What does peeta represent in the hunger games

To survive, Peeta uses his exceptional camouflaging skills to hide until Katniss finds him and nurses him back to health. While Katniss doubts Peeta's love for her, thinking that he is only keeping up the "lover boy" act, he seems genuine throughout the novel and feels betrayed in the end when he discovers that Katniss has not been as sincere as he has.

Previous Katniss Everdeen. Next Gale Hawthorne. When Peeta Mellark is selected as the tribute for District 12, all we really know about him is that he's a baker's son, a little bit emotional 3.

Over the course of the novel, though, we learn that he played a large part in helping Katniss's family survive after her father's death. For this, Katniss feels deeply indebted to him. Peeta is also totally and completely in love with Katniss Everdeen. Peeta's character serves, at times, as a contrast to Katniss's. Whereas she is a provider and a survivor, Peeta is just the opposite: he's not much of an outdoorsman, is in touch with his soft side, and comes from a world very different from Katniss's.

His family, while they end up eating stale bread, never goes hungry: they are of the more privileged merchant class. As such, Peeta's character helps develop many of the novel's major themes: love, hope, class, and identity.

Peeta's been in love with Katniss ever since he first saw her back in grade school and heard her singing that catchy valley song. He's the one who instigated the whole romance plot by confessing his feelings for Katniss on camera.

As for Peeta, he truly believes in the part he is acting. Peeta is way into all of the kissing and cuddling and love talk. His father, we also find out, had it bad for Katniss's mother. A love of Everdeen women is generational in Peeta's family. His ongoing affections make him a symbol of the hopeless romantic — a role he plays exceedingly well both on and off camera. The male tribute from District 12, Peeta is in love with Katniss and becomes her main ally and romantic interest during the Games.

Peeta is best characterized by his love for Katniss and willingness to sacrifice himself for her. During the Games, he is similarly selfless when he saves Katniss after she comes back to retrieve the bow but finds herself suddenly stunned by the tracker jacker stings. To allow Katniss to escape, Peeta fights Cato, the most deadly of the other tributes, and suffers a serious injury as a result.

They receive a spile from sponsors, which allows them to tap trees and collect water from inside them. Katniss keeps watch the first night until she alerts the other three of a rapidly approaching poisonous fog , which causes severe blistering and paralysis.

Peeta, due to his earlier accident and his artificial leg, has difficulty keeping up, forcing Finnick to carry him on his back and Katniss to carry Mags. Eventually exhausted and affected by the fog, Katniss can no longer keep Mags on her back and asks if Finnick can, but he is too winded to do so.

Mags then plants a kiss on Finnick's lips and walks straight into the mist, allowing them to continue on by sacrificing herself. The fog stops chasing them when they reach the water, which they use to recover from the poison.

Peeta taps a tree for water, but as he does so, Katniss and Finnick spot monkey muttations in the trees. Trying to calmly get him to back away from the tree, Katniss asks him to "look at something," but Peeta instinctively glances up and sets the monkeys off. The three of them form a triangular shape and fend off the monkeys, but when Katniss runs out of arrows, she asks Peeta to release the sheath that she gave him, giving a monkey time to nearly sink its claws into Peeta's chest; he is spared as the female Morphling from District 6 suddenly jumps in the way and is killed by the muttation.

The monkeys retreat, and Peeta stays by the Morphling's side, telling her about his paintings and colors, to soothe her into death. Once they recover from the monkey attack, they travel through the arena until they run into Johanna Mason , Wiress , and Beetee , who they add to their alliance.

The groups pool their resources and experience conflict when it is clear that Johanna and Katniss loathe each other, but they keep vigilance of their surroundings, especially for the Career tributes. Wiress keeps muttering, "Tick, tock," until Katniss discovers what it means: the arena structure is virtually similar to a clock. Peeta draws a map of the arena on a leaf, marking the sections where they know what particular dangers exist at varying times.

Wiress then serves as the group's "canary," singing a song that will only stop if she detects danger. When Katniss no longer hears the song, she turns around to find that Gloss has slit Wiress' throat and reflexively shoots him. Johanna then digs her axe into Cashmere 's chest. When three cannons go off, the group tries to attack Enobaria and Brutus , but they marginally manage to escape. On the second night, the alliance discusses Beetee's plan to wipe out the remaining Careers by electrocution, using his wire and coil, the lightning bolt that strikes the tree at midnight, and the beach.

On the third day, Katniss pretends to teach Peeta how to swim in order to talk to him alone. She suggests that they break off their alliance, but Peeta tells her to wait. Meanwhile, he uses this opportunity to give her a pearl and a locket with a picture of her family on one side and Gale on the other, trying to convince her not to sacrifice her life for him, as he realizes that she and Haymitch want to keep him alive.

He insists that he would have nothing to live for if Katniss died, but that she could still start a family with Gale. He tells her that his family does not need him.

Katniss, protests, saying that she needs him. Katniss then kisses him and at that point, he realizes that it wasn't for the cameras and that she actually meant it. That night, they decide to commence Beetee's plan, with Katniss and Johanna reluctantly teaming up and setting the wire in place, while Peeta, Finnick, and Beetee fulfill the rest of the plan. Peeta does not want to separate from Katniss, but she kisses him and tells him that it is necessary and that she'll "see [him] at midnight.

Katniss is ensnared and unconscious. As Johanna flees after jabbing something sharp into her arm, Katniss believes that Johanna has betrayed her, that it is too late to escape with Peeta.

In truth, Katniss then remembers Haymitch's advice to her - "remember the enemy" - and she shoots an arrow at the forcefield, destroying it. The Capitol arrives to capture the remaining six tributes, but Katniss, Finnick, and Beetee are rescued by the rebellion to go to District 13 , which was told by the Capitol that it was destroyed and it no longer exists.

Peeta is among those captured by the Capitol along with Enobaria and Johanna , where Katniss believes he is being tortured for information he does not have. Katniss is informed of the prior plans that Beetee, Finnick, Johanna, a few other tributes, Plutarch Heavensbee , and even Haymitch were involved in. Katniss, furious over the plan and the failed rescue of Peeta, lashes out at Haymitch, using her nails to create a long scratch down his face. In the third and final book, Mockingjay , Peeta is held captive by President Snow and used against Katniss.

During his captivity, he was tortured, beaten, and hijacked using tracker jacker venom to distort his memories of Katniss until he believed she was a mutt trying to kill him.

The Capitol interrogated him for answers he did not have, the main reason for his torture seeming to be how it would unsettle Katniss and by extension hinder the rebellion. Peeta first appears in an interview with Caesar Flickerman, where he explains what happened in the Quell arena before the force field blew up and aggressively defends Katniss' innocence. Peeta finishes the interview by stating that a cease-fire is the best option for the rebels, otherwise, human life may cease to exist.

Katniss notes he appears healthy. Katniss also decides to be the rebels' Mockingjay, on the condition that once Peeta, Johanna, Annie and Enobaria are rescued, they must not be held liable for any mistakes they have made Katniss knows they probably won't keep this condition, so she makes President Coin announce it in public.

After more Propos begin airing from the rebels, Peeta appears in another interview, fifteen pounds thinner, and completely ill in appearance. Katniss is initially baffled by how much Peeta has changed until she realizes there were no indications in the previous interview of when it was actually filmed, and could have been taped weeks ago.

He and Caesar exchange empty comments and Caesar asks for his view of the rumors that Katniss is shooting a propo. Peeta states that Katniss shouldn't trust anyone and that they are using her. In his last comment of the interview, he suggests that Katniss should find out what the rebels are really planning.

Peeta tries to warn Katniss of the incoming attack on 13 during his third interview. Peeta is interviewed by Caesar for the third time. He implies that District 13 will be bombed after saying, "And you After the bombing and much thinking, Katniss has a breakdown in the middle of shooting a propo. She knows the Capitol is using Peeta, torturing him to try to break her, so she will stop the rebellion and let the Capitol regain power.

Katniss can't stand this and breaks down when she's asked to film, as does Finnick. After witnessing both Finnick's, and Katniss' breakdowns, a rescue mission is staged.

After distracting the Capitol with live propaganda, Peeta and the other captors are rescued. Katniss rushes to his side and is stunned when he attempts to strangle her.

It is revealed that he was "hijacked", and Peeta's memories of Katniss are severely distorted in frightening, life-threatening ways; consequently, he becomes very hysterical and unstable.

He believes that Katniss is a mutt designed by the Capitol intent on destroying him, who tried to kill him before and succeeded in killing all of his friends and family. Peeta believes that Katniss is responsible for the destruction of District 12 and the lives of its residents. He lashes out in uncharacteristic fits of rage, retreats into his own head, temporarily loses the power of speech, cannot differentiate between what is an illusion and what is reality, and at one point argues with himself in a fit of madness as if he is two different people.

He is only allowed to be treated by people he never knew before as not to trigger anything harmful. Delly Cartwright is the only one able to make contact with him in the beginning, as they share old childhood memories. He shouts that the destruction of District 12 is Katniss' fault and calls her a mutt. Peeta says he remembers Mr. Everdeen singing " The Hanging Tree " when he came to the bakery when Peeta was little. After that episode, Katniss begins to avoid Peeta and blames him for all of her problems, until Haymitch tells Katniss that if she were hijacked, Peeta would be doing all he could to save her.

This causes her to realize that she has been pushing him away, and she feels guilty. After Katniss is shot in District Two, she notices that Peeta has improved slightly, even being able to frost Annie and Finnick Odair's cake, for their wedding. Haymitch states that he has certain episodes, sometimes becoming rabid, or acting like two different people.

He also mentions that Peeta can only sleep if he is in shackles. He is able to have a full conversation with Haymitch and he asks if he could speak with Katniss. Katniss ends the conversation quickly and tries to leave, but Peeta stops her by saying he remembers the bread he gave her so she and her family wouldn't starve.

Peeta tells Finnick to take care of Annie. Peeta and Katniss continue to be harsh to one another until Johanna points out that he is not the same person anymore.

To help him cope with his confusion between memories that are real and memories that have been hijacked, the team devises a game to play with him called "Real or Not Real? This causes him to panic, and he kicks Mitchell into a trap that when it set off, releases a net of barbed wire. He feels deep remorse about it later and insists that they leave him to the Capitol.

Peeta is so saddened by killing Mitchell that he pleads for death. He asks for a nightlock pill, but Katniss refuses. The squad travels underground, and Katniss notes that for a moment Peeta seemed to be himself. During the night, Katniss is able to have a civil conversation with him.

Peeta asks if she is trying to protect him, and she tells him she is still trying to protect him as he is still trying to protect her. The squad is later attacked by lizard mutts that hiss Katniss' name. When Katniss tries to take the handcuffs off of Peeta, he resists and explains that they help him gain a grip on reality by pressing the sharp edges of the cuffs against his wrists.

When they are underground, Peeta huddles himself together. He is frightened of everything that he knows, thinks, feels, and how he acts. Katniss finally gets him to keep going by kissing him, reminding him of memories of times when he loved her, and he relaxes. They later go undercover into crowds of evacuating people, splitting up. Katniss and Peeta say their goodbyes. He goes in first with the nightlock pill that was given to him by Gale.

On the day of President Snow's execution, Katniss kills President Coin instead with the arrow that was meant for Snow. Katniss tries to commit suicide by swallowing her nightlock pill when the guards come for her, but Peeta stops her by grabbing her wrists, preventing her from swallowing them.

When Katniss tells him to let go of her, Peeta says he can't. He implies later that he too went mad after Coin's death and that Aurelius , Katniss' psychiatrist, was treating him as well. A few months later, he returns to District Twelve, having largely recovered from his brainwashing after Katniss and Haymitch, where he plants several evening primroses along the house in honor of Katniss' dead sister, Prim. He and Haymitch join Katniss when she decides to write a book about their experiences during the Hunger Games, along with things she is unwilling to forget.

Peeta draws the victims if they were not able to find pictures of them. He still has some "episodes" where the hijacking will try to take over again. He clenches onto the back of a chair until it passes.

Otherwise, he displays signs that he has returned to his normal self.