#Katniss the unreliable narrator strikes again

[thegreenthepeacetheorange]

It is telling that when Katniss is supposedly trying to be distant from Peeta in the first half of CF, there are two specific instances where she notes she’s in a state where her inhibitions are lowered and she worries about things she might say or do around Peeta. First, is under the influence of sleep syrup when she hurts herself and the second is after she gets drunk with Haymitch when the QQ is announced.

“A side effect of sleep syrup is that it makes people less inhibited, like white liquor, and I know I have to control my tongue. But I don’t want him to go.”

“My head’s spinning from the drink, and I’m so wiped out, who knows what he could get me to agree to?”

These aren’t instances that tell us that Peeta is a danger to her in some way while she’s in these states - because there’s absolutely no world in which Peeta takes advantage of her like that. But it reveals to us a lot about where she herself is in regards to Peeta. For all her talk of choosing Gale and the rebellion, she knows she’s harbouring feelings for Peeta, feelings she can’t even fully say to us the readers. She knows that with her inhibitions lowered around him, she’s emotionally vulnerable to him. She knows she has to restrict herself from saying/doing certain things, or even seeing him altogether because seeing him in that state? She’s a goner.

It’s that whole notion of “drunken words are sober thoughts.” In the first encounter, she’s the most physically affectionate and essentially needy (!) with him that she’s been since the victory tour and since her conflict over the rebellion/Gale’s whipping. All the restraint she’s been trying to have, the flimsy wall she’s tried to build comes crumbling down. She asks him to stay repeatedly, she holds his hand to her face and takes in his scent. And that’s her while she’s trying to be in control. So it’s a good thing she doesn’t at all go to see him the second time because she’s fully drunk then. And considering that when they meet the next morning, she’s disappointed that he’s not comforting her with hugs and kisses, I can imagine how a meet up between those two that fateful night would’ve been.

#Katniss the unreliable narrator strikes again #she lets us know so much even when she’s hiding #everlark #katniss and peeta #peeta x katniss #katniss x peeta #peeta mellark #katniss everdeen #the hunger games #thg #I think she would’ve been an absolute mess if she had seen him that night #she would’ve tried to comfort him how she wanted to be comforted and Peeta would’ve had to put his hands up because he can’t do all that #Not when she’s drunk #Katniss making me laugh again because what exactly could Peeta have gotten her to agree to #bffr Katniss