Katniss Catching Fire Essay

In the Hunger Games and Catching Fire books written by Suzanne Collins; one of the most prevalent themes is survival, and keeping your humanity and dignity as you try to survive. Katniss and Peeta must survive the games of course, but they also must survive their daily lives in the district. The capitol has made life incredibly difficult for those living in the districts, and to survive the lack of food and adequate necessities requires great strength of spirit. Some people in the districts give up, and others manage to survive but become heartless or mentally unstable. Katniss is a true survivor, she pulls her family through the tough time after her father’s death, when otherwise they would not have survived. Katniss’ mother is one of the
For Katniss, survival has become more than just hiding out and avoiding the Careers; she recognizes that truly to survive, she must play the Game to win. Now in the Catching Fire book, “A mockingjay is a creature the Capitol never intended to exist. They had not counted on the highly controlled jabberjay having the brains to adapt to the wild, to pass on its genetic code, to thrive in a new form. They had not anticipated its will to live.” (Katniss 92) Katniss is talking about the mockingjay, the iconic symbol of the rebellion, but she may as well be talking about herself. The spirit of resistance and rebellion is alive in Katniss, though she doesn’t yet realize it. She survived her first Hunger Games despite being from the poorest District with, historically, the least-prepared tributes. Like the mockingjay, no one expected her to survive, but she was able to adapt to survival. The tributes themselves are symbols of a war fought 75 years ago, and their deaths serve as a reminder of the power the Capitol wields. However, the Capitol underestimated Katniss’s own will to live, as well as her defiance. Katniss is more than a symbol she is a human being. She has grown up under the Capitol’s rules, and now they are forced to contend with