This is an essay I wrote for university. Again, I haven't made any changes after submitting it. There was a comment by the tutor that I particularly liked and kind of added to my ideas really well but unfortunately I can't access it now (it was online)... This essay includes spoilers for the Hunger Games trilogy so if you haven't read it yet, stop reading now!
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After reading the Hunger Games trilogy, readers are left with some niggling questions. Why is Katniss unaware of her mother’s psychological state at the beginning of the story? Why is Katniss so cool towards both Gale and Peeta throughout the series and why does it take so long for her to choose between them? Why does Prim have to die? Why does Katniss decide to have children when she has been against the idea for so long? According to the idea of Freudian psychoanalytic criticism, such literary mysteries can be easily explained by applying Freud’s theories. For example, in the Shakespearean play Hamlet, Hamlet’s uncle murders his own brother (Hamlet’s father) then marries his sister-in-law (Hamlet’s mother). The mystery there is that Hamlet is reluctant to avenge his father’s death when he’s not so squeamish about killing other people, and psychoanalysis provides the simple solution that “Hamlet cannot avenge this crime because he is guilty of wanting to commit the same himself. He has an Oedipus complex, that is, a repressed sexual desire for his own mother, and a consequent with to do away with his father” (Barry 101). So if Freud picked up the three Hunger Games books and delved into their pages, what would he have to say about their mysteries? I used the Freud Reader, a collection of Freud’s various essays, to answer these questions.
The tenuous relationship between Katniss and her mother can be explained by referring to the Oedipus complex. The complex is a well-known one and its name comes from the Greek mythological character Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother. In real life, the complex is part of natural human development and involves the little boy developing an intense sexual desire towards his mother and therefore perceiving his father as an obstacle to his wishes (Freud 640). So what does this have to do with Katniss when she is neither a boy nor little? The fact is, the Oedipus complex does not only develop in boys, it develops in girls as well, albeit in a slightly different way (Freud 664). When the little girl realises that she does not have a penis, she thinks that she has been castrated and falls victim to a case of penis-envy. She blames her mother for her lack of a penis and bringing her into the world insufficiently equipped (Freud 675). She wants to take her mother’s place, adopts a feminine attitude towards her father (Freud 665) and desires to have a baby by her father (Freud 767). Being part of natural development, this complex would have developed in Katniss as well, just like everyone else. She would have felt the intense sexual desire towards her father and considered her mother to be an obstacle.
“Oedipus complex is such an important thing that the manner in which one enters and leaves cannot be without its effects” (Freud 677). Katniss, it is evident, has not overcome her Oedipus complex by the beginning of the Hunger Games. For one thing, she is sixteen years old and may not yet have completed puberty, the stage in which children detach themselves from parental authority and leave their Oedipus complexes behind (Freud 291). Also, girls’ childish love tend to persist beyond puberty more than with boys (Freud 291). The most important point however, is that Katniss’s father died in a mining explosion when Katniss was only eleven, before the onset of puberty. She did not have much chance or time to experience the required painful disappointments in her relationship with her father in order to destroy the Oedipus complex. The continued denial of the desired baby is the strongest of these painful disappointments (Freud 665) but with Katniss, that desire is actually fulfilled in a way. After her father died, her mother became ill and could no longer take care of Prim or the household. With her mother out of the picture, Katniss successfully puts herself in her mother’s position to not only take care of the house, but to become the mother figure for Prim who is her father’s child. This reinforces the Oedipus complex for Katniss.
It becomes known later on in the series that whatever condition Katniss’s mother is suffering from can be cured with medicine. This information was readily available to Katniss if she only she cared to look; her own mother was an apothecary after all. So why hasn’t she said or done anything to improve her mother’s condition so far? Moreover, why does she seem completely unaware of her mother’s illness? The answer is simple. On the surface Katniss appears to have a hard time taking care of her family and resents her mother for abandoning her. Deep down in her unconscious on the other hand, is her secret repressed wish to maintain the status quo of becoming her own mother and raising her father’s child. Therefore her unconscious prevents her from acknowledging her mother’s illness, in order to fulfil her wish.
The cool attitude Katniss adopts towards Peeta and Gale throughout all the three books and the reason she takes so long to choose between them can be explained through the effects of Oedipus complex. Girls who don’t fully detach from parental authority “in their later marriage lack the capacity to give their husbands what is due them, make cold wives and remain sexually anaesthetic” (Freud 291). Earlier on in the series, the ongoing effects of the Oedipus complex prevents Katniss from loving anyone fully and her feminine character from becoming fixed (Freud 640). The events which lead up to her detachment from parental authority – such as her mother taking back the role of the mother, the death of Prim – occur much later in the series and that is why it takes so long before Katniss can make her choice.
Another explanation for Katniss’s cool attitude may be that she has a narcissistic character. Narcissistic women’s attitudes to men are cool (Freud 555) and they love themselves more than they love men. There is not much evidence to show how much Katniss loves or does not love herself, but she at least does not seem to show much love towards men. Katniss isn’t the active agent of the romance in the books, in fact she is very much passive and most of the romance comes from Peeta and Gale. They are the ones to approach her while she constantly keeps them at arm’s length. The need of narcissistic women does not “lie in the direction of loving, but of being loved; and the man who fulfils the condition is the one who finds favour with them” (Freud 554). It makes sense then, that Peeta is the one Katniss ends up with. He is the one who loves her the most, the one who is willing to sacrifice himself to save her.
Freud lists several types of people that narcissists may love and Peeta fits into several of those types (Freud 556). The first is that Peeta is someone that Katniss wants to be. When Peeta tells Katniss in the Hunger Games that he wants to die as himself (Collins 171), she doesn’t understand what he means. It is only after her first kill that she realises what he meant, that even if he has to die he wants to die on his own terms, that he values dignity and decency. Katniss comes to appreciate this part of him, so much so that before she finds out that she is the Mockingjay and the symbol for the resistance, she thinks that Peeta would be the perfect charismatic leader for the resistance. She comes to share the same ideals as Peeta and wants to become him. Secondly, Peeta is in a way, someone who was once a part of Katniss. They are both artists: Peeta is a painter and Katniss is a singer. Only, Katniss no longer sang by the beginning of the story, so Peeta’s painting reminds her of her childhood and becomes a symbol of what she once was. He also helps her reconcile her past and present by remembering her singing and asking her to sing for him. Thirdly, Peeta is the man who protects Katniss. Gale protects her too, but as mentioned previously, Peeta is always willing to sacrifice himself. There is also the added advantage of proximity for Peeta because he is in the arena with Katniss during the Hunger Games.
In terms of plot, Prim’s death in Mockingjay is quite unexpected and perhaps even unnecessary. So then, why does she have to die? If it is true that Katniss is a narcissist with repressed Oedipus complex, then Prim’s death is in fact a necessity. The Oedipus complex makes Katniss incapable of love and sullies her relationship with her mother. If Katniss wants to turn things around, to enter a romantic relationship and repair her relationship with her mother, then she must overcome her complex. Prim’s existence acts as an obstacle here because it reinforces Katniss’s Oedipus complex. Katniss was only able to successfully replace her mother and become the mother to her father’s child because of the existence of Prim. It would then be impossible for Katniss to overcome her complex then, for as long as Prim is alive. Therefore, the death is necessary as it is the catalyst that brings Katniss’s childhood to an end and changes her into a woman.
Another reason why Prim has to die is because it is possible that her death factors in Katniss’s decision to have her own children later on. It could be that the death leaves a void in Katniss’s heart that can only be filled by her children. Without the death, Katniss might choose to continue on her stance and decide against ever having children of her own. And it is important for her to have children, as we will soon discuss.
Katniss is against the idea of having children throughout the series but still ends up having her own children by the end. This seems to be entirely against her character but as always, psychoanalysis provides a simple explanation here as well. The wish to have a baby with the father that is part of the Oedipus complex, prepares a woman for her later sexual role (Freud 665). Seeing as the complex plays such a large part in Katniss’s story, it is only a natural progression that she does have children.
Having children is also a necessity for a happy ending if it is true that Katniss is the narcissistic type. For a narcissistic woman, her child is the only entity she would be capable of fully loving with all her heart, because the child is a part of herself (Freud 555). The affection parents show towards their children is a revival of their own narcissism (Freud 556). Therefore it can be seen that the most foolproof way for narcissists to experience real love, is to have their own children. It would be cruel then, to end Katniss’s story without her giving birth to a brood of her own little Katnisses, because she would never end up experiencing the full love that she would have been capable of.
Freud turns over the last page of Mockingjay and diagnoses Katniss of being a narcissist with repressed Oedipus complex. This diagnosis explains so many aspects of her character and answers all those niggling questions arising from the Hunger Games trilogy. But Oedipus complex and narcissism are merely two small droplets of theories in a large ocean of Freudian psychoanalysis and Katniss is only one character in the trilogy. Various other psychoanalytic theories remain hidden among all the different characters, awaiting to be discovered.
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References
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After reading the Hunger Games trilogy, readers are left with some niggling questions. Why is Katniss unaware of her mother’s psychological state at the beginning of the story? Why is Katniss so cool towards both Gale and Peeta throughout the series and why does it take so long for her to choose between them? Why does Prim have to die? Why does Katniss decide to have children when she has been against the idea for so long? According to the idea of Freudian psychoanalytic criticism, such literary mysteries can be easily explained by applying Freud’s theories. For example, in the Shakespearean play Hamlet, Hamlet’s uncle murders his own brother (Hamlet’s father) then marries his sister-in-law (Hamlet’s mother). The mystery there is that Hamlet is reluctant to avenge his father’s death when he’s not so squeamish about killing other people, and psychoanalysis provides the simple solution that “Hamlet cannot avenge this crime because he is guilty of wanting to commit the same himself. He has an Oedipus complex, that is, a repressed sexual desire for his own mother, and a consequent with to do away with his father” (Barry 101). So if Freud picked up the three Hunger Games books and delved into their pages, what would he have to say about their mysteries? I used the Freud Reader, a collection of Freud’s various essays, to answer these questions.
The tenuous relationship between Katniss and her mother can be explained by referring to the Oedipus complex. The complex is a well-known one and its name comes from the Greek mythological character Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother. In real life, the complex is part of natural human development and involves the little boy developing an intense sexual desire towards his mother and therefore perceiving his father as an obstacle to his wishes (Freud 640). So what does this have to do with Katniss when she is neither a boy nor little? The fact is, the Oedipus complex does not only develop in boys, it develops in girls as well, albeit in a slightly different way (Freud 664). When the little girl realises that she does not have a penis, she thinks that she has been castrated and falls victim to a case of penis-envy. She blames her mother for her lack of a penis and bringing her into the world insufficiently equipped (Freud 675). She wants to take her mother’s place, adopts a feminine attitude towards her father (Freud 665) and desires to have a baby by her father (Freud 767). Being part of natural development, this complex would have developed in Katniss as well, just like everyone else. She would have felt the intense sexual desire towards her father and considered her mother to be an obstacle.
“Oedipus complex is such an important thing that the manner in which one enters and leaves cannot be without its effects” (Freud 677). Katniss, it is evident, has not overcome her Oedipus complex by the beginning of the Hunger Games. For one thing, she is sixteen years old and may not yet have completed puberty, the stage in which children detach themselves from parental authority and leave their Oedipus complexes behind (Freud 291). Also, girls’ childish love tend to persist beyond puberty more than with boys (Freud 291). The most important point however, is that Katniss’s father died in a mining explosion when Katniss was only eleven, before the onset of puberty. She did not have much chance or time to experience the required painful disappointments in her relationship with her father in order to destroy the Oedipus complex. The continued denial of the desired baby is the strongest of these painful disappointments (Freud 665) but with Katniss, that desire is actually fulfilled in a way. After her father died, her mother became ill and could no longer take care of Prim or the household. With her mother out of the picture, Katniss successfully puts herself in her mother’s position to not only take care of the house, but to become the mother figure for Prim who is her father’s child. This reinforces the Oedipus complex for Katniss.
It becomes known later on in the series that whatever condition Katniss’s mother is suffering from can be cured with medicine. This information was readily available to Katniss if she only she cared to look; her own mother was an apothecary after all. So why hasn’t she said or done anything to improve her mother’s condition so far? Moreover, why does she seem completely unaware of her mother’s illness? The answer is simple. On the surface Katniss appears to have a hard time taking care of her family and resents her mother for abandoning her. Deep down in her unconscious on the other hand, is her secret repressed wish to maintain the status quo of becoming her own mother and raising her father’s child. Therefore her unconscious prevents her from acknowledging her mother’s illness, in order to fulfil her wish.
The cool attitude Katniss adopts towards Peeta and Gale throughout all the three books and the reason she takes so long to choose between them can be explained through the effects of Oedipus complex. Girls who don’t fully detach from parental authority “in their later marriage lack the capacity to give their husbands what is due them, make cold wives and remain sexually anaesthetic” (Freud 291). Earlier on in the series, the ongoing effects of the Oedipus complex prevents Katniss from loving anyone fully and her feminine character from becoming fixed (Freud 640). The events which lead up to her detachment from parental authority – such as her mother taking back the role of the mother, the death of Prim – occur much later in the series and that is why it takes so long before Katniss can make her choice.
Another explanation for Katniss’s cool attitude may be that she has a narcissistic character. Narcissistic women’s attitudes to men are cool (Freud 555) and they love themselves more than they love men. There is not much evidence to show how much Katniss loves or does not love herself, but she at least does not seem to show much love towards men. Katniss isn’t the active agent of the romance in the books, in fact she is very much passive and most of the romance comes from Peeta and Gale. They are the ones to approach her while she constantly keeps them at arm’s length. The need of narcissistic women does not “lie in the direction of loving, but of being loved; and the man who fulfils the condition is the one who finds favour with them” (Freud 554). It makes sense then, that Peeta is the one Katniss ends up with. He is the one who loves her the most, the one who is willing to sacrifice himself to save her.
Freud lists several types of people that narcissists may love and Peeta fits into several of those types (Freud 556). The first is that Peeta is someone that Katniss wants to be. When Peeta tells Katniss in the Hunger Games that he wants to die as himself (Collins 171), she doesn’t understand what he means. It is only after her first kill that she realises what he meant, that even if he has to die he wants to die on his own terms, that he values dignity and decency. Katniss comes to appreciate this part of him, so much so that before she finds out that she is the Mockingjay and the symbol for the resistance, she thinks that Peeta would be the perfect charismatic leader for the resistance. She comes to share the same ideals as Peeta and wants to become him. Secondly, Peeta is in a way, someone who was once a part of Katniss. They are both artists: Peeta is a painter and Katniss is a singer. Only, Katniss no longer sang by the beginning of the story, so Peeta’s painting reminds her of her childhood and becomes a symbol of what she once was. He also helps her reconcile her past and present by remembering her singing and asking her to sing for him. Thirdly, Peeta is the man who protects Katniss. Gale protects her too, but as mentioned previously, Peeta is always willing to sacrifice himself. There is also the added advantage of proximity for Peeta because he is in the arena with Katniss during the Hunger Games.
In terms of plot, Prim’s death in Mockingjay is quite unexpected and perhaps even unnecessary. So then, why does she have to die? If it is true that Katniss is a narcissist with repressed Oedipus complex, then Prim’s death is in fact a necessity. The Oedipus complex makes Katniss incapable of love and sullies her relationship with her mother. If Katniss wants to turn things around, to enter a romantic relationship and repair her relationship with her mother, then she must overcome her complex. Prim’s existence acts as an obstacle here because it reinforces Katniss’s Oedipus complex. Katniss was only able to successfully replace her mother and become the mother to her father’s child because of the existence of Prim. It would then be impossible for Katniss to overcome her complex then, for as long as Prim is alive. Therefore, the death is necessary as it is the catalyst that brings Katniss’s childhood to an end and changes her into a woman.
Another reason why Prim has to die is because it is possible that her death factors in Katniss’s decision to have her own children later on. It could be that the death leaves a void in Katniss’s heart that can only be filled by her children. Without the death, Katniss might choose to continue on her stance and decide against ever having children of her own. And it is important for her to have children, as we will soon discuss.
Katniss is against the idea of having children throughout the series but still ends up having her own children by the end. This seems to be entirely against her character but as always, psychoanalysis provides a simple explanation here as well. The wish to have a baby with the father that is part of the Oedipus complex, prepares a woman for her later sexual role (Freud 665). Seeing as the complex plays such a large part in Katniss’s story, it is only a natural progression that she does have children.
Having children is also a necessity for a happy ending if it is true that Katniss is the narcissistic type. For a narcissistic woman, her child is the only entity she would be capable of fully loving with all her heart, because the child is a part of herself (Freud 555). The affection parents show towards their children is a revival of their own narcissism (Freud 556). Therefore it can be seen that the most foolproof way for narcissists to experience real love, is to have their own children. It would be cruel then, to end Katniss’s story without her giving birth to a brood of her own little Katnisses, because she would never end up experiencing the full love that she would have been capable of.
Freud turns over the last page of Mockingjay and diagnoses Katniss of being a narcissist with repressed Oedipus complex. This diagnosis explains so many aspects of her character and answers all those niggling questions arising from the Hunger Games trilogy. But Oedipus complex and narcissism are merely two small droplets of theories in a large ocean of Freudian psychoanalysis and Katniss is only one character in the trilogy. Various other psychoanalytic theories remain hidden among all the different characters, awaiting to be discovered.
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References
- Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009.
- Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. London: Scholastic, 2009.
- Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. London: Scholastic, 2009.
- Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. London: Scholastic, 2012. EPUB file.
- Freud, Sigmund. “On Narcissism: An Introduction.” The Freud Reader. Ed. Peter Gay. New York: Norton & Company, 1995. 545-562.
- Freud, Sigmund. “The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex.” The Freud Reader. Ed. Peter Gay. New York: Norton & Company, 1995. 661-666.
- Freud, Sigmund. “The Ego and the Id.” The Freud Reader. Ed. Peter Gay. New York: Norton & Company, 1995. 628-658.
- Freud, Sigmund. “Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes.” The Freud Reader. Ed. Peter Gay. New York: Norton & Company, 1995. 670-678.
- Freud, Sigmund. “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.” The Freud Reader. Ed. Peter Gay. New York: Norton & Company, 1995. 239-293.
