The Hero's Journey: Katniss Everdeen

The character of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is often thought of by today's youth as one of the most innovative, unique, and simultaneously relatable characters. However, she, like the heroes and heroines that have come before her, is based on a tried-and-true formula equating to the perfect Hero's Journey. It all begins with Katniss living her normal, everyday life, when she then receives her call to action, when the tides of the story make their first turn. This is when Primrose Everdeen, Katniss's sister, is selected as the tribute for the Hunger Games. Katniss volunteers in her place, setting in stone the journey to come. She departs from her ordinary world to the new and unpredictable one of the Capitol. Like any good hero, Katniss finds help throughout the story, in characters such as Haymitch, Cinna, and even Effie. She faces several trials and tribulations in her relationship with Peeta, and later on in the games with figuring out how to survive. She has her first successes when she outsmarts the Careers, one time dropping a tracker jacker nest on them, and the other time blowing up their supplies. Katniss faces many near-death experiences throughout the games, ultimately culminating into the final battle with Cato. Her ultimate success comes with his defeat, and with she and Peeta being crowned victors of the Games. They bring the Hero's Journey by returning home to their very ordinary life, only as very different people who can now live under very different circumstances, but slight alterations indicate the major struggles to come.

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Starving for Another Taste of "The Hunger Games"

        Reading The Hunger Games for a second time around has been quite a different experience from what I expected it to be. In all honesty, I regarded the rereading as mildly interesting, an easy and mindless read, and not much else. However, Suzanne Collins has managed to recapture my interest even more strikingly than the first time I read it as a mere seventh grader. The story now holds so much more depth and meaning now that I myself am a sixteen year old girl, not all that much different from Katniss Everdeen in that I am simply trying to stay true to myself and my beliefs, while also trying to survive and prosper under the weight of an all-too-common societal oppression. Where Katniss is rough around the edges, and uses her harsh personality to mask any vulnerabilities, I, much like many other teenage girls, hide my true self under layers of makeup, attitudes of not caring, and an abundance of teen angst. The parallels between Katniss and many of adolescent female America are remarkable, making her even more of an inspiration idol, especially the second time around.