“The Hunger Games,” written by Suzanne Collins, edifies readers on the gruesome, gory, and, albeit twisted and cruel, glorious country of Panem, where the main characters of the novel, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, must survive the annual Hunger Games hosted by the evil Capital. “The Hunger Games” truly conveys the emotions and transformations that a tribute endures in the arena. The transformations include physical and mental, and leave the victors emotionally tainted by the end of the Games. Throughout the novel, Collins displays the different characteristics of characters, including their physical appearance and their personality, and most importantly, Collins beautifully details how the various characters in “The Hunger Games” are metaphors for real life objects and ideals. Peeta Mellark, the love interest of Katniss Everdeen, experiences many trials that show who he is as a person, and why he makes the decisions he does in the arena, and out of the arena. Although Peeta portrays himself as someone uninteresting, he is a man of morals, someone who makes odd decisions to save Katniss Everdeen’s life, and his name stands out as something of importance.
Before the annual Hunger Games officially started, Peeta and Katniss talked on the roof before they were to be shipped to the arena. Peeta said that, “I want to die as myself I don’t want them to change me in there” (Collins 141). As someone who maintained a strong set of morals, Peeta wanted to ensure that if he died in the arena, he would at least die knowing that he had not been changed and defeated by the capital. He wanted to leave the Games, whether through death of victory, without having killed anyone. As the book continues, Peeta inadvertently goes against his own wishes, accidentally “killing” Foxface with the berries he had found. Once Katniss let him know that he had acquired his first kill, he acted as if it was nothing special, hiding the...