#and I never ever want to undermine just how needlessly cruel and inhumane what Katniss endured was

[shesasurvivor]

Hi.. Could you explain more about this?

"Actually, I've always held a theory that the parents' love triangle represents the fate of Panem in the first rebellion/the Dark Days that lead to the creation of The Hunger Games, while the Katniss/Peeta/Gale triangle represents Panem in the second rebellion."

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

Absolutely! I thought about going further into this the other night, but I was so tired that I couldn't find the energy. Thanks for asking!

The first time I read the books, I couldn't help thinking that Katniss reminded me a lot of Scarlett O'Hara because they were both survivors. In Gone with the Wind, the love triangle between Scarlett/Rhett/Ashley is meant to serve as a symbol for the South's struggle to adapt to the changes that the end of the Civil War brought about, or if it would allow itself to be overcome by its refusal to change with the times.

So with this influence in mind, I couldn't help seeing both Everdeen women as being representatives of Panem -- Mrs. Everdeen was Panem before it attempted rebellion but failed miserably. Mr. Mellark, who was from Mrs. Everdeen's old life that held considerable more comforts (even if it still wasn't great) represented what Panem was before that first rebellion. Mr. Everdeen represented the change, the possibility to improve your quality of life by just being brave enough to rebel against the status quo. Mrs. Everdeen made this choice when she chose a life with Mr. Everdeen, the man she loved, and left her life of comfort to live in the Seam. Unfortunately, just as the first rebellion ended poorly for the districts, and now had an even worse life because of the Hunger Games, Mrs. Everdeen's choice ended similarly when Mr. Everdeen was killed in the mines.

The next generation is born, and now we have Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. Katniss is what Panem has become in the story's present time. Worse than things used to be (and now we have evidence of this, knowing things were still less harsh for the districts during the events of TBoSBaS). Panem is surviving, but not thriving. And the same can be said for Katniss. Now, the love prospect from the Seam represents Katniss's status quo before the Hunger Games, and before the rebellion. He's Seam, like her, which is just about as bottom rung as you can get in Panem except for maybe the Avoxes. But it's Katniss's life, it's all she's ever known, and because it's familiar and doesn't capture the attention of anyone who can cause her or her family any harm, it's comfortable for her.

Then she goes into the Hunger Games, and along with that, Peeta, who had always been dancing around the backdrop of her life the way thoughts of freedom did in the minds of every citizen of Panem, suddenly becomes a realistic prospect in her life. Despite her defenses telling her not to do it, she can't help choosing compassion and humanity in the face of the Capitol's threats. These things are inherently, deeply rebellious to the Capitol because Snow's number one method to keep control is to keep every single citizen as divided as possible. (This is the point of his little quip at the end of TBoSBaS where he decides if he ever gets married, it'll be for power and not love.)

After her act of rebellion, with the boy who represents actual rebellion because he represents compassion and humanity and hope, she's had a taste of what life could be if she decides to go after it. Panem, too, has seen two teenagers have the absolute audacity to choose to remember each other's humanity on live TV aired on forced viewing across the nation, and suddenly they have a glimpse of this life as well. That's why the act with the berries has such a profound impact on the districts that it tips things over into rebellion.

So come Catching Fire, Katniss now has the choice: does she go towards this new rebellion, the rise against the oppressive system that's stripped her and everyone else of all shreds of what humanity they have? Or does she stay with the boy she's known her whole life, because it's comfortable and safer than the unknown of seeking what she knows in her heart she actually wants?

In the end, Katniss has no choice but to reject the old life, which is so often the case in life. But she does make the choice to embrace the new world and life, just as she made the choice to become the Mockingjay. And even though she lost every single facet of her old life in an unfathomably cruel way, we still see that in the end, she was able to find her way to a life that gives her the freedom she always yearned for. Just as Panem made the choice to fight the second rebellion, and this time succeeded in winning its freedom.