Archetypal Roles In The Hunger Games And Katniss Everdeen And Theseus

Throughout history, thousands upon thousands of stories have been told, written, and passed from generation to generation. Most of these stories follow a sort of pattern, from the damsel in distress to the joker and of course the greatest of all, the hero.Every once in awhile these stories reappear in different forms. Such is the case with Katniss Everdeen and Theseus. Although both Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games and the mythological Theseus follow the archetypal hero pattern, only Katniss actually portrays it as Theseus abandons the woman who makes his victory possible while Katniss completely embodies the heroic ideal by being both strong and human at the same time, proving that the heroic archetype is unrestricted by gender. For

For example, Katniss is strong, resourceful and independent. She cares for her mother and sister after her the death of her father, which is explained as having been caused by a horrible mining accident, leaves her mother in some sort of post-trauma psychosis. Being from one, if not the, poorest districts, Katniss must hunt what little she can to feed her family and herself while also making the most of her archery skill and trading whatever she can for any other essentials she can get her hands on in the local trading square, the Hob. When she goes into the Hunger Games after taking her sister’s place and going head to head with trained killers, she does not crack under pressure nor does she need the help of anybody but herself to come out victorious. Yes she does have Peeta with her for most of the latter part of the games and he does try to offer up his own little grain of sand by allying himself to the Career Pack in order to try to get them off of Katniss, but regardless of Peeta’s good intentions, she carries most of her own weight and then some almost completely by herself.She also decides to somewhat adopt Rue, the youngest girl in the games and take her under her wing. When Rue is murdered by Marvel, one of the Careers from District One, Katniss quickly avenges Rue’s assassination and shoots Marvel through the chest with her trusted arrow. Afterwards, he demonstrates her humanity and grief for Rue by covering Rue’s body with flowers in an attempt to give her a proper goodbye (Collins, 230-241). In the end of the book, she is able to do something no person, from any district ever, has been able to do. She bends the will of the Capitol and is able to save herself and the man that will eventually become her future husband, by her simple quick thinking and own