The Hunger Games book is what started Katniss’ story, and the ending marked the beginning of her tumultuous involvement in the rebellion. This first book in author Suzanne Collins’ book series introduced 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who volunteered to take her sister’s place after she was reaped for the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss, along with District 12’s boy tribute, Peeta Mellark, was then shipped away to the Capitol where she would be one of the 24 children to fight to the death in an arena. District 12 tributes seldom do well in the Hunger Games, but Katniss proved herself to be different.
Katniss was a force to be reckoned with in the arena, which meant she earned herself several enemies in The Hunger Games. She made an ally as well, however. Little Rue from District 11 represented all that was tragic about Panem’s horrible games. Her death inspired a change in Katniss, and her first real act of rebellion in The Hunger Games was decorating Rue’s body with flowers for the cameras to see. Of course, this wasn’t Katniss’ last defiant act. Later, when she and Peeta were pitted against one another, the pair chose to eat poisonous berries rather than play President Snow’s game.
Katniss & Peeta’s Stunt With The Berries Is Taken As An Act Of Rebellion
Katniss & Peeta Left A Mark On The Games
Once Katniss and Peeta were the only two left standing in the Hunger Games, there was an announcement stating that the previous amendment that would allow two tributes from the same District to win had been revoked. It was a cruel twist, and clearly a very intentional one on the Capitol’s part. The Gamemakers had never intended to allow both Katniss and Peeta to live. The plan had always been for these lovers to make it that far only to turn on one another for all of Panem to see. They expected a blood spectacle that would demonstrate that humanity will even kill those they love for the sake of survival.
Peeta reached for his knife to toss it away, and Katniss misunderstood the gesture and raised her bow against the boy.
For a brief moment at the end of The Hunger Games, Katniss almost gave the Capitol what they wanted. Peeta reached for his knife to toss it away, and Katniss misunderstood the gesture and raised her bow against the boy. However, the moment she realized Peeta would willingly give her his life, Katniss realized what the Capitol was doing. So, instead of killing Peeta, Katniss instructed him to eat the Nightlock berries with her. They would either both live or both die. Thankfully for them, the Gamemakers chose to make both Katniss and Peeta victors rather than have no one to crown at all.
The Capitol audience saw this as an act of love. They felt that Peeta and Katniss loved each other so much that they would rather die than be without each other. President Snow and the Gamemakers, however, saw this as an act of rebellion. To them, Katniss had purposely challenged the Capitol’s totalitarian control. She took her own life into her own hands and refused to let herself be a player in their games.
Haymitch Knew The Difference Between Katniss & Peeta
When Katniss was pulled from the arena at the end of The Hunger Games, she really had no idea what she had started with the berries. It wasn’t until she was reunited with Haymitch that she fully understood the danger she and Peeta were in. The District 12 mentor told Katniss that, during her upcoming interview with Caesar Flickerman, she must act as if she had attempted to eat those berries because she was head over heels in love with Peeta. She needed to appear charmingly delirious from love—not rebellious. Katniss understood, but Haymitch’s comment about Peeta threw her.
Haymitch understood Katniss’ danger because he had a similar experience after the Hunger Games. In Catching Fire, it’s revealed that Haymitch’s entire family was killed after Snow believed he had made the Capitol look foolish in the arena. The prequel novel Sunrise on the Reaping explores this and more.
Katniss asked Haymitch if he had given the same warning to Peeta, but the mentor answered that he didn’t need to. “He’s already there,” Haymitch said. Katniss was frustratingly obtuse about Peeta’s feelings in The Hunger Games, so she didn’t understand what Haymitch meant. She assumed that the man was saying that Peeta is clever enough to figure out what danger they were in. However, Haymitch was actually saying that Peeta didn’t need to pretend to be in love with Katniss in front of the cameras. The boy genuinely chose to die for the girl he loved—it wasn’t an act for him.
Why Peeta Is Angry With Katniss At The End Of The Hunger Games
Peeta Got The Wrong (But Right) Idea
Katniss and Peeta managed to get through their interview with Caesar Flickerman without a hitch. Katniss acted sweet and innocent, and Peeta was just his regular, charming, self. After the interview ended, the pair were swept off to District 12, but they finally had a moment to talk without cameras or Capitol ears listening in during a fuel stop on the train ride home. This is when Katniss revealed what Haymitch had told her about the berries being taken as an act of rebellion. With this information, it didn’t take long before Peeta realized that Katniss had been pretending to be in love with him for the cameras.
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While it’s important to read Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games books in order, there are two ways to do that, and both create very different experiences.
Peeta was devastated to learn that Katniss’ kisses had been for the sake of survival, not love. Initially in The Hunger Games, Katniss had believed that Peeta was also pretending for the cameras. However, his decision to lay down his own weapon so she could survive forced Katniss to accept something she had already known, on some level. Another thing that Katniss wouldn’t accept and, therefore, suppressed, was that she really did love Peeta. There are signs of this throughout the final pages of The Hunger Games. However, Katniss only reminded herself that she would never risk getting married and bringing more children into Panem.
Did Katniss Purposely Rebel Against The Capitol In The Arena?
Katniss Herself Wasn’t Sure Of The Answer (But There Are Hints)
Katniss spent a lot of time in The Hunger Games and later books pondering whether she had intentionally rebelled against the Capitol when she tried to eat those berries. At the start of the games, Katniss was a player for the Capitol, through and through. She hated them, but she was also willing to do anything—kill anyone—if it meant returning to her family. This is precisely what President Snow wants in The Hunger Games. These terrible games are meant to show how even the most innocent of humanity will still quickly become killers for the sake of survival.
Alliances were typical in the Hunger Games, but such demonstrations of love and respect were not.
Meeting Rue forced Katniss to unknowingly shift her perspective. Her sense of survival was something she couldn’t quite kick, but Katniss’ first act of rebellion in the arena was placing the flowers around the little girl’s corpse. Alliances were typical in the Hunger Games, but such demonstrations of love and respect were not. The injustice of Rue’s death fueled Katniss, and it had a great deal to do with why she attempted to eat those berries. She couldn’t bring herself to hurt Peeta (thought that was her impulse for a moment). Her refusal to do so was, in fact, active rebellion against the Capitol.
How The Hunger Games’ Ending Sets Up The Next Stage In Katniss’ Story
Katniss Isn’t Quite A Full Rebel At The End Of The First Hunger Games Book
Though Katniss actively rebelled against the Capitol in the arena, 16 years living off pure survival instincts couldn’t just go away overnight. She quickly went right back to wanting to keep her head down. Katniss wasn’t interested in an uprising, but instead wanted to go home and return to regular life. However, Panem had seen her display with the berries and it set something in motion that no one could stop. Katniss would eventually shed her driving desire to survive. In later Hunger Games books, she solidifies her rebellious spirit. At the end of this first book, however, she wasn’t quite there yet.
The Hunger Games
8/10
- Release Date
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March 12, 2012
- Runtime
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142 minutes
- Director
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Gary Ross
