The Hunger Games: Katniss Vs Peeta

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is set in the future in a gloomy, dystopian society, consisting of thirteen districts and ruled by a Capital. Seventy four years prior to the beginning of the story, the districts rose up against the Capital and tried to break the power that was held against them. They were badly defeated, and as a reminder of who truly holds all of the power, every year a girl and a boy from each district must compete in a tournament called, The Hunger Games. The combatants, called "tributes" are chosen by a lottery system in which the names of all children between the ages of twelve and eighteen are entered. The "winners" of this lottery go to fight to the death in the Hunger Games arena. This particular year, the tributes from District 12 are Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. While they are both from the same district, and both incredibly clever, these two tributes could not be more different.

The heroine of this series, Katniss Everdeen, volunteered to go as a tribute to take the place of her young sister, who was originally chosen to go. Her family consists of her mother, who is a healer, and her sister, Prim, who is twelve years old. After her father was killed in a mining accident, Katniss took over the role of provider for her mother and younger sister, Prim. She learned to hunt and gather roots and other foods from the forest, even though it was illegal to do so and could have brought sever consequences if she were caught. She also learned to trade the furs from the animals she catches and any extra foods to get other items her household needs. Her family is truly dependent on her, so she must make sure that she gets home again.

Because Katniss had to drop out of school to provide for her family, she sometimes has trouble finding the right words to say and can come across as hostile and uncaring. This turns out to be an unfair assessment, which is evidenced when she takes the young tribute from District Eleven, Rue, under her wing and tries to help her survive, at least for a while. After it is announced that two tributes from any one district may win during this tournament, she also does her very best to keep Peeta alive and relatively unharmed. She risks her own safety, at times, to do so.

Her male counterpart from district twelve, is Peeta. Peeta is the son of the local baker, and an only child. Peeta is genuinely kind hearted and has no trouble letting his kindness and affection for his fellow tribute show. During a pre-tournament interview with the Head Game Maker, he announces that he has always been in love with his co-tribute. Because of her rougher upbringing, she has a lot of trouble trusting that his kindness is genuine, at first thinking that it may merely be a strategy to get her to lower her guard around him. It soon becomes apparent, however, that while Katniss's main goal is to return home to her family, alive, his goal is to see that