The Transformation of Katniss in the novel The Hunger Games.

A true story of zero to hero.

                                In the Book “The Hunger games” A girl named Katniss Everdeen is living in a Post-Apocalyptic world controlled by a central government called “The Capitol”. They oppress their people who live in 12 different districts and force them to participate in something called the hunger games every year. In these games 2 children of each sex from every district are sent off to the capitol in a fight to the death. The last child alive wins the games but the rest are left dead.  This is another way the Capitol oppresses its people. Every year before Katniss has gotten lucky with games and avoided them but not this year. Katniss must go to the games in place of her sister. She has a lot of knowledge on how to survive, skill, and a lot of heart so she won’t back down easily. The games will test whether Katniss can overcome the horrors of the game and become more than just a person to be killed off in the games. Suzanne Collins creates a character that you won’t forget.

                Katniss lives a hard life. Her father died in a coal mine accident when she was very young. Her mother went into depression and Katniss had to support her and her little sister Prim on her own. She did this by hunting, gathering, and trading her own food. Not only that but she did all of this illegally and was in risk of being caught by the capitol and killed at all times she was doing this. She did all of this to support her and her little sister.  Due to all this she learned to be independent, smart, tough, and taught her how to survive on her own. She also came to love her little sister a lot which is why she volunteered for her in the games. All these traits helped her when she competed in the hunger games. Katniss isn’t a very big person. Katniss has long black hair. She has olive skin and gray eyes. She says this in the beginning of the book “ Straight black hair, olive skin, and we even have the same gray eyes. Pg. 8” Katniss had all the traits to make a tough competitor in the hunger games.

                The events of the hunger games changed Katnisse’s life in many ways. Many different events contributed to her changes but ill list two ones that stick out from the rest.  The first event that Katniss encountered was having Prim being chosen to go to the games on her first year of being eligible. Prim had no chance of surviving because she was son young. She was also a very kind and gentle person and probably couldn’t handle the horrors of the games. Due to this and her love for her little sister Katniss volunteered herself in Prims spot to go to the games, which most people viewed as suicide. Nonetheless Katniss volunteered to go to the games and most likely die for her sister’s life. She runs up at the stage and pushes Prim out of the way gasping” I Volunteer, I gasp, I Volunteer as tribute! Pg.22, Suzanne Collins” This event obviously changes her life because she is going away to risk her life in games where 24 kids are out to kill each other. Although this may be viewed as bad Katniss survives the games and learns a lot.

                The second event that changes Katnisse’s life is when she is almost forced to kill Peeta. Katniss and Peeta were the last two contestants alive in the hunger games.  Claudius Templesmith said that if both tributes from a district survived them would both win. So Peeta and Katniss thought they could just win now and go home. At the last second though Claudius says the rules have changed and that there can only be one winner now.  This means that one of them has to kill the other one. This would be extremely hard to do since they have both grown so close to each other. Instead if killing one another they decide to pretend to kill themselves by eating poisonous berries.  When they do this Claudius tells them to stop at the last second and they both win. She does this as this thought goes through her head” Yes They have to have a victor, without a victor the whole thing would blow up in their faces. They would fail the Capitol if me and Peeta were both to die or they though we were….. pg. 344” This Changes Katnisse’s life because she first survived the Hunger Games, and learned a lot from it. Also the Hunger games have changed Peeta and Katniss a lot due to the experience and getting to know each other. Finally this angers the Capitol and they want to get back at Katniss for embarrassing them in live TV. This means that her family could be hurt; she could be hurt, stripped of her home, arrested, or maybe even killed. This changes Katnisses life a lot by giving her one more problem to worry about that she can’t run away from.  She now has to worry every day about what the Capitol might do to her and her family.  These two events came and changed Katnisses life for the worse and gave her a lot more worries other than the fact that she saved her sister and she survived the hunger games herself.

                Katniss undergoes a lot of change by the end of the novel. She matures a lot through the events of the hunger games and learns a lot about her, her friends, life, and the Capitol.  Katniss changes by understanding more about the Capitol and her life living there. She doesn’t have to be yet another puppet to the capitol but she can change her ways like she did when her and Peeta disobeyed the Capitol and both won the games. Also she learned that not everybody is really who they seem to be. One example of this is her and Peeta. Even though Katniss and Peeta pretend to be in love for the whole duration of the games they really aren’t. Even at the end she sees that Peeta isn’t always that kind boy that gave her bread when she was starving. She even thinks this to herself as her and Peeta arrive home “ Already the boy with the bread is slipping away from me. Pg. 374” Katniss changes mainly due to all the events she experienced in the hunger games like seeing Rue die or being with Peeta pretending to love him for so long. She changed a lot for the better as she matured a lot but her life took a turn for the worse as the Capitol is mad at her for making them let both Katniss and Peeta win.

                 In my book The Hunger Games, Katniss changes a lot through her experiences in the hunger games, and learns a lot about herself and life. Katniss is a character who really stands out. She is strong, clever, and has a lot of heart and because of this survives the hunger games.  She is a character who you will remember for her strong and fiery personality like everyone in the capitol will remember her as Katniss the girl who was on fire.