“Shoot me. That’s what he was mouthing. I was supposed to shoot him! That was my job. That was our unspoken promise, all of us, to one another. And I didn’t do it and now the Capitol will kill him or torture him or hijack him or – the cracks begin opening inside me, threatening to break me into pieces.”
The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction.
The promise that life can go on no matter how bad our losses.
That it can be good again and only Peeta can give me that.
So after when he whispers, “You love me. Real or not real?”
I tell him, “Real”
“Peeta!” I shake him harder, even resort to slapping his face, but it’s no use. His heart has failed. I am slapping emptiness. “Peeta!”
No wonder I won the games. No decent person ever does.
You saved Peeta, I think weakly.
But now I question even that. I knew good and well that my life back in District 12 would be unlivable if I let that boy die.
Reasons why I love Peeta Mellark:
1. “To murder innocent people?” says Peeta. “It costs you everything you are.”
At this point in the story, Peeta has been through hell and back. He has been taken away from the woman he loves and doesn’t know whether or not he will ever see her again. He is confused and doesn’t know who he should trust. But one thought he never lets go of, the very thought that he has had since book one, is his belief about taking another human being’s life.
He absolutely hates himself for what he has done in the games, although he doesn’t show it much. Even though it was what he had to do to keep Katniss and himself alive, he absolutely hates the thought of killing. He truly believes that he is a monster for taking the lives of those strangers in the arena. And even though he knows he had no other option, or that he wasn’t in his right mind, he blames himself for every single person that has died at his hands.
For example, towards the end of Mockingjay, all hell has broken loose. He starts to lose himself and his desire to kill Katniss is too strong. Once he gets his chance, he goes for it. And as he’s about to kill her, a member of their squad restrains him. Peeta pushes him away and the man falls into a trap that soon kills him. Later, when Peeta has turned back to his normal self, he requests to be killed because he knows how much of a danger he is to everyone around him. After he tells them this, they all try to console him and tell him it wasn’t his fault.
“I just murdered a member of our squad!” shouts Peeta.
“You pushed him off you. You couldn’t have known he would trigger the net at the exact spot,” says Finnick, trying to calm him.
“Who cares? He’s dead, isn’t he?” Tears begin to run down Peeta’s face. “I didn’t know. I’ve never seen myself like that before. Katniss is right. I’m the monster. I’m the mutt. I’m the one Snow has turned into a weapon!”
Seeing him think this way about himself kills me. This is one of the most heartbreaking characteristics of Peeta Mellark, but it is also a major factor of why I love him so much. It shows how much he truly cares about other human beings, even ones he hasn’t spoken two words to. And I will always respect him for that.
“Friend. Lover. Victor. Enemy. Fiancee. Target. Mutt, Neighbor. Hunter. Tribute. Ally. I’ll add it to the list of words I use to try to figure you out.”
/ before
