How Does Katniss Use Imagery In The Hunger Games

Whereas Collins uses symbolic imagery and Atwood uses tactile imagery, they both illustrate that their protagonists, although they are strong women, seek the touch of their loved ones to give them the needed strength to continue on fighting for rebellion. Throughout the entire Hunger Games series Katniss sacrifices herself for her sister Prim, her love Peeta and for the freedom of the oppressed citizens of Panem. After her second Hunger Games, when Katniss is in safety in District 13 and Peeta is still trapped in the Capitol, she holds onto the memories of Peeta in form of a pearl he once gave her: "Sometimes when I'm alone, I take the pearl from where it lives in my pocket and try to remember the boy with the bread, the strong arms that warded off nightmares on the train, the kisses in the arena" (Collins 39, Mockingjay).

The pearl was not only a gift, but an offering of love.

Symbolic imagery is used, because Katniss constantly touches and holds onto the pearl like her life depended on it, keeping it close when Peeta can’t be. The pearl symbolizes and reminds her of Peeta’s love, which lives within her, propelling her forward to fight for her vision of a better Panem and free Peeta from captivity by the Capitol. Furthermore, the pearl has a larger/broader meaning. When Peeta found it, he referred to an inside joke between him and Katniss:“If you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls” (Collins 464, Catching Fire). The meaning here is figurative: Before the Games, Katniss was the ‘coal’, the dirty, poor girl from District 12, but with all the pressure from her family to win the Hunger Games, and from the oppressed citizens of Panem, who have placed their hopes in her hands, Katniss becomes the ‘pearl’. She transforms into someone admirable, someone people look up to and she becomes the face of the

revolution.
Similar to Katniss, Offred also hungers for the touch of the one she loves most, giving her the driving force to take actions against her current situation in symbolic captivity by the regime. Offred desires to be touched out of genuine love: “Can I be blamed for wanting a real body, to put my arms around? Without it I too am disembodied” (Atwood 128). Offred feels dispassionate and alienated from her body. She describes herself as an empty room, void of all feelings and lust, a tool with the sole purpose of reproduction: I can stroke myself, under the dry white sheets, in the dark, but I too am dry and white, hard, granular; it's like running my hand over a plateful of dried rice; it's like snow. I am like a room where things once happened and now nothing does...” (Atwood 128). She has become emotionless, mechanical, and dry inside. The human desire and longing to become one with a partner has been taken away. The repulsive and invasive requirements by the regime for forced reproduction force Offred to leave her comfort zone and rebel, but in her own means, in order to feel love again.