Her characteristics have some part in determining her to show her existence when she faces some problems. So when Katniss decides to do
something to fight against her problems and prove her existence, her characteristics influence how she acts. According to the definition of existence,
Katniss’s existence is seen because she is “being”, and she is in the state of existing which is she exists and she is able to do what human suppose to do to
fight and survive in any bad situation. She shows from herself that she has the specifically human quality, which is shown in her way to deal with her struggles.
Her existence is also seen when she makes responsible decisions, and decides what she wants to do to create her life and existence. All of her struggles and how
her characteristics influence her to show her existence can be seen in those following explanations:
1. Decides to be a Leader and Taking Care of the Family
Katniss and her family lives in a poor district, district twelve. Her district is a part of Panem. Panem is ruled by the Capitol which is a rich and high
technology area. At first her family lived so well. Her father worked in mining and her mother worked as apothecary. They could fulfill their needs even though
they are not rich. When her father died in mining accident when she was eleven, no one support her family anymore. Her family becomes poor. It is seen in the
novel on pages twenty seven, “But the money ran out and we were slowly starving to death. There’s no other way to put it p. 27”.
One day Katniss could not earn some money for her family. She was starving and her family had nothing to eat. They just had some water to drink as
seen in, “For three days, we’d had nothing but boiled water with some old dried mint leaves I’d found in the back of a cupboard p. 28”.
As a poor family Katniss has to signed up for tesserae. Girls and boys in the districts can have it, but if they signed up for more tesserae, every tesserae
they have will be count as one additional name in the Game. On May 8
th
, I went to the Justice Building, signed up for my tesserae, and pulled home my first batch of grain and oil in Prim’s toy wagon. On the
eighth of every month, I was entitled to do the same. I couldn’t stop hunting and gathering, of course. The grain was not enough to live on, and
there were other things to buy, soap and milk and thread p. 51-52.
When Katniss was in train and Capitol, they always served her an expensive and delicious meal Katniss never had because she is poor and she could
not buy any expensive food. Her mind went to back home how she gathers food. I try to imagine assembling this meal myself back home. Chickens are too
expensive, but I could make do with a wild turkey. I’d need to shoot a second turkey to trade for an orange. Goat’s milk would have to substitute
for cream. We can grow peas in the garden. I’d have to get wild onions from the woods.
Days of hunting and gathering for this one meal and even then it would be a poor substitution for the Capitol version p. 65.
After her father died, her mother is desperate because of losing her father. Her mother drowns into sadness as a result her mother could not take care of the
family. Her mother ignored her and her sister, Prim as if they are not exist. She does not want to take care of and feed them. For her mother, it looks like she does
not have anything left after the death of her husband. Her mother’s condition really affected Katniss and Prim as seen in the novel in page eight, “I try to
remember that when all I can see is the woman who sat by, black and unreachable, while her children turned to skin and bones p. 8”.
Katniss feels her father death makes her feels she also lost her mother. Her mother locked in some dark world of sadness and did not do anything. Her mother
cannot take care of her and Prim. The district had given us a small amount of money as compensation for his
death, enough to cover one month of grieving at which time my mother would be expected to get a job. Only she didn’t. she didn’t do anything but
sit propped up in a chair or, more often, huddled under the blankets on her bed, eyes fixed on some point in the distance.
I was terrified. I suppose now that my mother was locked in some dark world of sadness, but at the time, all I knew was that I had lost not only my
father, but a mother as well p. 26-27. Katniss’s father had taught her how to hunt. She often hunted in woods
with her father, but after her father died she has to do it by herself. One day she had the good luck to kill a rabbit. When she was at home, her mother tried to cook
the rabbit but her mother suddenly went back to her depression. We hadn’t had meat in months. The sight of the rabbit seemed to stir
something in my mother. She roused herself, skinned the carcass, and made a stew with the meat and some more greens Prim had gathered. Then
she acted confused and went back to bed, but when the stew was done, we made her eat a bowl p. 51.
This condition made Katniss thought that she has to act and do something to handle this condition. She does not want if this condition continues, then the
community home know her mother cannot take care of her and Prim, the district will take them to the community home. Katniss will not let this happen. She does
not want the community home take her and Prim. As a member in this family, she also has to be responsible of the family, especially her mother cannot do so, and
she has to make sure that the family is alright and comfortable. To show her existence, she has to take those responsibilities so others can realize her existence
and ability. So, she decided to be the leader of the family and take the
