Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the tag “Katniss Everdeen”

17 Dec 2013
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Leading Ladies of Fiction Faves


English: "How dare I, Mrs Reed? How dare ...

English: “How dare I, Mrs Reed? How dare I? Because it is the truth.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve noticed the books that hit my fave list share a commonality: spunky female protagonists

Lizzie Bennet: right smart with her retorts, and loves her trots about the countryside

Jane Eyre: determined and no one is going to door mat her anytime soon

Scout Finch: gotta love a girl who reaches for her overalls in times of stress

Katniss Everdeen: archer supreme, survivor, yet has compassion

Mattie (True Grit): can talk her way into and out of most anything; didn’t let an encounter with a rattler get her down

Hattie (Hattie Big Sky): took on Montana homesteading by herself!

Little Sister (Laddie): I’m pretty sure she and Scout are kindred spirits

Laura Ingalls Wilder: “stout as a Welsh pony”–that’s high praise

Antonia (My Antonia): sassy survivalist of the prairie

These ladies come from different time periods, different backgrounds, and different families, yet they all share the qualities of pluck.  Pluck never goes out of style, at least not in novels.

Got any favorites from the list?  Maybe you can share your own

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08 Dec 2013

A Balm for Katniss


The Hunger Games (film)

The Hunger Games (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As much I relish the Hunger Games series being brought to the big screen, there is one aspect of the story that continues to hamper my true enjoyment the progression of the series: the bleak monotony of despair.
Throughout the books, and in the film, all the main characters live in the clutches of fear. Fear of starvation, punishment, pain, and death all permeate the plot and are the motivators for the characters.
Something is needed to relieve the continual roller-coaster of despair and it isn’t going to come sailing down in a little tinkling parachute.
Prim hits on what’s needed at one point in the plot when she answers Katniss’s inquiry of what’s different now (Catching Fire) than before (Hunger Games): “Hope.”
And this is true–without hope there is despair.
Suzanne Collins creates an atmosphere of despair by utilizing Roman rule elements when she created the setting of the Hunger Games. It’s the plebeians versus the patricians complete with coliseum games as an opiate for the masses. One aspect which is not included in the Hunger Games is that many of the coliseum participants were Christians imprisoned by Roman rule. The emperors were threatened by this new religion because a new King threatened their rule: Jesus of Nazareth. He gave the people hope, something Roman rulers could not.

Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries)

Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While hope is offered in the latest installment of the Hunger Games trilogy, there is a missing component which is so vital to completing hope’s salve to the wounds of despair: faith.
There is no religion, no deity, no promise of afterlife in the series, which is why despair and oppression permeate the mood of the story.
If possible, I would send Katniss a balm of hope in order to instill the need of faith that there is a better Way. Psalm 27 seems to be one parachute I could send.

Anyone out there have their own balm of hope they might send?

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