The Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen's Power

            In the past, and even in our current generation, men seem to be in more control of relationships, whether it be family relationships, romantic relationships, or work relations. Though, throughout the Hunger Games novel, Suzanne Collins seems to try and depict Katniss Everdeen as the person with the power in her relationships. She is the provider for her family, in place of her father and has come to take on the role of the “man” of her household. She is also in charge when she takes alliances in the arena with Rue and also Peeta. While Collins is proving Katniss as being powerful and as the caregiver, she also gives her personality stereotypical man-like features. I would like to discuss the relationships in which Katniss holds the power.

            Through my experiences of the world, I constantly see stereotypically things that define femininity and masculinity. For example, baby boys are still expected to wear blue and girls pink. Girls play with dolls and boys play with trucks. Women baking and men working on cars. All of these are things that I see every day. So, Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games is a big contrast in what most people would think the hero of the story would be. Katniss doesn’t display any of the classic girl traits and also prevails in all of her relationships. The world is constantly changing, however and being that this is a future based novel, maybe Collins is trying to present her ideas of how stereotypes between genders should be broken.

            Within the first few pages, we are presented with Katniss’s relationship between her family, her mother and her sister. On page 9, she talks about her sister as if she were her own child to take care of. She talks to Gale about them leaving their families, but insists that she could never because they need her, without her, they would starve. She states: “You may as well throw in our mothers, too, because how would they live without us? Who would fill those mouths that are always asking for more?” (Collins, 9). Both Gale and Katniss have become the primary care givers of their families. So, Katniss has essentially become the father of their family, bringing the food by hunting. She also shows the masculinity in her appearance, “I swing my legs off the bed and slide into my hunting boots. Supple leather that has molded to my feet. I pull on my trousers, tuck my dark braid up into a cap, and grab my forage bag” (Collins, 4).  So, even before the games, Katniss has been in the position of providing for people and having power.

            The next relationship that I see Katniss having a sort of superior, leader type role in, is her relationship between herself and Rue. Katniss takes on the role of the leader right away for reasons such as having weapons, being able to hunt, and the fact that she is also older and stronger. She takes on the task of making battle plans and survival plans. For this, again she feels the need to protect and help. I see this in her when she is worrying to herself of her loved ones. She begins thinking of if she died, saying “Prim has my mother and Gale and a baker who promised she wouldn’t go hungry. Rue has only me” (Collins, 213). Although Katniss does not express the power she has over Rue, she still has it.

            Peeta and Katniss’s relationship is another where Katniss shows dominance. Due to the fact that Peeta is hurt when their alliance is made, Katniss has the upper hand. She has her health, food, sponsors, and weapons, all things that Peeta does not have. Their alliance in the beginning is purely reliant on Katniss. Once she is able to retrieve medicine to help Peeta’s leg, she also shows that her superior hunting skills put her at the top in their relationship. You also see her have knowledge that Peeta does not have. When Peeta gets berries that could have killed him, Katniss saves him. He realizes this saying “‘Doesn’t seem fair somehow. I mean, we would have both been dead, too if she hadn’t eaten the berries first…No, of course, we wouldn’t. You recognized them, didn’t you?’” (Collins, 320). Once again, we see another example of Katniss having power.

            Between all these relationships, Katniss is shown as the provider and the person with power. This is a change from what society usually portrays the woman of a novel as being. Collins expresses feminist views in stopping stereotypes and actually flopping roles between the men and women of the novel. Due to the fact that the world is continuously changing, it is a fresh new view of femininity showing that there should be real equality between men and women.