WE REMAIN
Katniss's relationships--her family, her friends, her enemies, her romantic interests--are al massively important across the course of these novels.
In Christina Aguilera's song We Remain, the lyrics and overall message emphasize the importance of perseverance and that no matter what that one can and will get through their struggles. Meaning, no matter what, we will remain. The lyrics featured on the image below point to President Snow's comments on what he believes are Katniss's greatest weaknesses, those she cares for, and how Katniss must try and hide these "limits" in order to protect herself and those she cares for.
PEETA
The Capitol and Snow specifically will do anything to maintain power and control. And when they capture Peeta after the Quarter Quell, they "hijack" his mind and essentially brainwash him into believing Katniss is his enemy. At one point when Finnick and Katniss are talking Finnick says, "After your first Games, I thought the whole romance was an act on your part. We all expected you to continue that strategy. But it wasn't until Peeta hit the force field and nearly died that I--...That I knew I'd misjudged you. That you do love him. I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't know yourself. But anyone paying attention could see how much you care about him" to which Katniss thinks, "Anyone? On Snow's visit before the Victory Tour, he challenged me to erase any doubts of my love for Peeta. 'Convince me,' Snow said. It seems, under that hot pink sky with Peeta's life in limbo, I finally did. And in doing so, I gave him the weapon he needed to break me" (Mockingjay 155-156). Snow told Katniss that she needed to convince him her love for Peeta is real as he did not believe that it was and in this quote it is clear that Katniss does come to realize how much she cares for Peeta and that Snow also recognized this fact and used it against her. As I mentioned earlier on on this page, Snow views Katniss caring for others as one of her weaknesses and thus Snow tries to use this against her by turning Peeta, whom she loves, against her. Snow sees love and care as a weakness that allows him to claim power by exacting it against them as he does with Peeta and Katniss.
Love is power and light and happiness, but in these novels it is also danger and burden and fear as it can be turned against you.
STAR-CROSSED LOVERS
Katniss and Peeta's relationship is central to the plot of these novels. What starts off as a charade for their survival quickly develops into real feelings on both of their ends. Their relationship is complicated immensely by the Capitol and the Games and as such more on that side of it exists on the Glory and Gore page of this essay. But whilst the exact nature of their relationship is unclear, it is completely clear they care for one another deeply.
Peeta gets Katniss and sees her for all she truly is even though she cannot. He makes this clear a few times, once in the lines, "She has no idea. The effect she can have" (The Hunger Games 91). And another time that echoes this quote much later on in the lines, "I think... you still have no idea. The effect you can have" (Mockingjay 325). He recognizes in Katniss what she cannot see, that is, he understands the immense power and bravery within her and sees her as she truly is. In my reading, it feels like he is the first person to do so. He seems to know from the very start just how incredible and special she is.
The relationship between these two is one marked by power and powerlessness in that they both struggle with their real feelings and the fact that they are powerlessness in having to fake a relationship for the Games. Meaning that what starts as a fake relationship they were pushed into for the Games becomes something real and they both feel lost and powerless against it because they struggle to separate what is real and what is not real.
It takes them a long time to get there, but in the end Katniss does recognize the fact that Peeta empowers her in a positive way whilst Gale empowers her in a negative way. This is demonstrated in the quote, "I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that" (Mockingjay 388). Katniss is fiery, strong, and dangerous enough on her own, what she needs is someone who empowers and balances her out in a different way and Peeta is exactly that for her.
Katniss and Gale's relationship is quite complicated from the start. Katniss oftentimes kisses Gale when he is in pain to make him feel better even though she is unsure how she feels for him and overall it is a confusing dynamic. But Gale seems to know how he feels for her, and the lyrics on the picture next to this text point to that. In adolescence, I was completely team Peeta from the moment I met him but looking back I cannot say what it was that motivated me to choose him. I think I just liked his character better. But now, it seems so clear to me why Peeta truly is so much better than Gale. I see how much light and love is at the core of his character whilst at Gale's core there is revenge and anger. And it is so clear that what Katniss needs is someone who gives her hope, not someone who fuels her rage and fire.In the end, when Prim is killed by bombs Gale had part in, Katniss comes to realize this as she cannot separate Prim's death from him and so any hope of them even just being friends vanishes. And as I mentioned in the section on Peeta with the quote where Katniss comes to fully realize why it was Peeta all along, Gale fuels the angry, rage-driven, dangerous side of her whilst Peeta helps her see hope, happiness, and love. Gale is grudges, revenge, and fire whilst Peeta is possibility, future, and life.
PRIM
Prim means everything to Katniss. Prim is the reason for the entire story that takes place across these novels. It is because Prim's name is chosen that Katniss steps up and volunteers and enters the games at all. It is because of Katniss's immense love and care for her sister that she does this because she would do absolutely anything for her sister. Understanding this part of Katniss is critical to understanding her as a character because although this side of her is often drowned out by the fierce, brave warrior side, at Katniss's very core she is driven by her love for, as she puts it, "the handful of people who still maintain a hold on [her] heart" (Mockingjay 373). And for Katniss, Prim was the one who was at the very core of her love. Prim represents all that is good an innocent and her name being chosen in the first book serves to truly illuminate just how cruel the Games are and her death near the end of the war only further heightens this fact.
GALE
