Steph, I totally agree. Completely, totally brutal.

Hey, germane to this discussion, this is a sample character analysis I wrote of Katniss, part of the sample set I wrote that got me the Shmoop job (it's written for a student audience).

Character Analysis – Katniss Everdeen from Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen took on the system in Hunger Games, and became The Girl on Fire, a symbol for every citizen of Panem who chokes on the yoke placed upon them by the totalitarian government. After winning the Games, she returns to her life in District 12.

What’s Love Got To Do With It? “All I was doing was trying to keep myself and Peeta alive. Any act of rebellion was purely coincidental. But when the Capitol decrees that only one tribute can live, and you have the audacity to challenge it, I guess that becomes rebellion in itself. My only defense was pretending I had been driven insane by a passionate love for Peeta. So we were both allowed to live. To be crowned victors. To go home and celebrate and wave good-bye to the cameras and be left alone. Until now” (17).

After the Games, Katniss ignored Peeta and resumed her friendship with Gale. But in the eyes of the public, she and Gale are cousins, and she is in love with Peeta. However, that she and Gale continue to see each other is seen by many – including President Snow -- as a sign of Katniss’ rebellion, and she has to convince everyone she’s in love with Peeta on their Victory Tour. If not, Snow will have Gale killed. Katniss continues to be a very pragmatic person. She doesn’t make a fuss, she’s focused on the bottom line: don’t get anyone I love killed. So she pretends again, to be so in love with Peeta that she would die for him. Problem is, Katniss is a pretty direct person, and this level of emotional pretense is pretty hard to keep up. It’s also confusing, since she’s not really sure exactly how she feels about Peeta. Her declaration of love was a play to win the game, but he really loves her. (And you thought your romantic relationships were complicated.)

Also, she’s painted herself into a corner. Sure, pretending she and Peeta were in love saved both their lives, but now she’s stuck. She HAS to marry Peeta when she’s older. Otherwise, the relationship will be seen as a lie, and the government will have to take steps to correct the show of rebellion. Messy, bloody, permanent steps. Katniss is tormented by the knowledge that she has to stay away from Gale if she wants him to keep on living.

Katniss struggles with her conflicting emotions for Peeta and Gale. She’s known Gale her whole life. He understands her, and she him. But she and Peeta have been thrown together in some emotionally charged life-or-death situations; Peeta’s been in love with her a while, and has demonstrated his willingness to die for her. That's two pretty powerful things competing with each other. Katniss’ feelings for Peeta start to change – and she truly is willing to die for him this time – but this comes about only after she thinks that she is going to die again in the Quarter Quell Games, and has no chance, ever, of being with Gale.

Stand In The Place Where You Live Because Katniss manipulated the government into letting her and Peeta live, she’s become a symbol of rebellion. Katniss has been pretty self-interested (understandably -- that whole life or death thing), but she starts to have to look outward. She knows now that the government is corrupt, that President Snow is about as trustworthy as a cat in a tuna factory, and that Panem is completely messed up, but she really hasn’t contemplated her role in the world. But on the Victory Tour, she really starts to get a clearer view. If she continues only to look toward her own self-interest, she will be the kind of person she despises. She must take a stand and fight the power. Cue Public Enemy.

I Am The Mockingjay – Cu-Cu-Ca-Choo

Katniss unknowingly keeps on referencing the mockingjay – when she wears the pin, when she talks to Rue’s district during the Victory tour -- (continued...)

( continues...) s and this is seen as an incitement to rebellion: “When they chant my name, it is more a cry for vengeance than a cheer” (54). She finally clues in that the mockingjay is more than just a bird; it’s a secret symbol of the rebellion against the government, and now she has, in many people’s eyes, become the mockingjay.

“A mockingjay is a creature the capitol never intended to exist. They hadn’t planned on the highly controlled jabberjay having the brains to adapt to the wild, to pass on its genetic code, to thrive in a new form. They hadn’t anticipated its will to live” (68).

Katniss has to decide: is she really the mockingjay? This year coincides with the Quarter Quell -- every twenty-five years, a new twist is added to the Games to make them more exciting. With the threat of uprising hanging over the government like the haze of smoke at a Snoop Dogg concert, past winners are being tapped again. Peeta and Katniss are back in the Games. But did they ever really leave? Catching Fire might as well be subtitled “Katniss Grows Up.” She has to look outside of herself and make hard decisions: play along with the government in order to keep the few people she loves safe? Or take risks with her family and friends ‘ lives, step into the role of symbol of rebellion and knowingly put everything on the line in order to bring about real revolution.

Will she work for herself and her own interests, or will she step outside her own little circle and work with others towards a common goal, even though it could mean disaster or death for those closer to her? Katniss makes the hard choice, and chooses rebellion – the good of the many over the good of the few. But her decisions have real impact – Peeta is captured and District 12 is reported destroyed.

Was her choice worth the price?

There's something really weird about the formatting of your post, Erin. Did you use the quick-edit?

No, I used the HTML. I had a bear of a time; but I wanted to white-font it.

Is it readable?

The whole rest of the page is whited out....

I edited it and put in quick-edits. Your error was that every time you open a spoiler span tag, you need to close it. You only closed it once at the end of each post.

ita, thank you.

I finished HP1 yesterday, and, man, awarding those last-minute Gryffindor points is such a dick move! I mean, yes, they deserved them, but, geez, Dumbledore, way to crush the hopes and dreams of Slytherin House and rub it in their faces.

Are there any good Slytherins? This has always seemed to be a major flaw in the books. All the Slytherins are evil jackasses. Snape is a non-evil jackass, but still, there aren't any Slytherin characters that are decent human beings, are there? I think there was maybe one. The Potions teacher in Book 6, I think?

I also started HP2, and Mr. Weasley totally mentions Mundungus Fletcher!

In conclusion, the Dursleys are so entirely awful I CANNOT STAND IT.

Are there any good Slytherins? This has always seemed to be a major flaw in the books.

I concur.

Incidentally, P-Cow I saw your picture in a magazine the other day. 7x7 San Francisco, the current June issue with the Best of San Francisco. They have a piece on the cheater's spelling bee and show your team.