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as black.
(Aside: White and black aren't the only races, but no characters
in particular are identified as Asian, native American,
etc. But it's also important to remember that in a postapocalyptic
world where "Asia," the "United States," "Latin
America," the "Middle East," and other regions don't exist
in the same way, race can't be discussed in the same terms.
It wouldn't make sense for Katniss to refer to Rue as "African
American" — as Collins does in an interview — if "Africa" and
"America" don't mean anything. However, Rue is explicitly described
as having dark skin, and Collins does confirm that she
and Thresh, and most of District 11, are black. of course, that
didn't prevent a storm of fanger over the casting of a black
actor as Rue, who apparently should be "blond" and "white"
to "look like Prim." It seems like some so-called "fans" believe
that people of color shouldn't even have minor roles to disrupt
the pure whiteness of their imagined Panem — so never mind
the storm of hatred that would've resulted if Katniss had been
cast as anything other than white.)
Katniss' ambiguous coloring is intentional. Her mother
and sister are clearly fair-skinned and blonde-haired, while
Katniss is "olive"-skinned and black-haired. She's specifically
described in contrast to her mother and sister, and resembles
her miner father rather than the fair merchant class that her
mother represents. Her skin tone can't be environmentally determined
— she's never worked in the mines, and her mother
and sister, who live in the same environment, don't share her
coloring or hair. We can assume that it's inherited, and because
her father, Gale, and Haymitch are described with similar
terms, we can also assume that this darker skin and hair is
prevalent throughout the Seam.
In contrast, the town is mostly fair and blonde, like Peeta,
Madge, Prim, and Katniss's mother. This is quite a sharp distinction
in appearance — even if it doesn't amount to "racial"
difference, there's some kind of class-color divide here. It may
not be an explicit statement on race, if you as a reader don't
want it to be, and it's a distinction that's probably been exacerbated
by social separation, but its a noted difference nonetheless.
Likewise, District 11, one of the poorest Districts if
not the poorest, is mostly black, while the entire ruling elite
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