1EQQ8ZzGD

happy to collaborate with me to answer this question. Here’s
what he had to say about The Hunger Games:
First of all, my answer will be limited because I have only read
the first book in Suzanne Collins’s series. Katniss is one of the
strongest female characters I have read in young adult literature.
However, that isn’t saying much in a genre that is often
criticized for placing weak female characters in tired plot structures
involving romance, romance, and perhaps more romance.
Evidence that The Hunger Games is pro-girl
Katniss is independent, almost to a fault. She's often criticized
by other characters for not asking for help. Haymitch, for
instance, finds Katniss almost uncoachable. When he is instructing
her prior to the nationally broadcasted interview, he says, “I
give up, sweetheart. Just answer the questions and try not to let
the audience see how openly you despise them” (118). But this
independence is precisely the key to Katniss’s success. It leads
her to each triumph and heroic moment — providing food for
her family, going as tribute in place of her sister, impressing
the Gamemakers, destroying the Career Tributes’ provisions,
providing a ceremony to commemorate Rue’s death, going back
to the Cornucopia to get medicine for Peeta, and ultimately
deciding to defy the Capitol in the end. In other words, almost
every single plot point is brought about by an independent
choice made by Katniss.
The other characters are extremely aware of Katniss’s ferocious
independence. When Gale is introduced in the very beginning,
Katniss tells us explicitly that “There’s never been anything
romantic between Gale and me” (10). While it’s possible
that Katniss is not totally reliable here; it’s clear that Gale and
Katniss are equal partners and not stereotypical lovers. There’s a
scene in the first chapter where Katniss and Gale discuss “their
kids” when talking about their siblings. The juxtaposition of
the nuclear family with their predicament here is strong. In the
Katniss-Gale nuclear family, ravished by poverty, both mother
and father are providers. Gale is acutely aware of Katniss’s abilities,
telling her, “We could [run away and live in the woods],
you know” (9). The implication is that Katniss, unlike other
women from District 12, is able to fend for herself and has the
129