Mockingjay: Please tell me this is going to get better.

[alexandral]

I am through about 40% of "Mockingjay", and dear friends list, I am getting seriously annoyed. Katniss is undergoing what is probably the worst ever character development in the history of fiction.

Where is Katniss that was a strong survivor? Where? When was she replaced by this whiny clueless mess:

- "No-one is telling me anything! My life is a woooooooooe!" Me: no-one is telling her anything because she is naïve beyond any belief (to the point where her naivety has become brain-deficiency) and throws tantrums all the time?

- "EVERYONE IS EVIL! Capitol is EVIL! Rebels ARE EVIL! Everyone is evil! Even Haymitch! How dares he to try to keep me alive! Even cats are evil!". Me: I am eye-rolling so hard my eyes are in danger.

- "Everyone died because of Meeeeeeeeee! I should have died! Died!" . Me: Katniss, get a grip on yourself. Please get a grip.

- "Oh no! Look at poor me suffering so much when watching Peeta tortured on TV! I passed out! And I raged! " Me: Peeta is tortured. PEETA. How come it is all about YOU?

Leaving my "I am so annoyed at this" feelings aside and trying to be rational: the character development of Katniss is that of Sansa Stark (A Song of Ice and Fire) in reverse. Sansa starts as young and terribly naïve and grows into a survivor. Katniss starts as a survivor and disintegrates into a puddle of jelly with no brains.

Please tell me this is going to get better. As it stands now, I think Katniss is as good a role model to young girls as Bella (Twilight), just in a different way (no brains, tantrums, "me me me" attitude)! I am so horrified that this is supposed to be "a feminist book for young adults".

PS: Shall I keep listening? There are 6.5 more hours of this! Or shall I give up, find the spoilers, and move on to some better books?

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh,this:

"Katniss's feelings and experiences are not invalidated by the text itself or by those around her. Katniss is allowed to be affected by the horrors she's gone through and her feelings are not dismissed."

This is impossible. We live in society, so everyone's feelings are affected by those around us. People whose feelings aren't affected/judged/merited by other people - aren't they called sociopaths? Are you saying Katniss is a sociopath? Surely this is a mistake!

[fauxkaren.livejournal.com]

Did you read the article that I linked because that is not what I meant at ALL, and I honestly have no idea where you got that from what I said. My statement will probably make more sense in context of the article.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am too agry/annoyed to read the article, I will not give anything too much justice. I might read it again one day (when I cool down) or I might not because really - it is not as if the book has too much value anyways..