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[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2524 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secret Santa sign-ups go up tomorrow! There will be a post explaining everything again/open to questions, too. Keep an eye out! :)

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 073 secrets from Secret Submission Post #361.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

10. http://i.imgur.com/fKQiskV.png?1

[(Anonymous)]

They probably don't have any idea.

[(Anonymous)]

There's wanting softness and normalcy, and then there's wanting Peeta.

[(Anonymous)]

That's my thought too.

[(Anonymous)]

1. Some don't.

2. Some do, but are still annoyed that this is always the ending female characters "want"; they're annoyed with it, not as Katniss' personal individual choice as a character, but rather as a broad scheme of things "oh look, ANOTHER female fighter has now settled down with the nice boy and had babies".

3. Some, like me, entirely understand (even from the inside) but are still saddened by it because it represents a kind of stasis in that retreat, especially given who and how she was before the Games, and wanted better for her (for ourselves) after that.


. . . and yeah, OP, if you're IDing that hard with end-of-story Katniss, you should probably get some help. Not in a dismissive way, but in the sense that one of the things I would love to export to Katniss as someone who loves her character is some really good psychiatric help.

[(Anonymous)]

The only thing wrong with your secret is the assumptions you make about other people just because their opinion is different from yours. You know NOTHING about their lives, just as they don't know about yours. Stop acting like no one could ever have it as bad as you. You don't know that and are doing many people an injustice.

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't realize there was so much hate? From the beginning of the book all she wanted to was to keep her family safe, of course she would want normalcy. I was just glad it wasn't all sunshine and roses and that she was still kind of messed up.

[(Anonymous)]

I get your point of view, OP, I really do, but like someone else said, I don't think people are annoyed with the ending she gets because of her personally, but because it's such a general trend in books and movies: the female character eventually realizes that she wants to settle down, marry the nice boy and have children. People aren't bothered as such by KATNISS making that decision, but by so many authors deciding that this is what their female character wants in the end.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree. I know, I know, feminism bla bla bla, but it seemed glaringly obvious to me from the very start that Katniss loathed everything and anything to do with the games, the war, politics, and anything else that would take her away from looking after Prim. I get wanting female characters who stay actively involved in the good of the world they've saved, but Katniss was NEVER a good candidate for that.

It reminds me of a couple of friends of mine who were totally grossed out by Katniss getting into a relationship at all, because they had been wholeheartedly headcanon-ing her as ace. One of them went so far as to accuse Collins of acebaiting. I have to wonder how people so ~socially aware~ read ace Katniss's constant lamentations of being too emotionally damaged and traumatized to love or care for or be vulnerable with anyone, up to and including her own mother, in any way. Last I checked, implying asexuality is the result of trauma is pretty dang acephobic.

[(Anonymous)]

OP I don't think she's actually happy at the end, it's just she's doing what she can to cope. She never really has any romantic feelings toward either of the boys, she's definitely settling with someone who gets what they've been through.

Having said that I don't like the epilogue, I just don't like those sorts of epilogues, I'd rather it was left. Sometimes I wonder if both she and JKR just didn't want fanfic to make it up, and wanted a canon ending for their characters.

[arcadiaego]

You're right, lots of people won't understand. I don't think there's anything wrong with how she wants to retreat and stop fighting. She never wanted to be a leader in the first place. I did find it odd that she would settle down and have kids, because it seems she'd been through so much she wouldn't want to pass on issues to the next generation, or risk her children being born into a world that was still going to go bad. But after I thought about it I guess that's a way of showing hope for the future without everything in Panem being rosy overnight. It's not perfect but there are worse games to play.

[pelespen]

Maybe you do need therapy, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! (I say this because I think more people could benefit from therapy than they realize, just in general). But this secret isn't therapy material. I haven't served in a war, and am nothing like Katniss. But I completely get and appreciate how things landed in the epilogue. I think people who hate on it are looking for the trilogy to be a romance, which it's not. I found the epilogue to be the most realistic and human ending possible, but maybe I'm just too old for teenage angst bullshit anymore.

PS - thank you for your service.

[sarillia]

What bothers me is all the people who latch onto her as some kind of childfree icon because she said she didn't want kids and ignore the fact that the whole reason she didn't want kids was that she didn't want to risk them having to take part in the Hunger Games. Take that away, and who knows what she would want. Apparently she changed her mind. I realize that it's annoying as a trend that all female characters have to grow up and get married and have kids, but you don't have to take that out on every individual character.

But then I'm not one of those people who has turned the fact that I don't want kids into part of my identity.

[(Anonymous)]

I like the ending, and I liked the way Collins went with Katniss' character. My problem with it is that since Katniss is the only POV we get through the book, having her never wanting to be involved with things is SO FRUSTRATING. Especially during the third book. I understand, it's so we can see how traumatized she is, and it's in-character for her to react this way, but there's a rebellion going on! Things are happening! But we don't get to see it because Katniss prefers to hide in closets and avoid everyone! So we're told that very important things are happening, but we, as the reader, don't get to be a part of it.

AND IT'S FRUSTRATING.

But to get back on topic, I didn't mind the ending. I thought it was good.

[caerbannog]

I got the point of the epilogue and understand why it was added. (to show she felt safe enough to have children, that the future is good enough for children etc etc)

But I don't like it at all. I thought the last few pages of the final chapter had been a nice enough wrap for the immediate few years following the book. Then the rest of her life is delightfully vague and left to our imagination. I love when stories end like that!

Then we have a short and stilted summary of her thoughts about her children and what she'll say to them in the future. :| It makes me cranky and I guess I hate it.


That said your headcanon/IDing with Katniss =/= everyone else and that's fine. But if you feel that your IDing with her and level of unreasonable upset at people disliking the epilogue, maybe you should see someone.

[(Anonymous)]

i understand katniss wanting normalcy and i definitely don't begrudge her that kind of ending but she didn't seem happy to me. she got married to the guy she could tolerate the most, and gave in to having kids. what did she do that she actually wanted to because it makes her happy?? if you're going to do an epilogue like that, that's what i want to see.

There are no such things as happy endings in the real world.

[nyxelestia]

Just happy and endings.

/pithy

But in all seriousness, I never thought the Hunger Games was supposed to have a 'happy' ending, and I thought this was obvious - so you can imagine my confusion when some people started acting like it was a "terrible happy ending". She seemed to be marrying Peeta and settling down because she was seeking peace and stability, and any happiness would be an accidental byproduct of that, not a goal. For a lot of people, that's about as good as it gets and I can see why Collins would go for that angle.

I have seen people who had fought long and hard throughout their lives (if not violently/in wars), and I can't blame them for getting sick of fighting and wanting to just settle and be at peace, even if it's not the 'best' they could get out of life. And I say this as someone who fully expects and looks forward to spending the rest of her life 'fighting' in one way or another. (Maybe even I'll change and get sick of it, who knows).

I agree with many others on this thread that the trope of warrior women leaving behind the fight to settle down, marry, and have kids is overtired and would like to see something different. I'm not sure Hunger Games is the way to go about it, though, because, as many people have pointed out, Katniss never wanted to be a warrior, and settling down peacefully was what she wanted from the beginning. Going to war was, ultimately, her way of achieving that goal, even if it got distorted over the years due to changes in Panem and her life.

[dancinbutterfly]

My problem with the epilogue was never the content - it was how rushed we were getting there. I read it thinking "But..but...this is its own book! Why isn't there a fourth book full of True/Not True, post war society and actual scenes with the conversations between her and Peeta that led her to be willing to have children because wow, that mustl've been a long talk, I'm just saying(not to mention, Annie Cresta: Single Mom - I'd love to know how she was handling the pressure of parenthood along with her mental illness) and where the hell is Gale and what is he doing? What about Joanna and her addiction and recovery not to mention Haymish, Effie and everyone else you made us care about?" I think as much as some people might protest the idea of the ending because of it falling into a trope, for me the thing that REALLY burned was the actual delivery. I'd love to see that normal and rest with a little more, um, I dont know. Pick a descriptor of your choice because there are so many I dont really want to make a judgement but definitely something. More something.

[(Anonymous)]

Just because you relate to her and have some possible similar experiences does not somehow mean you have a better idea about Katniss or are closer to her. You know about as much about other's experiences as they do your's. It's also incredible stupid be angry because they don't like a page and a half that you do like. Just because you think something is normal does not mean everyone does.

Go get all the help you need, but you have no right to get angry at people for disliking an epilogue and assuming they somehow have a lesser understanding of the character or don't understand such common feelings as hating a self.

[rbhudson]

I don't hate it. This was, however, another in a long line of "I don't want children, whoops changed my mind." And that's okay, it just makes me feel abnormal.

[(Anonymous)]

I am not in your position at all, but I also thought Katniss' reactions, as well as the epilogue, were perfect. I thought everything fell into place perfectly. And by the end, when she finally feels safe enough to be vulnerable and lead that kind of normal life, I think that's when she's really starting to put herself back together and heal. Yes, she is a mess, but she is ready to face it, and she can. And she doesn't have to do it alone.

[(Anonymous)]

I'd wonder if I made this secret in my sleep except I'm not an older sister. But I can still relate to her protectiveness and my own life is very similar to the epilogue. As others have said, she didn't want to be a warrior and that, to me, is all the more reason why the epilogue just makes sense. In my case, I chose "settling down" because honestly I don't think I could cope with anything else at this point. I went in voluntarily and loved it but combat wore me down and messed me up and I just want a very quiet and peaceful life now. I can't handle being responsible for others' lives in dire situations anymore, I can't handle the horror of witnessing frequent violent death and maiming, and I can't handle doing those things anymore. I want grocery shopping and school runs and focusing my energy on creating and nurturing life, not destroying it. Getting married and having kids has been the best thing I've ever done in life. I don't think feminism in the real world is about women not doing these things, it's about having the choice to do or not do according to our desires.

Secret 10 - The Hunger Games (book trilogy), Katniss Everdeen (character)

[transcriptanon]

[Picture is Katniss Everdeen, as portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence, from the movie adaptations of the book series "The Hunger Games". She is a young woman with light olive skin and long dark hair pulled back. She is wearing a dark coat, half-crouching in what looks like the edge of a forest or field, and carrying a quiver of arrows.]

I relate to Katniss a lot, personality-wise. I say this as a war veteran, and an older sister. I get her reactions to things, her need to survive, above all else, and keep her sister alive as well. I especially understand her anger and grief when she fails.

I love the epilogue, and get unreasonably upset when people talk about how much they hate it. Maybe she just wanted to rest. Be normal. Allow herself to love and trust that she could have a family again. None of them seem to have any idea what's it like to hate yourself and what you've become. To want soft. To want normal.

Secret Because: People are allowed to have opinions, and you are too old for this sort of temper tantrum. Also, I'm worried that by relating to her this much, I need therapy. Katniss is a mess by the end of the series.