#thg 19

[lovely-tothe-bone]

This is one of my favorite lines of the entire series. It's so flirty in Katniss' way, like when she kisses his bruise after the tribute parade.

She loves Peeta's unpredictability because it's a safe unpredictability. She expects the worst and what she always gets from him is the best. He surprises her by being completely different from anyone she has experienced. Katniss can't even imagine good things, pretty much admits that the only way it happens is in dreams on rare occasions, and here comes this boy who constantly does good things and has incredible talents. It's utterly shocking to her.

He fascinates her from the get go with the bread but continues to do so, on the train, during the parade, during training and on and on to her realization the night before during the rule change announcement and thereafter throughout the series. What she fails to realize here is she is already interested and her brain is just catching up now that she's "allowed" to care about him. Before she was in denial. That's why in the cave we start to see her catching on that things seem Real™.

[lovely-tothe-bone]

The impulsively kiss is as important as the warm & curious kiss. This speaks volumes about Katniss' feelings. Her first kiss is impulsive. On her part! She initiates their first kiss because of a sudden strong urge to act. Then tries to justify it based on a joke Peeta made hours ago, this is part of why she is confused when the Games are over. She is unable to decipher what she did because it was the right thing to do, what was for the Games, and what was based on Real feelings. She can't trust whether the feelings are Real because of the circumstances.

It starts happening immediately after the announcement. She, uncontrollably, calls out Peeta's name followed by a million explanations. It's like she needs to rationalize her excitement over being able to partner with Peeta. Not that these aren't valid reasons but I think her shouting Peeta's name with abandon shocked her. She's used to being calculated and repeatedly she has reacted in unexpected ways when it comes to Peeta. This one puts her in danger though. She is trying to make sense of what she calls a stupid thing to do.

Once she realizes the rule change is because of the star-crossed lovers ploy she has a mixed reaction. She figures out Peeta's been trying to protect her all along and she feels something Real because it makes her smile, but she uses the smile to manipulate the audience.

Even after her rationalizing calling out his name she still doesn't really know why she came after him

As a teenager recognizing a crush for the first time, in the midst of a death match, how would you know what of your feelings is Real and not just trumped up from the situation? How would you know which actions you did because of Real feelings or because it was right to try saving them too or just in order to better your chances of survival?

Originally this was one excruciatingly long post that analyzed three different spots but all these spots are the last 9 chapters of the book so I decided to split this up, sometime this week the next part will be up with a link back to part 1.