#peeeeta

awwww, Peeta

Peeta, love

GOD OK HERE WE GO STRAP IN PPL

UUGHH PEETA. This kid and all his feelings I can’t I ACTUALLY CAN’T. I think that it’s almost impossible to read The Hunger Games and come out with a favourite other than Katniss, but Peeta comes really close for me because he’s so immensely likeable that you get attached to him and then he goes and breaks your goddamn heart.

I just… this kid has a pretty shitty life, like most kids in the Districts. He’s not memorable like Katniss, and he knows it: he tries his best to look out for himself in the Games, but all in all he knows he doesn’t have much chance of winning, so he tries to look after Katniss as much as he can. And then he goes and volunteers for another Hunger Games because he doesn’t want her facing it alone.

Obviously he cares for Katniss, but he extends that to his friends, to Rue, to so many people, because that’s who he is.  Even Gale, who's placed to be Peeta's "opposite" within the text (although I would argue with that tbh, I think Peeta is much more important than Gale in terms of the overall story), says that it would be easier to hate Peeta if he wasn't so nice.

And then on top of that (because really, the only fully developed characters in this series are Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch, and they have these layers upon layers that almost make up for everyone basically just being names and faces), you have the fact that, just like Katniss, Peeta is a survivor. He knows his strengths and his weakness and more importantly understands his own context and is able to manipulate the situation using only his charm.

The postmodern setting of THG is interesting in regards to the different values and roles of characters, and Peeta comes into this mostly as a reflection of Katniss. We are introduced to him as he’s chosen for the Hunger Games, which instantly makes him a character that is going to be compared and contrasted to Katniss, as they are both “chosen ones”. We then find out they he and Katniss have history, but Katniss leads us to believe that it is only significant to her; Peeta is has been a symbolic reminder of hope for Katniss since she was young. More than that: Peeta’s kindness reminds her that there is good in the world, much as Prim reminds her of her former innocence - these are things Katniss holds on to mentally and emotionally to survive.

So we have Peeta and Katniss, two vastly different characters connected by the Hunger Games. As the book progresses it is made clear to us that the two of them are a pair in the narrative sense - this is given many layers in the text, with them constantly being put together as the tributes from District 12, the star struck lovers, the two victors, etc.

What is interesting about Katniss and Peeta is that they are a reversed traditional couple, with Katniss having the more masculine traits and Peeta having the more feminine. Katniss is a hunter, Peeta is a baker (essentially, a cook); Katniss excells in confrontation, Peeta is good with disguises; Katniss is straightforward and finds trouble acting, Peeta is not only good at putting on a show, he relies on it to survive the Hunger Games; Katniss does not like to address her emotions and is rather closed off; Peeta is not afraid to broadcast himself for (literally) the whole world to see. This is why it is Katniss/Peeta, why they rely on one another to survive the Games; they are two parts that make up the whole.

Mockingjay, as a book, is about the destruction of innocence - as Katniss sees herself as someone who abandoned innocence a long time ago, it is taken from her via Prim and Peeta. The resolution of Mockingjay is that, despite everything they’ve been through, the Katniss and Peeta that survive are the same people who went into the Hunger Games, and that in the end they would rather be together than apart.

I JUST REALLY LOVE PEETA OKAY HE'S FANTASTIC AND HE COMPLETELY LACKS THE ELEMENT IF DOUCHEBAGGERY THAT SHOWS UP IN A LOT OF YA HEROES/LOVE INTERESTS. He constantly puts Katniss' feelings above his own and never pressures her into making a decision about their relationship - instead he stands by her whenever she needs him, gives her space when she needs that, and like bakes her cheese rolls and shit and i just can't i really fucking love him??? I don't want this to turn into the Gale Sucks Hour but the clearest difference between the two of them to me is that, in Catching Fire, Peeta spends the whole book supporting Katniss (even when Gale is whipped and Katniss freaks out), while Gale gives her an ultimatum and gets angry when she doesn't "choose" him. Peeta lacks that selfishness in his feelings for Katniss and I love that, and Katniss mourns that as much as anything when Peeta's memories are damaged in Mockingjay.