Katniss using Peeta?

[District 13 Tribute]

I dont know why, but I feel like Katniss is always USING Peeta, and well, actually Gale too....
Its like she doesn't want to be with him (supposedly) she basically had to be forced into the pretend love situation. She always wants him with her but she doesn't want to like be with him (bf/gf deal in real life). She wants him to hold her so she gets through her nightmares but again, she doesn't love him.
Same with Gale. Poor Gale admits it too, something like 'you only care about me when I get hurt.' Geez

Anyone else feel the same?

[Peeta Mellark]

Yup, I thought the same thing and that's why I disliked Katniss at first.

[District 13 Tribute]

Yes, I see.
I still dislike her character though lol. It's like she chooses him in the end because there isn't anyone left for her. It's like seriously....?

[pegasus72]

Now thats its out there..yea to some degree...he is constantly protecting her and not wanting to live without her and i dont think it hits her in the books until the capitol has him....I think at that point she comes to terms with what she had and didnt realize it and her feelings towards him....its actually nice bc i did feel that she was using him....even tho in CF her mission is to keep him alive...but to be fair they throw the two of them into the lovers story line and her life had not had any romance or those types of feelings..not even towards Gale...so that can explain her attitude about Peeta....

[Katniss_Everdeen]

Ya, I think Katniss defiantly uses them, though I don't think she means too. THat's just how she is, but ya she is kinda using them. Still love her!

[jmkulik]

I didn't get the same sense of any of that. I mean she is carrying out this fake love thing in the first book because that is what she is told to do. She gets thrown into this crazy thing with these people and she really doesn't have time to decide how she feels... Plus for a long time she is not sure whether Peeta's love is all an act either. She is constantly worrying about Peeta, tends to his wounds and truly keeps him alive at the end of the first book. In the second book she is probably terrified to truly let herself love anyone because she knows either she or they will be taken in the end... its not a very romantic atmosphere, nor one in which you feel comfortable allowing yourself to love. She did everything in her power always to protect all these people. She keeps the pearl with her always, which to me was very symbolic of just how much her feelings for Peeta were growing and real. The time they spend on the balcony when no one wants to bother training them anymore because they are frustrated with them is one of my favorite parts... You get to see how their love might be and might develop outside such awful circumstances.. I also don't think she was using him when she wanted to be held to get through the night, I think it was only Peeta's arms that could provide that kind of comfort for her, but she wouldn't allow her head to listen to what her heart is already beginning to know (that she loves him). She has to have that protective armor around herself at all times to survive, I don't think it is using I think it is surviving and shutting out emotions in order to be strong enough to continue protecting everyone...

[MsHungerGamesFan101]

I didn't get the same sense of any of that. I mean she is carrying out this fake love thing in the first book because that is what she is told to do. She gets thrown into this crazy thing with these people and she really doesn't have time to decide how she feels... Plus for a long time she is not sure whether Peeta's love is all an act either. She is constantly worrying about Peeta, tends to his wounds and truly keeps him alive at the end of the first book. In the second book she is probably terrified to truly let herself love anyone because she knows either she or they will be taken in the end... its not a very romantic atmosphere, nor one in which you feel comfortable allowing yourself to love. She did everything in her power always to protect all these people. She keeps the pearl with her always, which to me was very symbolic of just how much her feelings for Peeta were growing and real. The time they spend on the balcony when no one wants to bother training them anymore because they are frustrated with them is one of my favorite parts... You get to see how their love might be and might develop outside such awful circumstances.. I also don't think she was using him when she wanted to be held to get through the night, I think it was only Peeta's arms that could provide that kind of comfort for her, but she wouldn't allow her head to listen to what her heart is already beginning to know (that she loves him). She has to have that protective armor around herself at all times to survive, I don't think it is using I think it is surviving and shutting out emotions in order to be strong enough to continue protecting everyone...

Yes I would have to agree with you. At first, yes, she might have been using them but that was because she was terrifed of what tomorrow would bring. She was forced agaisnt her will to pretend to love Peeta. She didn't know what to think. So she needed that protection from both Peeta and Gale. Although it seemed like it, she wasn't exactly using them and being selfish about it.

[lilminiracer]

I think it definitely seems that way, but I never took it that way. This is a game they're playing and that's what you do in games, you do what it takes for your own sake of survival and your best chance of winning. For me, Katniss was afraid to let Peeta in and love him, because that means another person she has to protect. Where as with Gale, it was a safe pick because he could protect himself, but her heart wouldn't let him in.

If Katniss was really using Peeta, she would have shot him to win the games without hesitation. But she didn't, so you know she's not using him.

[MsHungerGamesFan101]

I think it definitely seems that way, but I never took it that way. This is a game they're playing and that's what you do in games, you do what it takes for your own sake of survival and your best chance of winning. For me, Katniss was afraid to let Peeta in and love him, because that means another person she has to protect. Where as with Gale, it was a safe pick because he could protect himself, but her heart wouldn't let him in.

If Katniss was really using Peeta, she would have shot him to win the games without hesitation. But she didn't, so you know she's not using him.

Yes exactly so we know that Katniss did at least care about Peeta at the end.

[sampugh09]

I kind of thought she was using Peeta but then I didn't. At first shes only doing the fake love angle because shes told to and she believe he's pretending to. And although she doesnt admit it through the books i feel like she does fall for Peeta but is scared to admit it to herself because she doesn't have any desire to have a family because of the games. I do blame her for what Peeta went through in the third book and do start to hate her expecially when he is rescued and she in mean to him. With Gale, I don't feel she is using him until the third book. In the first book they are just friends and in the second one he kisses her. When he is hurt she does try to choose him but her best friend is hurt and almost on the verge of death so between adrenaline and mixed feelings she acts out. I never got the feeling that she loved Gale as more then a friend. Plus the way she is with Peeta off camera in the second book when she wants him to hold her through the night and how he keeps her nightmares away, she never wanted that with Gale.