Katniss Everdeen, and Character Strength from Unexpected Sources

[puella_nerdii]

The promised essay for womenlovefest. Some of this is taken from comments I made at Mark Reads; a lot of it is new. HUGE GIANT SPOILERS for Mockingjay, so be warned.

Katniss Everdeen, and Character Strength from Unexpected Sources
by PuelKatniss Everdeen is not the easiest character to like. She's distrustful, judgmental, and prickly; she reacts to kindness

Comments

[xicedlemonteax]

This is one amazing post.

I hate how people hate Mockingjay because she has become "Weak", "Cold" and "She chose Peeta over Gale". Of course she has become hurt, after participating in not only one, but 2 Hunger Games in a row, and was one the most important person in the revolution. AND she has lost many of the people she cared for (Cinna, Rue, Prim, Peeta before he was tortured,Madge, and others in district 12). Who wouldn't be hurt, or depressed?

Maybe, but it illustrates why the whole Team Peeta versus Team Gale thing misses the point. It's never really been about the boys; it's about the worldview Katniss wants to adopt, and how she wants to conduct the revolution and her life. Katniss sees the kind of destruction wrought by the anger and self-interest and violent retaliation (and yes, pain) that Gale embodies.Yes, thank you for pointing that out. Although it's in the Y/A category, the romance is not the main point of this series

[puella_nerdii]

I think that violence has always been part of Gale, yeah. We know from The Hunger Games that he's been ranting about the Capitol and how it needs to be brought down for a while, and once he has the power to do that, he proves that a lot of his threats weren't idle. To be fair, by that point he's seen the girl he loves get hurt and nearly killed by the Capitol countless times, and been brutalized by the Peacekeepers, and lost his home and most of his friends. I understand where his anger comes from, but is it the best course of action for moving forward after the war? Maybe not.

Thanks for reading this; I'm so glad you enjoyed this.

[fragilesymphony]

This is an excellent point re: Gale; I find him fascinating and love him as a character, even though he had me legitimately screaming at my book in Mockingjay. I think it's important that the way he's coping with and viewing the war is represented: where with Katniss, she's putting a lot of responsibility on herself for things that happen, but Gale's been a relatively powerless bystander until his district gets blown to bits and he has the relative freedom and power to do something about it for the first time, ever. To me the most telling thing is the bit in MJ when he's asked how it felt to put his skills with weapons against the Capitol, and he says "long overdue." It give me chills; every time

[puella_nerdii]

Word to absolutely everything you've said. Gale gets pretty bad press from a lot of the fandom, and oh boy do I not agree with a whole bunch of his decisions, but he has reasons for doing what he does, and those reasons come from some pretty awful experiences. The source of his anger is legitimate. Yes, most of the people in the Capitol are as much products of their environment as he is and he doesn't get that because he hasn't met any of them, but the Capitol's citizens participate in or at least benefit from a whole lot of heinous shit, and in his position, I'd be fucking pissed, too. I don't think he's ever thought about rebuilding, either. I think he thinks destroying the Capitol will be enough to set things to rights, and I think he's starting to recognize the shades of gray by the end of Mockingjay -- but like you said, this is the first time he's had the energy to fight back, and he gets caught up in that because having that kind of power can be intoxicating

[fragilesymphony]

Yes, yes, yes about Gale getting bad press in fandom-- I think he gets treated in a very black and white way because some of the things he does seem pretty unfathomably terrible, but in a series where everyone's actions are based on background so heavily, it becomes...not okay, but it makes sense, for him. I mean, I can't say that if I saw my entire town bombed after a life government neglect and abuse that I wouldn't want to blow shit up.

(I really, really want to write something on their actual narrative functions. Whether wanting to do this translates into actually managing to get around to it remains to be seen, haha. But I was typing up notes/thoughts from my series reread, anyway, and a lot of those had to do with her dynamic with both boys, so if I can clean that up into something vaguely intelligent, it'll happen!)