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.