Caitlyn King - Katniss's Role as a Propaganda Piece

one of the things i love about katniss everdeens character in the hunger games series is how relatively unimportant she is as a person. there is nothing inherently special about her except for a few key instances where she showed a lot of boldness and care for others. but that's not just her because we've seen several other characters in the series do the same thing.

so what makes katniss different? its the timing and her luck.

the timing is the most important part, at least in this blog post analysis. katniss rebelled as the rebellion was almost at full power. district 13 had been planning for years, spies were in the capitol, the highest politicians, the most influential gamemakers. everything was set, they just needed a spark, and katniss gave that to them when she won the games and showed compassion to a little girl who resembled her sister.

after the games, the capitol tries to use katniss as a propaganda piece. she's just a young girl, who didn't rebel in the arena, she's desperate in love and didn't know what she was doing. she doesn't care about the rebellion or the cause, she's obsessed with the glory--look at her shaking hands with these capitolites! she's at parties! she's getting married!

but when she escapes to district 13, they do the same thing to her. they use her as a figurehead for rebels to rally behind, and its not authentic. look at her, she's so mature and knowledgeable! look at her shaking hands with rebels! she's at battles! she's going to shoot the president in front of every citizen of panem!

it's a brilliant tactic that suzanne collins used to show us the similarities between snow and coin, and how even if the cause is more just, you still have to think about your means to get there.

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