Peeta Mellark is an integral member of the four D12 victors. He is literally the sunset on the reaping! How is this not clear? Iâve never wanted to report people for bad literary analysis more and Iâm only half joking. It has forced me to commit a cardinal sin: analyze in anger!
1. Him being chosen by absolute accident is the point. Not only does he represent every single other tribute who simply gets chosen because they live in a messed up country but he represents how even with some odds being in your favor (older siblings, merchant family, being white, being popular, etc.) you are still very likely to be victimized by the oppressive structure of Panem.
2. When Haymitch says, âBut she was smarter than me, or luckierâ - the luck is all the people around Katniss who created the circumstances for her to lead a successful revolution (her father teaching her to hunt, the arena having woods, Rue healing her with leaves, Thresh not killing her, Haymitch consistently giving her support, her mother teaching her aspects of medicine, on and on and on) and Peeta is the number one, most important part of her luck in the first book. She has someone in the games actively putting her life before his⌠are you kidding? There is legitimately no better luck than that.
3. Even if we take Katniss out of it, Peeta is so impactful as a victor because most of his scenes would not be cut/doctored. Whatâs there to edit out? Instead, the viewers get a full view of him loving a girl so selflessly, using trickery and strategy instead of violence, keeping himself alive through art, joking on literal deathâs door, and sharing so much of himself with the audience it becomes harder for them not to see him as a real human boy. How rare do you think that is for the games? Haymitch and LGB are caricatures of themselves in the games, playing roles that flatten them down. Even Katniss becomes one dimensional on screen without Peeta (and Rue, of course). It is also heavily implied that he does not kill anyone during the games (in a straightforward way) and even if you count Cato or the girl from 8 or even foxface, itâs never him hunting them or seeking out a kill - again how rare do you think that is to see on screen for Games viewers?
4. I didnât think this needed to be said but: Katniss dies without Peeta in the first games. a) she goes for the bow and dies in the bloodbath; b) she is hunted and killed by Careers; c) she is killed by game makers because thereâs no love story angle to keep them from just burning her entirely; d) she dies from tracker jacker stings or Cato because Peeta doesnât defend her or tell her to run⌠I could go onâŚ
5. But even if she does win and wins alone - the victory means as much (I would argue less than) any other rebellious victor winning, certainly less than Haymitchâs win. The biggest rebellion for their games is that two of them win! This is legit the only thing that distinguishes them from any other sympathetic, kind child who would have won the games. Like if Haymitch or Finnick or Wiress winning isnât jarring enough for the Games to end⌠why do you think Katniss killing Peeta and winning solo would be? It would not.
6. And finally, I cannot stress this enough: There is no peaceful end to the rebellion or the trilogy without Peeta. âPeetaâs a whiz with firesâ (HG) for a reason! Collins, over and over, shows us how fire can get out of control and destroy even those who are innocent and who you love (Gale, Beete, Peetaâs family, Haymitchâs family). If everyone really burns, thereâs no one to clean the ashes. The reason not everyone burns is because of people like Peeta who can coax the flames in a way that is nurturing and consistent. I meanâŚ. âPeeta fashioned some kind of incubatorâ is such an obvious detail. Those goslings donât hatch without Peeta, life does not go on in peace and joy without Peeta.
It is no coincidence that when Maysilee says Lenore Dove got the âjump on us allâ (in being a rebel), she is referring to LD using orange paint to make protest art!
We must stop pushing Peeta Mellark out of the narrative! He is literally the sunset on the reaping!
