Quote 1
Peeta rolls his eyes at Haymitch. “She has no idea. The effect she can have.” He runs his fingernail along the wood grain in the table, refusing to look at me.
What on earth does he mean? People help me? When we were dying of starvation, no one helped me! No one helped me except Peeta. Once I had something to barter with, things changed. I’m a tough trader. Or am I? What effect do I have? (7.36-37)
There are lots of kinds of power that people can have, and here Peeta suggests that Katniss has a kind of power she that isn’t aware of. But what is it? What effect does she have on people? What effect does she have on Peeta?
Quote 2
“I don’t know how to say it exactly. Only…I want to die as myself. Does that make any sense?” he asks. I shake my head. How could he die as anyone but himself? “I don’t want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I’m not.”
I bite my lip, feeling inferior. While I’ve been ruminating on the availability of trees, Peeta has been struggling with how to maintain his identity. His purity of self. “Do you mean you won’t kill anyone?” I ask.
“No, when the time comes, I’m sure I’ll kill just like everybody else. I can’t go down without a fight. Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to…to show the Capitol they don’t own me. That I’m more than just a piece in their Games,” says Peeta. (10.71)
Peeta wants to die as himself – not as one of the Capitol’s pawns. Can holding onto Peeta’s identity be a kind of power for him? Does he achieve this in the end?
Quote 3
We both know they have to have a victor.
Yes, they have to have a victor. Without a victor, the whole thing would blow up in the Gamemakers’ faces. They’d have failed the Capitol. Might possibly even be executed, slowly and painfully while the cameras broadcast it to every screen in the country.
If Peeta and I were both to die, or they thought we were…
My fingers fumble with the pouch on my belt, freeing it. Peeta sees it and his hand clamps on my wrist. “No, I won’t let you.”
“Trust me,” I whisper. He holds my gaze for a long moment then lets me go. (25.85-89)
In the end, Katniss figures out how finally to defeat the Gamemakers. Both she and Peeta decide to commit suicide – or at least act like they are committing suicide. What is so powerful about this action? Why does it work?