Thoughts on Peeta Mellark

In the beginning I never really felt connected to Peeta. I didn’t find myself relating to him in any way, and I honestly thought he wasn’t that interesting. Then, he completely changed my mind with one simple conversation with Katniss.

It was the night before the first games they both competed in, when they couldn’t sleep and found themselves up on the roof talking. Peeta confides in Katniss that he doesn’t want to be just another pawn in the Capitol’s game. He tells her, “They don’t own me. If I’m gonna die, I wanna still be me.” He didn’t want the Capitol to have this power of controlling who he was. There was no weak or scared person in this moment. I only saw an incredibly strong and brave person.

This was the moment when Peeta taught me a lot about myself. He taught me the importance of being true to yourself, and to never lose yourself in other people’s manipulations or power over you. I used to spend a lot of time letting the thoughts of others have control of who I was, and what I did. I didn’t want to be someone nobody would like. In that small, yet powerful, moment between Katniss and Peeta I found a bit of myself.

Why should we allow others to have such power over who we are? Other people can try to manipulate us into being someone we aren’t, or persuade us into doing things that we shouldn’t be doing, but in the end we can still stay true to ourselves. If we are going to live, then we should live our life being our true selves, always.

Peeta is one of the most admirable characters in The Hunger Games. He is just so selfless, kind, and loyal to everyone he comes in contact with. Even Finik realized how special Peeta truly was, especially when fighting against the Capitol, when he said, “Because whatever happened in the past is the past. And no one in this arena was a victor by chance… Except maybe Peeta.” Then Katniss comes to this conclusion, “Finik knows then what Haymitch and I know. About Peeta. Being truly, deep down better than the rest of us.”

I couldn’t agree more with Katniss. Peeta was always better than everyone because he had a good heart. Do you know what was so amazing about Peeta’s character? Yes, I fell in love with him during the roof-top conversation with Katniss, but then he got taken and became a huge piece in the Capitol’s game. They completely used him and turned him into everything he wasn’t. Then, he comes back as a different Peeta, but that good heart of his allows him to become more strong and brave than he was when we first met him. He even drops some truth bombs to help motivate Katniss, “Our lives were never ours, they belong to Snow and our deaths do too. But if you kill him, Katniss, all those deaths, they mean something.”

In the end, Peeta’s good heart allowed him to find his way back to himself, and that’s what made him amazing. His character is one of the most inspirational ones I have ever read. He taught me more about myself than I ever thought he could. He taught me how important love and loyalty are when you feel like you have nothing else to give. He taught me how to be strong, brave, and fight with more than just my fists. He taught me that other people can tear you apart, but it’s all about staying true to your heart, and learning how to always find your way back to who you really are when you’re lost.