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Katniss Everdeen

Katniss Everdeen is a fictional character and the protagonist of The Hunger Games trilogy written by American author Suzanne Collins.[1] She is portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence in the film adaptations The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.

Katniss Everdeen

  • The Girl on Fire
  • The Mockingjay

Catnip (by Gale)
Sweetheart (by Haymitch)
Girl on Fire (by Cinna and Caesar Flickerman)

Female

  • Victor of the 74th Hunger Games
  • The Mockingjay

Mr. Everdeen
(father, deceased, mine explosion)
Mrs. Everdeen
(mother)
Primrose Everdeen
(sister, deceased, bomb in the Capitol)

Unnamed son
Unnamed daughter

Katniss and her family come from District 12, a coal-mining district that is the poorest, least populated, and smallest district in the dystopian fictional autocratic nation of Panem, ruled by the wealthy Capitol. In the course of the first book, The Hunger Games, Katniss competes in the Hunger Games after she is allowed to volunteer in place of her little sister, Primrose "Prim" Everdeen. While in the arena, Katniss forms an alliance with Rue, the young female tribute from District 11, as she reminds Katniss of her sister. After Rue is killed by a Career Tribute named Marvel, Katniss sings her a lullaby and covers her body in flowers. Later, District 11 shows solidarity with Katniss over Rue’s death and gifts her bread shaped like a moon and covered in seeds. Katniss then forms an alliance with her fellow District 12 tribute, Peeta, and grows close to him. The two eventually make it to the finale of the games, where they 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 a galvanizing symbol of rebellion against the oppressive Capitol. After the rebellion is victorious, Katniss chooses not to execute President Snow; she instead shoots Alma Coin, the corrupt leader of the thought-destroyed District 13, leaving President Snow’s cause of death ambiguous. She later begins a family with Peeta in the now peaceful Panem. To cope with her trauma, she often plays a game in which she thinks about every kind act she has ever witnessed people do, and reflects that “there are much worse games to play.”

Characterization[edit]

Background[edit]

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 catastrophe. 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, in the Appalachian Mountains, is the poorest of the districts, and Katniss lives with her mother and sister in the poorest part of town, known as the Seam.


Katniss's father, a coal miner, was killed in a mine explosion when Katniss was 11. After his death, Katniss's mother went into a deep depression and was unable to take care of her children. On the brink of starvation a few weeks before her twelfth birthday 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 two loaves of 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, strong friendship with Gale, and the increasingly strong affections she gains for Peeta, Katniss remains adamant that Prim, her younger sister, is "the only person she's certain she loves".

Personality[edit]

Collins has described Katniss as being an independent, strong survivalist, lethal, but good at thinking outside the box.[7] 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 states nice people are the most dangerous because they get inside of her and they could hurt her badly when she least expected it. 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 in a small, impoverished mountain community, Katniss does not understand many social cues and is often ignorant of other people's thoughts and emotions, such as when she doesn't recognize Gale's hints at his growing affection for her, or when she fails to realize that she and Madge Undersee are actually close friends. She has no experience with romance or love other than that of her family and doesn't believe she wants it. She never actually understands Peeta was telling the truth when he declared his love for her in the pre-game interview until after the games itself. Wary and distrustful, especially of anyone from outside rural District 12, Katniss makes friends slowly, if at all, and can alienate others easily due to a strong tendency toward bluntness and impatience in conversation. For those she takes to or who manage to win her over, however, Katniss is deeply loyal, modest and compassionate, reciprocating Cinna's regard for her and (over time) appreciating fellow survivors like Haymitch Abernathy, Effie Trinket, Peeta Mellark, Finnick Odair, and Johanna Mason. Her long, bitter feud with her sister Prim's cat, Buttercup, only ends when the two unite in grief over the loss of someone they both deeply loved. Prior to the 74th Hunger Games, she had no interest in ever getting married or having children, since they would inevitably be subject to the Reaping.


During the 74th and 75th Hunger Games, Katniss quickly adapts to the "kill or be killed" philosophy of the Games and coldly considers how she will kill her fellow competitors during the first Games, at one point rationalizing she is already a killer due to her hunting experience, though she is briefly disturbed after her first direct kill, Marvel. By the end of the first Games, she is prepared to shoot Cato and attempts to do so only to be interrupted by Peeta being attacked by the mutations. Despite her cold-bloodedness, she is nonetheless extremely relieved at not having to kill her allies Rue and Peeta. As the series progresses, however, she becomes increasingly cold-blooded, to the point where she objectively discusses how to kill everyone (but Peeta) involved in her second Hunger Games in Catching Fire (though she ultimately has to kill only one combatant), and by the third novel is depicted killing an unarmed female civilian during a mission, with apparent remorse. During Peeta's time regarding her as an enemy due to the Capitol's hijacking, Katniss considers herself to be "paranoid, distrustful, manipulative, deadly" and that Peeta rightly hates her for it, though Gale counters this notion, insisting that Peeta, badly traumatized by the Capitol's cruel psychological warfare, is in no way seeing her as she really is.


In Catching Fire, Katniss struggles to understand the nuances and complexities of Panem's political issues, having little formal education and practically no interest in politics whatsoever.[8] Over time, however, Katniss gradually realizes there are more important things than survival and becomes deeply invested in her relationships with the country around her, most especially Peeta and the second rebellion, being willing to fight and die for both. Her often-difficult temperament and personality, along with a complete lack of interest or ambition in regards to fame, rank, or power, mean that Katniss soon returns to the rural quiet of District 12 once the war is over, having never wanted a life outside of 12 to begin with, only a life free from the fear imposed by the Capitol and President Snow.

Skills[edit]

Katniss is a highly skilled archer, hunter, and trapper, having learned these from her father and Gale (who were both excellent hunters), honed to keep her family from starving. She uses her archery skills during the pre-games judging and receives a score of 11 (out of a possible 12). She has been well educated on edible, medicinal, and the poisonous plant life of District 12. Additionally, she has a singing voice so beautiful the mockingjays, which normally don't listen to anyone, stay quiet to listen, although she has been reluctant to sing since her father's death (she claims that it's because music is useless for practical survival, but she suspects it's actually because music reminds her too much of him). 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 the people around her with the image she projects, and he admires her for it.

Physical appearance[edit]

Katniss is described as having "straight black hair, olive skin, and grey eyes", which are typical characteristics of the Seam; the poorest area of District 12. Katniss normally wears her hair in a long braid down her back. She is thin and not very tall, but is strong for her size from hunting to feed her family in the woods outside of District 12. Katniss is sixteen years old during the 74th Hunger Games, and seventeen years old during the Quarter Quell and the Rebellion. She also wears a pin of a Mockingjay during the games to represent good luck.