Plants appear to play an extremely important role in
the Hunger Games. First of all, many of the main characters are named for
plants. Katniss, Primrose, Clove, and Rue are just a few of the characters who
are given plant names. Many characters’ names, whether plant names or not,
appear to tell important traits about each of the characters, even before the
reader learns much about them. For example, Katniss is named for the small, bluish
tubers that grow near water, which have “leaves like arrowheads.” Her father
tells her that “as long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve” (52). In
this short description of the plant, the reader learns a lot about Katniss.
First of all, her skill with a bow and arrow is unmatched, and this is paralleled
with the arrow-like shape of her plant’s leaves. She also knows how to survive.
Katniss may not be a beautiful plant, but near water it will grow and thrive, just like Katniss the person, who hunts for her family and will do whatever it
takes to keep them and herself alive. With her, her family will never starve,
which is why it is so important for her to fight to get back to them. Next, primrose is a pretty plant that blooms in the
spring. In one interpretation of the flower’s meaning, it is a plant that says “I
can’t live without you” (Flower Dictionary). This appears to be very true at
least for Katniss. Her sister Prim is the most important person in the world to
her, and the thought of living without her leads Katniss to volunteer for the
hunger games, which is a rare occurrence in District 12. Prim is a shy young
girl in the first book, and her beauty and strength just continue to grow
throughout the series. However, she always remains one of the most important
people in Katniss’s life.
Furthermore, plants play a huge role in survival in
the novel. If the characters eat the wrong plants, they will die, such as when Foxface
dies because she eats the poisonous nightlock. This plant kills off a competitor,
as well as allows Katniss and Peeta to win the game when they threaten to eat
it. When Katniss is at home in District 12, she also needed to have a thorough
knowledge of plants in order to find food for her family to survive. Additionally,
the plants that Katniss and Prim use to draw the venom out of their tracker jacker
stings allow both Katniss and Peeta to live. Without that plant, Katniss may
have died. Katniss even uses flowers to decorate Rue’s body after she dies, to honor
her death and recognize the beautiful impact she had on Katniss’s life. The
usage of plants for both naming and plot points in the novel likely connects to
the idea of survival in the novel. Each character does what they can to survive,
and their inner traits as well as the true plants allow them to do so.
I agree with the importance of the plants throughout The Hunger Games. While used to describe the characters of the novel, it also foreshadows the life or death conclusion. Furthering that idea, the theme of nature is also prevalent in every aspect of the novel. In District 12, Katniss uses the forbidden woods to hunt with her handmade bow and arrows. This stretch of nature is what keeps her and Gale's families alive. Katniss' mother's use of plants also keeps others alive, with her medicinal use of them. In the Capitol, the absence of nature and the presence of unnatural colors and clothing is what makes it stand out to Katniss. It is unlike anything she has ever seen, with pink wigs, jeweled clothing, and fake fire. This emphasizes the great contrast between the Capitol and District 12. Then, in the actual games, the return to nature gives the tributes from districts farther from the Capitol an advantage. Because these tributes were more accustomed to living off the land, they had the survival skills needed to stay alive. The tributes from closer districts were trained to fight, but their downfall is exhibited when Katniss and Rue team up to destroy their supplies, leaving them without any survival skills. In the end, the location in nature as well as Katniss' knowledge of plants and ability to hunt, is what keeps her and Peeta alive to eventually win the Hunger Games.
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