Introduction:
The Hunger Games is told a book written by Suzanne Collins. The novel aimed at adolescents is of the dystopian genre. The story is told by Katniss Everdeen (main character) in the present tense. There is ongoing bias in the novel, as we see things from Katniss’ point of view. In the book there is a variety of different characters; one of these will be the subject of this essay: Haymitch Abernathy. I will explain how Collins represents him.
Description of Haymitch:
Based on the first brief appearance of Haymitch we learn he is a bloated drunk with no manners: “a paunchy, middle aged man who at this moment appears hollering something unintelligible, staggers on to the stage, and falls into the third chair. He’s drunk. Very.”
The description Collins has used tells us Haymitch is a crude, ill-mannered, embarrassing man. One of the ways we know this is because of the emphasis on his intoxication.
How Haymitch reacts in Situations:
An example of a borderline heroic reaction of Haymitch is after Katniss takes the place of her sister at the reaping: “Now I truly am in danger of crying, but fortunately Haymitch chooses this time to come staggering across the stage to congratulate me.” This may seem like a drunken rant; however Haymitch has clear motives to fake being dunk (one of which being able to say what he wants if he is “under the influence”). So, believing he is not actually intoxicated I think Haymitch does this in order to give Katniss time recuperate and gain control over her emotions, preventing her from looking weak.
Another essential reaction that defines Haymitch is after he is confronted by his tributes, he is mentoring, for being lazy. We see forcefulness in the physicality of Haymitch and he shows aggression: “Haymitch considers this a moment, then punches Peeta in the jaw, knocking him from his chair.” This seems unnecessary, as this happened purely because his drink was taken from him. From this the