I’m going to do this trying to quote as much canon at this as possible because when people say that Katniss and Peeta have elements that are worrisome, it’s not people pulling things out of a hat. In fact, the first point I’m going to tackle is that you say that she was in love with him and couldn’t live without him. And that’s somehow made romantic? Why are we still on and on thinking that not being able to live without someone, as in, you’re physicially unable to and break down and fall apart and the very basis of your sanity collapses if that person’s not around, is romantic? Why?? Are we still??? on that????
Not being able to live without someone is not cute.
You say that Peeta overcame what the Capitol did to him, which was basically brainwashing. Okay, when exactly did Peeta overcome the hijacking? Because in Mockingjay, he’s still having attacks and his pupils dilate and turn to pinpoints in an aggressively and worrisome manner, he’s about to have attacks all the time and that’s in the war. He has to be handcuffed??? When does he overcome the brainwashing???? Is it in some epilogue that I do not know about? On some other novel that I did not read?? There’s no instance in Mockingjay that says Peeta goes back to being normal as in he recovers fully and does not have attacks that mean that he could kill Katniss any moment. In fact close to the epilogue it says “There are still moments when he clutches the back of a chair and hangs on until the flashbacks are over.” Trust me, I’ve looked for moments or something that tells me that Peeta recovered fully and does not go balistic but the book doesn’t tell me that anywhere. So when does he recover, exactly?. The only semblance of a SIGN that points in that direction is the kiss where she says “Stay with me” and he says “Always”, as if he remembers the first time he said those words. And you cannot tell me that a kiss fixes the whole hijacking.
You say Katniss is happy to have a family. iS SHE REALLY?
“It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly. When I first felt her stirring inside of me, I was consumed with a terror that felt as old as life itself. Only the joy of holding her in my arms could tame it. Carrying him was a little easier, but not much.”
Is that happy to you? Is she happy about being pregnant? It’s 15 years later with no Games, which is the argument, that she just had to see that there are no games anymore, and she still is scared of having them! She has to be persuaded into them because Peeta wanted them so badly!
You acknowledge the freeze out Peeta did and that it was petty, okay GOOD, but also you say “ after that he was only ever doing things for her, including the may times he attempted to sacrifice himself for the sake of her happiness.” And we circle back to my opening statement: WHY is it romantic to have someone want to die for you? Sacrifice themselves for you? Why is it romantic that Peeta tells her “she’s his whole life”, and that outside of her he has no reason for living, not even self-preservation, and that’s healthy???? how does that not ring warning bells to you???? Not to mention that he is lying to her in that scene
Now we go to the Everthorne part of your post, and listen… I can be here all night quoting stuff from these books but I’m going to keep it brief, so I’m just going to let the text speak for itself because I’m tired. I’ve been in this fandom for years and the same arguments keep popping up. Find new material honestly, or at least read the text itself.:
Oh, Katniss only kisses Gale when he’s sad? From Mockingjay:
“No. Just the opposite.” Gale pulls a feather out of my hair. “I thought…I’ll never compete with that. No matter how much pain I’m in.” He spins the feather between his thumb and forefinger. “I don’t stand a chance if he doesn’t get better. You’ll never be able to let him go. You’ll always feel wrong about being with me."
"The way I always felt wrong kissing him because of you,” I say. Gale holds my gaze.
“If I thought that was true, I could almost live with the rest of it."
"It is true,” I admit. “But so is what you said about Peeta.”
Guess what? Katniss also kisses Peeta when he’s wounded, too. In fact, it’s what draws her to him in Mockingjay. Don’t look at me funny that’s what the text says.
Oh Katniss never kisses Gale because she wants to? Or because she’s attracted to him?
From Catching Fire, that kiss people love to say was forced on her:
I tried to decide how I felt about the kiss, if I had liked it or resented it, but all I really remembered was the pressure of Gale’s lips and the scent of the oranges that still lingered on his skin. It was pointless comparing it with the many kisses I’d exchanged with Peeta. I still hadn’t figured out if any of those counted.
You say that throughout the series Katniss only sees him as a friend or is never sure of what is happening,
I call him my friend, but in the last year it’s seemed too casual a word for what Gale is to me. A pang of longing shoots through my chest. If only he was with me now!
Gale’s not my boyfriend, but would he be, if I opened that door?
For the first time, I reverse our positions in my head. I imagine watching Gale volunteering to save Rory in the reaping, having him torn from my life, becoming some strange girl’s lover to stay alive, and then coming home with her. Living next to her. Promising to marry her. The hatred I feel for him, for the phantom girl, for everything, is so real and immediate that it chokes me. Gale is mine. I am his. Anything else is unthinkable.
Oh you say that Gale harrasses her about who she wants to be with?
From Mockingjay, you know that time she’s actually confused kissing him:
“Now kiss me.” Bewildered, unblinking, I stand there while he leans in and presses his lips to mine briefly. He examines my face closely. “What’s going on in your head?"
"I don’t know,” I whisper back.
“Then it’s like kissing someone who’s drunk. It doesn’t count,” he says with a weak attempt at a laugh. He scoops up a pile of kindling and drops it in my empty arms, returning me to myself
Such harrassment! Letting her be when she’s confused and not pressuring her! OMG.
And on a final note: You said that Gale fought to kill civilians while Katniss fought hard to stop it?
“So, it’d be easy for you? Using that on people?” I ask.
“I didn’t say that.” Gale drops the bow to his side. “But if I’d had a weapon that could’ve stopped what I saw happen in Twelve…if I’d had a weapon that could have kept you out of the arena…I’d have used it."
She answers me too!!! She also would have used that weapon!!!
She squints at me in doubt, or maybe she’s just trying to get my face in focus. “I didn’t put you in the rotation."
“I’m not sure you could really shoot Peeta, if it came to it,” she says. I speak up so the whole squad can hear me clearly.
“I wouldn’t be shooting Peeta. He’s gone. Johanna’s right. It’d be just like shooting another of the Capitol’s mutts.” It feels good to say something horrible about him, out loud, in public, after all the humiliation I’ve felt since his return
So listen, hate your ships, it’s fine it’s a free world. Say “I hate Everthorne”, say “I love Everlark”, but do it based on the text and actual canon, because we can be here all night quoting books for miles until Thy Kingdom Come, and these are just few instances, I assure you there are more. I can talk to you about the time there are bombs falling around Katniss and Gale and they are fighting for their life, but Katniss is too distracted looking at his lips if you need more evidence of what canon actually says.
Don’t worry, I promise you that Everlark is still canon. The books won’t change if you acknowledge what they say and that they say that Gale is super important to her instead of choosing whatever it is that suits you.
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