I already know the majority of my mutuals will likely agree with everything I am about to say, but there is a serious amount of casual fans that hold true to their claims that the “old Peeta” is dead. Edits upon edits are made about this, and the amount of traction they get aggravates me greatly. Because this is NOT the case at all, and it genuinely has warped the resilient arc that Suzanne crafted for Peeta in Mockingjay.
Going from latest events in the book to earliest, these readers read about Peeta planting the primroses, saving Katniss from unaliving herself and refusing to “let her go” (not just in the physical sense in that moment, by the way), voting most passionately against a Capitol games, very plausibly having been the one to put out the fire on Katniss from the two-tiered explosion and obtaining his burns while doing so (there is a deleted scene of Josh Hutcherson doing this), hyping up Tigris for her fashion skills with his trademark, sunny disposition, clearly already indicating his capacity to long for Katniss to choose him again during the conversation with Gale while still battling his mind, knowing the exact right words to alleviate Katniss of the guilt she was feeling over every 451 squad member they had lost (which everybody else was trying and failing at), reiterating his promise that he would always stay with her, saving Katniss from the lizard mutts and having the most level head amongst the group in the most high-stress situation their squad experienced, knowing the exact right words to commend and cheer up Pollux for the asset he could be for their squad, giving Katniss the can of lamb stew on a whim WITHOUT needing to confirm with anybody that it was her favorite, begging to be unalived because he couldn’t bear another person dying by his hands, of course remembering Katniss’s favorite color before he could remember his own, scolding/arguing with HIMSELF about how he had just treated Katniss at that awkward group meal, decorating Finnick and Annie’s wedding cake with such intricacy, having an audio of Katniss singing be the first thing that didn’t make him enraged and receiving his first, true onslaught of memories through that, and SOMEHOW many readers come to the aforementioned conclusion.
Peeta, who if they didn’t have a photo to put in the memory book, would sketch or paint that person from MEMORY. Peeta, who brought bread over out of a long-old habit the morning after his return to District 12, symbolizing the LIFE he will provide for her again. Peeta, who continued being this symbolic life-giver by building the life-sustaining incubator for Haymitch’s geese. Peeta, who is Katniss’s “dandelion in the spring” both at the beginning of the series and the end of it, symbolizing REBIRTH even after the harshest winter (the hijacking). Peeta, whose kind and good nature being especially showcased was always the precursor to the kisses that gave Katniss a hunger for him, and therefore her reporting on that hunger again must mean his very nature she loves so dearly returned as if no lapse had ever occurred. Peeta, who regained his innate instinct to take care of Katniss and love her with every fiber of himself. Peeta, who made Katniss feel safe enough to have children and brought her a brand new kind of joy in them. Peeta, who must make up ninety-percent of the list Katniss makes of any act of goodness she’s ever witnessed, which she uses just as much as his strong arms in the night to cope. This is the man they claim is so drastically different from the boy we first met.
Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way downplaying the canonical, long-term effects of his torture that Peeta will experience for the rest of his life (though Katniss making no mention of it in the epilogue, despite being honest about her own lingering setbacks, leads me to believe it improved drastically with time). I am simply posting this to prove that the CORE of who Peeta is returned in full. Every thing she has always loved about him came back. There is no “old Peeta” or “new Peeta,” there’s just PEETA.
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