Hunger Games Spotlight: Katniss

We've arrived at Katniss in the Hunger Games Spotlight after doing both Gale and Peeta. (Well, I might do another one on Peeta because that one wasn't really an "official" one--just an interview...) Here we go!

Hunger Games Spotlight: Katniss Everdeen

Katniss's name comes from the edible plant also called a katniss. Her father, before being killed in a coal mine incident, always told her, "As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve." Referring to her namesake plant. Katniss lives in district twelve in the city of Panem, the coal mining district and is an avid hunter and goes on her hunting treks with her best friend Gale. On the annual Reaping Day, her younger sister, Prim, is called forth to represent her district in the fight to the death. Katniss's deep care for her sister makes her volunteer to take her place as the tribute. She and Peeta Mellark go to the arena to try and survive. Using her hunting and survival instincts, can she survive the games of the Capitol?

(And now a bit from an online resource on Katniss because I'm too lazy to write anymore myself... ^_^)

Origin:

The idea for the trilogy was based in part on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, in which seven boys and seven girls from Athens are sent every nine years against their will to be devoured by the Minotaur, a cycle that doesn't stop until Theseus kills the Minotaur. Collins, who heard the story when she was eight years old, was unsettled by its ruthlessness and cruelty. Collins said, "In her own way, Katniss is a futuristic Theseus." Collins also characterized the novels with the fearful sensations she experienced when her father was fighting in the Vietnam War.

In the novels, Katniss is extensively knowledgeable in foraging, wildlife, hunting, and survival techniques. Collins knew some of this background from her father, who grew up in the Great Depression and was forced to hunt to augment an extremely low food supply, although Collins saw her father bring home food from the wild during her own childhood as well. In addition, Collins researched the subject using a large stack of wilderness survival guidebooks.

Katniss and the other tributes are, in their time before participating in their Hunger Games, compelled to compete for the hearts of sponsors who donate money that can be used to buy vital supplies for them when they are in the arena. The concept of how the audiences carry nearly as much force as actual characters is based on how, in reality television and in the Roman games, the audience can both "respond with great enthusiasm or play a role in your elimination," as Collins said.

So there we have it. Katniss's spotlight is finished, and I'm going to do Rue next. Sniffle. Oh Rue...

~Sea