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Hunger Games

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Eng 104 The book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins can be described as an intertwining story of love and survival. Katniss, the unlikely heroine, volunteers to take her sister’s place in the annual Hunger Games, a blood bath between two tributes of each of the twelve districts fighting to be the last one standing. As a tribute from the coal district Katniss sets ablaze the Games with her sacrificing herself for her family and her budding romance with her fellow tribute, Peeta. To Katniss the romance is all part of an act. Through her perspective the fact Peeta truly loves her is not thoroughly recognized but it becomes obvious as the story progresses. Peeta and Katniss' interactions begin before they both became tributes in the Hunger Games. Katniss relives their unspoken moment often throughout the book and even questions Peeta about his motives for giving her the bread when they were kids. "I say. 'Why did you, anyway?' 'Why? You know why,' Peeta says. I give my head a slight, painful shake. 'Haymitch said you would take a lot of convincing.' 'Haymitch?' I ask. 'What's he's got to do with it?'" (Collins 293) The childhood moment, for Peeta, symbolizes that even then his feelings seem evident and yet Katniss does not make that connection. She does recall his demeanor in school, "And more than once, I have turned in the school hallway and caught his eyes trained on me, only to quickly flit away" (Collins 32). The stolen glimpses went unnoticed and would have remained unrecognized if they were not in the Hunger Games together. The forceful participation in the Hunger Games brings forth unchartered romantic territory in Katniss' life. Being naive in love and unexperienced in romantic companionship, Peeta's motives do not translate well for Katniss throughout the story. She tries to decipher his actions saying, "Peeta takes off his jacket and wraps it around my shoulders. I start to take a step back, but then I let him, deciding for a moment to accept both his jacket and his kindness. A friend would do that, right? " (Collins 83) Her questions seem to be her convincing herself that his intentions are purely amicable. After this point Peeta seems to become a little frustrated with her lack of awareness and she begins to notice how he's noticed her. "I hear Peeta's voice in my head. She has no idea. The effect she can have. Obviously meant to demean me. Right? But a tiny part of me wonders if this was a compliment. That he meant I was appealing in some way. It's weird how much he's noticed me" (Collins 93). The admiration he exhibits of her skills serve as more fuel to his fire of "Katniss love". When she acknowledges his attentiveness, it catches her off guard. "This assessment of my skills from Peeta takes me totally by surprise. First, that he ever noticed. Second, that he's talking me up" (Collins 89). At this point Katniss finds herself trying to figure Peeta out. Katniss still playing her part in their "on-screen romance" does not recognize perhaps Peeta is actually in love with her. Their alone time in the cave seems to solidify his sincere love for Katniss, not a role she thinks he's playing. She notices his genuine taking to her while in the cave,
"He's dozed off again, but I kiss him awake, which seems to startle him. Then he smiles as if he'd be happy to lie there gazing at me forever. He's great at this stuff" (Collins 261). His instinctual reaction to her presence and affection is noticed by everyone even Rue, another tribute in the games who spends little time with them. During a conversation between Katniss and Rue while trying to figure out Peeta and his angle, Rue makes it clear to Katniss her opinion on his intentions. Katniss says, "'You know the boy from my district? Peeta? I think he saved my life. But he was with the Careers.'... 'If he did, it was all probably just part of his act. You know, to make people think he's in love with me.' 'Oh,' says Rue thoughtfully. 'I didn't think that was an act'" (Collins 206). Oblivious to Peeta's actions in the Hunger Games, Katniss does not make sense of them until after its announced tributes from the same district are able to win as a pair. It is then when she begins to realize Peeta's intentions could be something beyond winning. "But whatever he's done in the arena, he must have the audience convinced it was to keep me alive. Shaking his head to keep me from running to the Cornucopia. Fighting Cato to let me escape. Even hooking up with the Careers must have been a move to protect me. Peeta, it turns out, has never been a danger to me" (Collins 247-248). Peeta indirectly showed Katniss the love he felt for her but the moment when his affections, actions and words all became very clear were in the cave. Katniss asks him when did his crush start and he could vividly describe their first day of school and even the first time he knew he was a goner, forever she would be in his heart. When Peeta professes that he's been trying to work up the nerve to take to her for eleven years and the reaping was actually luck on his part, Katniss' reaction clearing showed she was still confused. "For a moment, I'm foolishly happy and the confusion sweeps over me. Because we're supposed to be making up stuff, playing at being in love, not actually being in love. But Peeta's story has a ring of truth to it...So if those details are true...could it all be true?"(Collins 301) This becomes the pivotal moment when Katniss recognizes that the possibility of his love is great. Katniss' heroic actions put her in a place she's always imagined there was a chance of escaping- The Hunger Games. As the title of the novel one imagines thats where the focus would be. But out of the pages grows something more meaningful and deeper in the soul, love. A love that you can feel growing inside of a boy for a girl who barely understands what romance is. Peeta's love began as a child mesmerized by Katniss' voice, remained in his heart with glances acknowledged but never interpreted, progressed in a bitter sweet situation, and ultimately professed in an earnest manner. Through Katniss' eyes you see the question of Peeta's love evolve from uncertainty to obviousness. In my heart Peeta's love was always present if Katniss searched, she just wasn't aware she had to find it.

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