After completing the Hunger Games series a few weeks ago, I’ve decided two things: 1. Katniss is more oblivious than new parents who think their alien looking baby is the cutest thing in the world and 2. In my opinion, there was never really much of a love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale to begin with. Yes, the series has been deemed “the new Twilight” but in all honesty, I never got the impression that Katniss felt anything more than a deep love between best friends for Gale.
What people seem to forget is that Katniss is only 16/17 during the series. She’s had a rough life and up until she was in the Hunger Games she had no intentions of getting married or having children, ever. It was only after the idea of marriage was forced on her that she began to question what she really wanted in a life partner. But let’s be real, you never know these things until either A. You collide head first with your perfect match or B. You have an epiphany (usually after some life-altering experience) that what you’ve been looking for has been staring you in the face for an embarrassingly long period of time.
In Katniss’ case, she was presented with so many obstacles from the moment she became aware of her potential feelings for both boys that she hardly ever had a chance to seriously stop and consider her options. Most of the people who’ve read these books have no idea what it’s like to be on the brink of starvation and unsure of where their next meal will come from. Had she been safely tucked away at home with no impending uprisings and no rosy smelling president who wants her dead, she might not have taken so long to make this decision.
Honestly, I think Gale is a little bit of a jackass for knowing he had feelings for Katniss and never saying anything about it. Yes, they were best friends, and taking that step can be awkward, but he can’t be upset when someone else swoops in and shows interest when he sat around for months and never dropped hints that he liked her. When you really think about it, Peeta said that he had been in love with Katniss since they were five. Now, I don’t think five year olds understand true love, but the fact that he felt some sort of love for her for over eleven years despite them never speaking is unbearably adorable and also mildly creepy. Either way, this makes Gale’s feelings even more worthless because his proclamation of love (or whatever) seems to come out of the convenience of their relationship: they get along, she’s independent, etc.
It should also be noted that during the series Katniss had plenty of opportunities to get rid of Peeta. He was really holding her back in the Games (books 1&2) and threatening the rebel operation (book 3). However, even after all of the trouble Peeta caused, she refused to kill him. Even when she didn’t want to be around him, she had an innate need to protect him that kept bringing her back to him. He was the only one who really understood the emotional scarring that comes with surviving the Hunger Games (twice) and sometimes, when you experience something that traumatic, the only way to get past it is to lean on someone else who’s had the same experience. It becomes more obvious throughout the final installment that this is very important to Katniss, whenever Gale speaks lightly of the Games or killing someone she gets upset because as much as she wants him to understand, he just can’t. Peeta and Katniss help each other by being for the other one what they are not, whereas Gale and Katniss are more alike and don’t have anything new to offer the other one. Though there are clearly some mixed emotions and a whole lot of confusion through out the series, it was never really a question of whom Katniss would pick, but when she would do so.
Read the unabridged version of this article at my blog.