Personal Synthesis and Feminist Analysis

In the book The Hunger Games Katniss is an atypical teenage girl who shatters multiple feminine stereotypes throughout the book.  During our class discussions about the book there seemed to be a common thread that came up often, Katniss’ masculine characteristics and Peeta’s female tendencies.   Katniss went hunting, provided for her family and took care of Peeta during the games.  She basically took on the masculine role in most of her significant relationships.  Was it acceptable for her to take on those masculine characteristics?    I think it was.  Katniss did everything she could to adapt to her situation which always seemed to be getting worse.  If her mother mentally checked out again Katniss wanted to make sure she could provide for Prim.  The only way she knew how to do that was to go out into the woods like her father taught her.  Growing up Katniss chose the more masculine tasks of hunting and trading in the Hob with her father, instead of becoming a healer like her mother.

Katniss in the Hob.

Just because society expects women and men to act a certain way doesn’t mean they have to.  Katniss doesn’t care that she is defying gender stereotypes; she wants to make sure her family doesn’t starve to death.  If that means taking on a job that is usually done by men she doesn’t care.  She doesn’t feel comfortable acting like the love sick girlfriend to Peeta because she has never had that kind of relationship with a man.  Even in Katniss’ relationship with Haymitch she wanted to make sure he saw her potential for winning.  She was not afraid to call him out on his drunkenness, whereas Peeta was the one who cleaned him up when he threw up on himself. That is just another example where both Peeta and Katniss took on uncommon gender stereotypes.  Katniss’ instinct is to shift the relationship with Peeta so she is in control.   She risks her life to get him the medicine he needs, even when he tells her not to. She feeds Peeta soup when he is on the verge of death and she takes off her jacket to make sure he stays warm.  These are things that society typically expects a man to do in relationships not a woman. 

Many times on the class blog and on the twitter feed the discussion circled back to society accepting men and women in different roles.  Just like Katniss was comfortable in a more masculine role, Peeta had no problem taking on more feminine role.  One of Peeta’s greatest strengths during the games was his ability to disguise himself.  He learned to do this from decorating bakery, not typically something most men know how to do.  When he threw Katniss the burnt loaf of bread he was showing his compassion, which society also usually deems a more feminine quality.     
 

Peeta at the Bakery.

In the end it was good that Katniss and Peeta had the qualities they did.  They both used the skills they had and it helped them win in the end.  It doesn’t matter that Katniss took on the role of provider and that Peeta was the one who wore his emotions on his sleeve for everyone in the Capitol to see.  All that matters is that they both came out alive.