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Katniss Everdeen: The Dystopian Heroine

Dystopian societies are the new trend in young adult fiction. Books like The Hunger

Games and Divergent leading the way in this new popular genre of fiction. These books have

saturated popular culture so much that they are now being turned into blockbuster films. Sadly

these books will follow the same pattern of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, whose vampire series

was a big box office smash. However, her characters have been lost in the Hollywood

mechanism and younger generations have almost forgotten about their literary counterparts.

Katniss Everdeen will be met with the same fate if someone does not show that as a literary

figure she is a force to be reckoned with. This fictional character deserves to be written into

history because of her strength and dedication to others through leadership.

The Hunger Games is a trilogy that follows Katniss on her journey through this

deplorable tradition of the Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins, the author of the series, seems to

have combined stories like Those Who Walk Away from Omelas and The Lottery, but magnifies

the stratifying, destructive, and oppressive powers in this society. The Capital is where the elite

live indulging and consuming more than their fair share of goods. Meanwhile people in multiple

districts are poverty stricken surviving only on the meager rations given them. They lap in luxury

and most of all they enjoy watching young people tear one another apart for victory. These

people call it a sport, but in reality it is nothing more than a carnal desire for bloodlust and

violence that needs to be satiated much like the Romans and the Coliseum. However, these

indulgent people watch other people’s children die, but their children are safe from ever being

entered into these deplorable and deadly games. Katniss is from the poorest district in this

society, District 12. She rebels against the very institution that regulates movement in the

districts by going hunting outside the fences putting a substantial meal in her and her family’s

stomachs as well as selling any extra catches on the black market. “Even though trespassing in
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the woods is illegal and poaching carries the severest penalties, more people would risk it if they

had weapons…Peacekeepers turn a blind eye to the few of us who hunt because they’re hungry

for fresh meat as anybody is” (Collins, The Hunger Games 5). She clearly understands the

implications of her actions, but does them anyway showing just how brave she really is. Not only

is she brave in terms of the law, but she stares death in the face willingly. To spare her sister's

life she enters into the Hunger Games demonstrating some form of selflessness and maternal

love she has for her.

With one sweep of my arm, I pushed her behind me. I volunteer! I gasp. I volunteer as tribute…

The rule is that once a tribute’s name has been pulled from the ball, another eligible boy, if a

boy’s name has been read, or girl, if a girl’s name has been read, can step forward to take his or

her place…But in District 12, where the word tribute is pretty much synonymous with the word

corpse, volunteers are all but extinct (Collins, The Hunger Games 22).

She even extends these qualities to a fellow district member and contestant in the Hunger Games,

Peeta. She nurses him back to health after he gets sick in an attack during the games and is

willing to give her life to save his even if it meant he would be a victor with all the spoils and not

her. She is more than a heroine in the story, but a symbol for the rising resistance

In Catching Fire and Mockingjay Katniss begins to symbolize the rebellion. To countless

people she is the driving force for change and a new age of living. In a way she is the Moses to

those marginalized in this society. Like to the Israelites in Egypt and later to African Americans

in this country Moses was the deliverer and service leader they needed to free them from the

oppressive powers of slavery. However, she is not just Moses, but Joshua as well. Joshua was a

warrior who fought side by side with his people annihilating his enemies and conquering those

who stood in his way. Katniss is a perfect marriage of these two great leaders. She is humble
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enough to know that she in unworthy of the power she is given and questions why she is the very

symbol of it all. However, she is brave and strong enough to accompany those in the field

fighting alongside them and willing to become a martyr if that means the destruction of the

Capital and the evil it represents.

Like Moses and Joshua, Katniss is willing to take stand on the side of justice and truth

even when it is not the most popular. Her main antagonist is President Snow a man who is hell

bent on keeping Katniss in check and the desire for revolution under control. However, he is not

the only person who Katniss must be mindful of when fighting for true freedom from oppression.

In Mockingjay Katniss is introduced to Alma Coin the leader of District 13, the lost district. The

entire country of Panem thinks that this district was annihilated and used as an example of what

happens to people who go against The Capitol. Katniss aligns herself with Alana in hopes of

winning the battle. As they get closer and discuss strategies does she realize that Alana wants to

keep the system of oppression intact by making the citizens of The Capital the new victims of

oppression instead of the proliferators of it.

Katniss Everdeen is an astounding character because she embodies what the next

generation of young girls and women should aspire to be. She is brave, strong, protective,

nurturing at times, selfless, and most of all she is one that perseveres. She is so dedicated to the

cause that she almost loses herself. She is young, impulsive, and somewhat reactionary to the

manipulation of adults around her. Yet she manages to win in spite of it all. Like Joan of Arc she

teaches girls that even with insurmountable odds those who fight for justice and seek no personal

gain will prevail. She was created from the imagination of one woman, but her battle over

injustice and oppression is real. Katniss Everdeen is America’s sweetheart and America’s

champion.
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Works Cited

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.

Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay. New York: Scholastic, 2010. Print.

Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Symbol." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry,

and Drama. 11th ed. Boston: Longman, 2010. 223-58. Print.