Katniss Identity

One of the most prominent themes in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games is the evolving identity of the protagonist Katniss Everdeen. A common debate in modern day psychology is whether it is nature or our environment that shapes one’s identity. Are people born with their identity and personality already intact and decided for them or is it the experiences we go through in life that make us who we are? Collins takes on this difficult debate of nature versus nurture and uses Katniss to show how a combination of the two determine and effect our sense of self. Katniss is a very strong willed and heroic character, but even she experiences change in The Hunger Games. Katniss starts off as a survivor, has to transform herself to win the gruesome games, and then has to rediscover who she has actually become at the end of the novel after everything she has been through.

Katniss has had to grow up fast and lead a serious life in order to save her family from starvation, but this aptitude for survival is something that seems to be innate for Katniss. Her father jokes at one point, “As long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve” (Collins 52). Katniss, the plant, is a very simple green but when boiled can become an easy meal that can sustain one upon consumption. This is very much like Katniss in the sense that she is not flashy or a braggart when it comes to her skill as an archer, but she does continue to keep her family alive. As a double meaning, it is Katniss, the girl and not the plant, who relies on herself and keeps not only her family going, but herself. By trusting herself and discovering her abilities in scavenging and hunting she has become completely self-reliant. By pointing out her namesake and her early adventures wit...

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... hunter that lives to protect her family. When taken to the Capitol, it is Katniss’s first time away from her duty and she changes. When Katniss returns to District 12, it is unclear exactly how much change Katniss has undergone and how permanent these changes are. Katniss obviously has an aptitude for survival as seen in her nature, but she is also very affected by her environment. The Katniss in District 12 was so sure of herself and her role, but after everything she has gone through, how much of this Katniss remains? Does she truly love Peeta or was it just an act? Was she capable of murder before or was it forced upon her in the Hunger Games? Is she the protector, the girl on fire, or are they one in the same? Nature and nurture both play an integral role in one’s identity, but it is the individual’s job to decipher what these two forces combined can create.