The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion - Plot & Excerpts
They use torture, of course, to intimidate people, deter possible uprisings, and to punish supposed traitors. Given that torture tends to shock people into downward spirals of fear and terror, it’s no surprise that Peeta basically loses his mind and Katniss suffers from constant nightmares. The two are so intertwined that her nightmares whip into frenzies of torture scenes in which Peeta is being mutilated, beaten, burned, drowned, and shocked with electricity (Mockingjay, 9). Suzanne Collins has said that her own father suffered from terrible nightmares after returning from Vietnam and that as a child she heard him “crying out” at night.1 In large part, it’s Peeta’s change from a happy-go-lucky, delightful, loving, giving boy into a terrified zombie-like drone that pushes Katniss toward him. She empathizes with him and feels responsible, if only out of friendship, to help him, but given that he can’t distinguish reality from whatever’s swirling in his mind, and given that he’s convinced she’s an enemy who needs to die, it’s a battle for her to help him.
What do You think about The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion?
