Considering my previous post, I think I will post an essay I posted on Figment a while ago because I was fed up with people bickering over whether Katniss should've chosen Gale or Peeta.
"Peeta could’ve been a cop-out, though if it were it was because he was definitely the more developed character. Gale did have going for him the “life-long friend”, whereas Peeta had going the decisively more confusing (for Katniss) “I don’t really know you, but we kiss a lot and I’ve been in love with you for a long time plus I’ve save your life a few times and you feel sorta guilty and angry about me in general”
But boys aside, what I really liked about this series was that she didn’t care. Not once did she go pining for either one; they were there to serve their purposes in her life, purposes which had nothing to do with romantic endeavors at all. The romance she feels came mostly from her confusion. Peeta? She faked love for him until she realized that HE wasn’t faking, which caused her to feel guilty and angry (as stated above) plus she was already feeling weird about him because he’d saved her life by throwing the bread; then to make matters MORE confusing, as she’s thrown into circumstances where both of their lives were threatened, she begins to care about his sake because after they’d been trapped in a cave together, risking their lives for each other and “faking” their love for each other the care just started to happen. Katniss had never been in love before, so care makes her confused and then (what do you know) Peeta is whisked away and tortured out of his mind to hate her. The direct contrast between his hate and his prior care makes her even more confused about her feelings.
Then, as for Gale; he was her rock, her dependable friend. She’d never been interested in him in the slightest, that is, until Peeta comes and throws her life (and emotions) into confusion and Gale becomes jealous. Here’s Katniss, guilty at not feeling anything for Peeta while he was in love with her, and now Gale comes along and he shows his obvious disapproval of something that she never wanted in the first place. Not to dismiss Gale, however, as he was most likely realizing his own emotions over Katniss by seeing her with someone else. After all, she was always irrefutably HIS, that is, until this stranger waltzed in and confused her. Gale probably doesn’t realize what he feels over her either, so that leaves the two of them just strange and distant, as though Peeta were always between them. And then, there’s the whipping scene; Gale’s confused Katniss with two kisses by now (or was it one? I don’t remember exactly), plus she still believes (or hopes more like) that her emotions to Peeta are purely platonic, AND Gale is her closest friend, right? Everyone expected them to get together and all that. So naturally as she sees that Gale is in massive pain, crippled and unconscious, she gets confused (in the same way that she was over Peeta when he gets hurt).
All of this winds her up into a girl who can’t tell what she’s feeling, even though she never wanted to fall in love or even be confused into thinking she is. As she’s completely torn between these two boys she didn’t want in her life like this, she turns to one then the other as each falter. Peeta’s gone? Gale is her number one companion. Gale designs the bomb that kills her sister? Peeta.
On the topic of the bombing, OF COURSE she would choose Peeta. Here’s what’s happening at this point:
Gale and Peeta are virtually neck and neck so far as her emotions go for them. She’s too broken by the games and the Captiol to go on her own with no emotional support anymore, and she refuses to rely on her mother, her sister, or Haymitch (well, who would rely on Haymitch for emotional support?) so that leaves the two people she IS willing to rely on, no matter how twisted her feelings are or how convoluted her reasoning: Peeta and Gale.
Then her sister dies. It may have been a cheap death, but it was world-shattering for Katniss; literally, her only reason for being alive (she wouldn’t have tried to survive a number of things if it weren’t for Prim) is gone, and Katniss feels irrationally that she should’ve saved her. She’s wracked with grief and hatred for herself and the Capitol, and she is DONE with emotional babbling from two boys she would’ve preferred never have cared that much about her in the first place. When she finds out that Gale set the bomb, she found something concrete and simple to vent all her anger and hatred and frustration into; she is NOT willing for second chances. Gale is completely out of the picture for her, and she finally can choose, so she chooses Peeta. Not just because she’s mad at Gale, remember, but because they’ve been through so much and care about each other in confusing ways.
As for why Gale drops out of the picture? I don’t really know, but I assume that Katniss wasn’t even giving him the time of day, he had no reason to stick around and watch the happy couple if he couldn’t even be friends with Katniss anymore (though, even without the bombing incident, I doubt they could’ve remained friends without teetering back into romance). IF he had managed to stick around and not become bitter about Katniss and Peeta (which I doubt given his already possessive ideology on Katniss), then she may have forgiven him and the ending would’ve been less happy-go-lucky and more turbulent. But as it is, Katniss can choose, and she can vent all her remaining resentments and guilts surrounding Prim and the Capitol (and possibly the man himself) in Gale.
So, all of this is why I say team Katniss all the way!
"Peeta could’ve been a cop-out, though if it were it was because he was definitely the more developed character. Gale did have going for him the “life-long friend”, whereas Peeta had going the decisively more confusing (for Katniss) “I don’t really know you, but we kiss a lot and I’ve been in love with you for a long time plus I’ve save your life a few times and you feel sorta guilty and angry about me in general”
But boys aside, what I really liked about this series was that she didn’t care. Not once did she go pining for either one; they were there to serve their purposes in her life, purposes which had nothing to do with romantic endeavors at all. The romance she feels came mostly from her confusion. Peeta? She faked love for him until she realized that HE wasn’t faking, which caused her to feel guilty and angry (as stated above) plus she was already feeling weird about him because he’d saved her life by throwing the bread; then to make matters MORE confusing, as she’s thrown into circumstances where both of their lives were threatened, she begins to care about his sake because after they’d been trapped in a cave together, risking their lives for each other and “faking” their love for each other the care just started to happen. Katniss had never been in love before, so care makes her confused and then (what do you know) Peeta is whisked away and tortured out of his mind to hate her. The direct contrast between his hate and his prior care makes her even more confused about her feelings.
Then, as for Gale; he was her rock, her dependable friend. She’d never been interested in him in the slightest, that is, until Peeta comes and throws her life (and emotions) into confusion and Gale becomes jealous. Here’s Katniss, guilty at not feeling anything for Peeta while he was in love with her, and now Gale comes along and he shows his obvious disapproval of something that she never wanted in the first place. Not to dismiss Gale, however, as he was most likely realizing his own emotions over Katniss by seeing her with someone else. After all, she was always irrefutably HIS, that is, until this stranger waltzed in and confused her. Gale probably doesn’t realize what he feels over her either, so that leaves the two of them just strange and distant, as though Peeta were always between them. And then, there’s the whipping scene; Gale’s confused Katniss with two kisses by now (or was it one? I don’t remember exactly), plus she still believes (or hopes more like) that her emotions to Peeta are purely platonic, AND Gale is her closest friend, right? Everyone expected them to get together and all that. So naturally as she sees that Gale is in massive pain, crippled and unconscious, she gets confused (in the same way that she was over Peeta when he gets hurt).
All of this winds her up into a girl who can’t tell what she’s feeling, even though she never wanted to fall in love or even be confused into thinking she is. As she’s completely torn between these two boys she didn’t want in her life like this, she turns to one then the other as each falter. Peeta’s gone? Gale is her number one companion. Gale designs the bomb that kills her sister? Peeta.
On the topic of the bombing, OF COURSE she would choose Peeta. Here’s what’s happening at this point:
Gale and Peeta are virtually neck and neck so far as her emotions go for them. She’s too broken by the games and the Captiol to go on her own with no emotional support anymore, and she refuses to rely on her mother, her sister, or Haymitch (well, who would rely on Haymitch for emotional support?) so that leaves the two people she IS willing to rely on, no matter how twisted her feelings are or how convoluted her reasoning: Peeta and Gale.
Then her sister dies. It may have been a cheap death, but it was world-shattering for Katniss; literally, her only reason for being alive (she wouldn’t have tried to survive a number of things if it weren’t for Prim) is gone, and Katniss feels irrationally that she should’ve saved her. She’s wracked with grief and hatred for herself and the Capitol, and she is DONE with emotional babbling from two boys she would’ve preferred never have cared that much about her in the first place. When she finds out that Gale set the bomb, she found something concrete and simple to vent all her anger and hatred and frustration into; she is NOT willing for second chances. Gale is completely out of the picture for her, and she finally can choose, so she chooses Peeta. Not just because she’s mad at Gale, remember, but because they’ve been through so much and care about each other in confusing ways.
As for why Gale drops out of the picture? I don’t really know, but I assume that Katniss wasn’t even giving him the time of day, he had no reason to stick around and watch the happy couple if he couldn’t even be friends with Katniss anymore (though, even without the bombing incident, I doubt they could’ve remained friends without teetering back into romance). IF he had managed to stick around and not become bitter about Katniss and Peeta (which I doubt given his already possessive ideology on Katniss), then she may have forgiven him and the ending would’ve been less happy-go-lucky and more turbulent. But as it is, Katniss can choose, and she can vent all her remaining resentments and guilts surrounding Prim and the Capitol (and possibly the man himself) in Gale.
So, all of this is why I say team Katniss all the way!
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