Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games

What are the Hunger Games?

Set in a post-apocalyptic America, Panem is a country of 12 districts ruled by a fascist Capitol under President Snow. Every year, one girl and one boy between ages 12 and 18 are picked from each district by drawing lots in a ceremony known as Reaping. The chosen 24 are called Tributes and must take part in the Hunger Games. In the Games, which are a televised entertainment sensation, the youngsters have to fight each other to death in an Arena built by a Gamekeeper, till one emerges as Victor. The Games are meant to reaffirm the Capitol’s complete power over the citizens’ fate.

Who’s that girl?

Named after an edible tuber, Katniss Everdeen [played by Jennifer Lawrence] is the 16-year-old protagonist of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games trilogy. At age 11, she is left to fend for her mother and sister after losing her father in a mining accident. Though scared and clueless, Katniss pulls enough pluck to enter the forbidden woods to hunt, where she comes across her plant namesake and recalls her father’s words: “As long as you can find yourself, you’ll never starve.” That becomes a symbol of hope for the spunky kid as she takes charge of her life.

What does she do?

Born in District 12, a poverty-stricken coal mining community under the rule of the Capitol, Katniss lives in the poorest part of town, the Seam. Since girls are not allowed to enter the mines, she illegally hunts wild dogs, rabbits and squirrels and sells them in the Hob, the black-market. Ever since turning 12, the age when one becomes eligible for Reaping, she sends multiple entries for the dangerous Games, only because each entry entails her family to a year’s supply of grain and oil for one person.

What’s she like?

Katniss is nothing like the beautiful, brainy or swooning heroines of contemporary young adult fiction. Brave, self-sufficient and confident, Katniss is an ace at archery and equally handy with a knife or a trap. In the Arena, she survives by her own wits. Her skillset includes scaling all kinds of trees and knowing her plants and their uses.

She is loyal and headstrong and when push comes to shove, Katniss faces a challenge head-on, be it bearing a whiplash to protect her best friend Gale Hawthorne or volunteering herself as a Tribute to save her sister, Primrose. She is even ready to sacrifice herself to save her fellow Tribute, Peeta.

But Katniss has her flaws too. She is cold and rude, has a problem following orders and has a certain arrogance, which comes from surviving the odds. She does not stop short of killing, though she hates doing it. She can pretend or lie if it helps her survive. Well, compared with Peeta’s idealistic vision, Katniss sometimes comes across as petty or mean, but that’s our girl — and it’s her blemishes that make her more human, more admirable to us.

Her mates

Peeta Mellark: This baker’s son had saved Katniss’s life by giving her bread when she was fainting with hunger at age 11. But Katniss and Peeta never spoke before heading to the Capitol. However, once the Games begin, Peeta fights alongside her and loves her unconditionally. He once again becomes her key to survival when their anticipated romance garners sympathy and public support. He is, as she says in the end, “the dandelion in the spring…. The promise that life can go on.... That it can be good again.” [Peeta is played by Josh Hutcherson]

Gale Hawthorne: He is Katniss’s best friend, her soulmate who hopes to make a life with her far away from the control of the Capitol. He is the proverbial “angry young man” of the piece, rebellious and vehemently against the system. He teaches Katniss to trap and kill in order to survive and later becomes one of the key members of the rebellion against the Capitol. Gale is, Katniss feels, “fire, kindled with rage and hatred.” [Gale is played by Liam Hemsworth]

Her symbol

Katniss’s friend Madge Undersee gifts her a pin shaped like a bird in a circle before she leaves District 12 to face her fate in the Arena. Though she doesn’t know it, the little pin holds much value and faith. It becomes a symbol of hope and defiance for the people against the oppressive Capitol, just like Katniss herself.

Her mentors

Haymitch Abernathy: He’s perpetually drunk to cope with the trauma of his own stint at the Hunger Games, he’s bitter, he’s negative and he’s cruel. But he soon becomes Katniss and Peeta’s real hope for survival. He riles, scolds and abuses Katniss for her drawbacks and helps sharpen her skills. [Haymitch is played by Woody Harrelson]

Cinna: He first meets Katniss when he becomes the stylist for District 12. He is different from the others in the Capitol, not just in appearance but in attitude too. Like Haymitch, Cinna sees the fiery potential in Katniss and is responsible for her image as “the girl on fire,” which sticks with her throughout the Games and also helps her deliver the ultimate slap on the Capitol’s face. [Cinna is played by Lenny Kravitz]