Character Sketch: Mockingjay

Character Sketch

Katniss Everdeen was born on May 8^th in District 12.  She is 5’7 and 17 years old in Mockingjay and was named after Katniss: an edible plant root.  Her father died when she was eight, after which her mother went into a state of depression leaving Katniss to provide for her mother and sister, Prim. Since then, Katniss has been the hunter and provider for the rest of her family, making her independent, strong-willed and a survivor.  While in the arena, Katniss’ defiant, rebellious, lethal and angry personality is made known in her biggest acts, stemming from her instincts to act, even with irrationality. However, in Mockingjay, she has changed from the girl who volunteered for her sister in The Hunger Games, to a withdrawn, passive person that has become angrier than before.  After both of her games, she’s culminated a great amount of traumatisation from her experiences that she screams uncontrollably when asleep, has vivid flashbacks to the arena, and hides in closets to shut herself out from the world.  Katniss becomes the face of the rebellion taking place, eventually taking on the role of the Mockingjay.  Since she goes through reciting facts about herself to grasp her own sense of her identity, she comes to hate the weight of the districts that was thrust upon her during the revolution.   In the book, she is described as having straight, black hair that's usually in a braid down her back, an olive skin tone and grey eyes, typical of the Seam, where she grew up.  In Mockingjay, she wears a plain grey shirt and pants, the same as the rest of the District 13 residents; while in the propos, she wears the Mockingjay suit, with her Mockingjay pin placed over her heart, which was designed by Cinna, her stylist in both of her games.  Katniss is the protagonist and narrator throughout the book and also a round character.  She becomes “the face, the voice, the embodiment of the revolution” (1.28) and “the symbol of the revolution” (1.28) and she acts as a symbol as herself and as the Mockingjay.  When all of Panem believes that Katniss dies, the rebel President Coin uses her death to make her into a martyr, who the districts will fight for if their resolve wavers, all the while giving the districts enough strength and purpose to rid them of their oppressors.  As the Mockingjay, Katniss represents a person that was never suppose to be created and that the Capitol never intended to happen, but are still around because they persist in surviving, hence why the Mockingjay is the symbol of the rebellion. Katniss’ change in personality that she has experienced from her time in the arena is represented by the quote: “So have you. So have I. And Finnick and Haymitch and Beetee. Don’t get me started on Annie Cresta. The arena messed us all up pretty good, don’t you think? Or do you still feel like the girl who volunteered for your sister?” (17.45).  However, despite her changes in personality, she continues to protect those she loves as well as those who are weak, and in the end comes to value life, meaning, that killing the innocent for whatever reason is wrong and that anyone willing to kill innocent children, cannot be good.