with director Gary Ross. Chloe Moretz, Malese Jow and Jodelle Ferland publicly expressed interest in playing Katniss. Lionsgate confirmed in March 2011 that about 30 actresses either met with them or read for the role, including Jennifer Lawrence, Abigail Breslin, Emma Roberts, Saoirse Ronan, Emily Browning, and Shailene Woodley, as well as Steinfeld, Moretz, Fonseca, and Scodelario. On March 16, 2011 it was announced that Jennifer Lawrence of Winter's Bone landed the coveted role of Katniss Everdeen. Lawrence is 20, a bit older than the character. However, author Suzanne Collins said that the actress who plays Katniss has to have "a certain maturity and power" and said she would rather the actress be older than younger. Collins states that Lawrence was the "only one who truly captured the character I wrote in the book" and that she had "every essential quality necessary to play Katniss."

External links

• Katniss Everdeen on The Hunger Games Wiki.