Katniss – The Character

Katniss comes from the mountainous, remote region of Panem where knowledge of outdoor survival skills is essential. She is a well-trained, highly skilled survivor. Katniss and her family have suffered great hardship and because of this she has learned a great deal about outdoor survival from her father. Katniss’s father was killed, when Katniss was 11 in a mining accident and Katniss feels a great responsibility to take care of her despondent mother and especially her younger sister Primrose who is delicate and inexperienced with survival. Katniss is also rough around the edges, uncomfortable with emotion and very untrusting. She has very little formal education. Katniss is the name of an edible plant her father taught her wood always provide her food.

Katniss meets Peeta under embarrassing circumstances when she is wandering the streets of rich neighborhoods hoping to find food scraps in the garbage. Peeta gives her bread that he was told to give to the pigs. Soon after this Katniss is hunting illegally in the woods near her home when she meets Gale Hawthorne, a boy like her forced to eat plants and hunt illegally to feed their families.

During the Hunger Games competitors are forced to compete for the sympathy of sponsors who donate money necessary to buy supplies and therefore carry a huge role in determining the outcome of the Games. Peeta convinces Katniss that pretending to be in love will gain audience sympathy. The problem is that Peeta really is deeply in love with Katniss.

Moira Romano

Photos courtesy of Lions Gate Entertainment.