Critical Contect

   

I read the article entitled “The Masks of Femininity Perceptions of the Feminine in The Hunger Games and Podkayne of Mars” by Rodney M. DeaVault. The article talked about how Katniss Everdeen does not portray a typical female character. DeaVault mentions “Katniss is neither entirely “masculine” nor feminine”; she is a new, “othered" category, a blank slate upon which a gender identity can be crafted.”(192,DeaVault) I found this quote interesting because I never thought of Katniss that way. I just knew that she was different than the typical protagonist character. She isn’t dependent, nurturing, and emotional as DeaVault says in page 191 of the article. She is strong and independent. She is the provider of her family but she also cares for her week sister and mother. In the article the author mentions the role of Cinna. Cinna is Katniss stylist and he makes her look feminine without her consent. The author mentions “Cinna asserts that femininity and gender can be either a code of conduct or a performative construct, with costumes and masks to be donned and discarded as necessary”. (194, DeaVault) I'm not sure how to decipher this but I take as Katniss can take Cinna dressing her up as help or she can see it as a bad thing. Katniss sees Cinna as a friend and someone she can feel herself around although their time together is spent making Katniss someone she is not. The way Cinna makes her look is a distraction of what she really is and how she can use a bow and hunt. No one would expect a beautiful young woman to be able to hunt and to be strong and competitive. So I guess you can say she is neither super feminine nor super manly.