Katniss using Peeta?

[pagy]

I don't think she was ever using him in a deliberate sense. She is 16. What 16 year old has not been confused about relationships?

She has different feelings for Peeta and Gale and how would she be able to distinguish what is love for either of them? There are different types of love and I don't think a 16 year old would be able to sort that out in their heart or head.
She only fully understands her feelings in Mockingjay although I think there are some hints during Catching Fire to suggest to us that she is on love with Peeta. When you re-read the books you can see these hints much more clearly than from the first time reading.

[MsHungerGamesFan101]

I don't think she was ever using him in a deliberate sense. She is 16. What 16 year old has not been confused about relationships?

She has different feelings for Peeta and Gale and how would she be able to distinguish what is love for either of them? There are different types of love and I don't think a 16 year old would be able to sort that out in their heart or head.
She only fully understands her feelings in Mockingjay although I think there are some hints during Catching Fire to suggest to us that she is on love with Peeta. When you re-read the books you can see these hints much more clearly than from the first time reading.

I agree. She definitely in love with peeta by the 2nd book.

[etss]

I don't think she was ever using him in a deliberate sense. She is 16. What 16 year old has not been confused about relationships?

She has different feelings for Peeta and Gale and how would she be able to distinguish what is love for either of them? There are different types of love and I don't think a 16 year old would be able to sort that out in their heart or head.
She only fully understands her feelings in Mockingjay although I think there are some hints during Catching Fire to suggest to us that she is on love with Peeta. When you re-read the books you can see these hints much more clearly than from the first time reading.

Exactly. I think that same way. Gosh, she's only 16, a child that suffered too much. It's necessary re-read the books to best comprehension.

[katniss_sponsor]

I agree in CF she definately has feelings for him there is no doubt , I dont sense that much in MJ at all but in CF the relationship which started in the arena does blossom a lot more, maybe she is manipulating him, but hey what women doesnt manipulate a man!!

[Thoma]

In the movie it looks like katniss was using peeta to survive. However in the books you can see it was mostly for surviving but after it they where trying to be normall.

!!!!!!SPOILER!!!!!!!

However because on the end they got kids katniss isn't using him

[mrs.Odair]

At firs I know she is using them but then she like in catching fire starts to love peeta and she realizes he is her sole mate ... She alway has been a true friend to gale as finnick was to Annie without the in love part . I don't think she loved him at first but as time went on she fell for him

[Hijacked]

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.

Spot on! I totally agree!

There's a quote somewhere where Katniss says kind people have a way of worming themselves in and staying there. I think she doesn't feel she's a good person and to let Peeta in would mean she'd disappoint him or hurt him. It upset me when she was mean to him after he was hijacked- she should have helped him as by that time it had been established that she did love him. I felt the author for some reason kept Gale as an option right up until the end which I think is a contradiction to stuff said and done earlier on. I didn't like that.

[Conner]

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?

Of course Gale only seems to love her when someone else pays attention to her. They are friends - and it gets confusing.

And yes you could say she uses Peeta, but in the same way he uses her. He needs her to get through the night, you only have her side of the story too. It takes her a long time to realize how she feels about him - falling in love is awful and confusing - not the hollywood versions of things. Its about trusting some one - they can use you and you can use them but its not being used because there is more. She ended up realizing she can't live with out him - or doesn't want to. And I'm sure if he told you his side of things he'd feel the same way.

[Conner]

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....?

She was the Mockingjay - a nation of men would have been there for here. She choose Peeta because as Gale said she had no choice - she needed him and he needed her. In the end no one made her do anything. She didn't rush into his arms - she cleaned herself up and got her life back and that life included him. That's how it ended.

[Conner]

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.

Don't forget she also took care of them. She saved Peeta in the 1st games even thought she could have died doing it. She fought in the 2nd games thinking she was giving up her life for him.