The Archetypal Journey of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games Novel Trilogy
B. The Hero’s Journey
In 1949, a book entitled The Hero with a Thousand Faces was firstly published.
The book was written by Joseph Campbell (1904 – 1987). Through his life, Joseph Campbell as a mythologist had discovered many theories and concepts about myths and heroes. One of the theories that is widely known is The Monomyth or usually referred to The Hero‘s Journey which is explained in The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
The Hero‘s Journey theory that people know grows from nuclear monomyth.
Nuclear Monomyth is the rites of passage of heroes or ―The standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero‖ (2004). There are three passages in the nuclear monomyth which are ―separation—initiation—return‖ (Campbell, 2004). Below is the picture of Nuclear Monomyth:
Figure 1:
Nuclear Monomyth
(Campbell, 2004)
Desimasari, B. A. & Riyandari, A., The Archetypal Journey of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger 87 Games Novel Trilogy
The three passages are later divided into seventeen original stages that are explained in his book in 1949. Figure 2 shows the stages that Campbell (2004) proposed in the form of chart based on nuclear monomyth.
Figure 2:
The Hero’s Journey Chart (2004)
Based on figure 2, the stages go from The Call to Adventure to Freedom to Live and is differentiated in three different passages which are Departure, Initiation and Return.
Campbell explains that the hero or heroine experiences these stages in their heroic journey (2004).
METHODOLOGY
The data are collected by reading The Hunger Games Novel Trilogy, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay (in the order of publication). By reading the novels, Katniss Everdeen‘s character development can be observed. Katniss Everdeen‘s character development is then interpreted into the stages of Hero‘s Journey and fitted into the stages of how Katniss becomes a heroine based on the seventeen stages of Joseph Campbell‘s Hero‘s Journey which determine how she fits the character of a heroine.
Qualitative research is applied to this study due to the purpose of this research, which is to reveal the pattern in Katniss Everdeen‘s character by using a theory developed by Joseph Campbell, The Hero‘s Journey. Qualitative approach is considered suitable for this study, as Creswell (2003) explains that,
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A qualitative approach is one in which the inquirer often makes knowledge claims based primarily on constructivist perspectives (i.e., the multiple meanings of individual experiences, meanings socially and historically constructed. The researcher collects open-ended emerging data with the primary intent of developing themes from the data (p. 18).
RESULTS
After reading the Trilogy, the writer categorized the data conforming to the seventeen stages mentioned in the Hero‘s Journey theory. The seventeen stages of the Hero‘s Journey of Katniss Everdeen can be found in The Hunger Games Trilogy.
A. Departure
1. The Call to Adventure
The Hero‘s Journey starts when Prim or Primrose Everdeen, Katniss‘ little sister gets chosen as a tribute, representing District 12, at ―The Reaping‖ of the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Unwilling to let her little sister to face the challenge, Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen-year-old girl volunteers herself to replace Primrose.
Katniss does not let her sister to become a tribute because Katniss does not want her sister to be a victim. For Katniss, ―the word tribute is pretty much synonymous with the word corpse…‖ (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009, p. 22). Katniss‘ choice to become a volunteer to protect her sister drags her away from her family; and her journey to become a heroine starts.
2. Refusal of the Call
The second stage is actually the time when the Hero or Heroine has doubts, fears and insecurities of what comes ahead if they choose to accept the call. However, in the novel, Katniss does not refuse the call. She instead comes for it. Katniss‘ act is unusual since ―the myths and folk tales of the whole world make clear that the refusal is essentially a refusal to give up what one takes to be one's own interest‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 55). Here, Katniss does not do things based on her own interest. She is a character who will do everything to protect her family. She immediately accepts the call because she has no choice but to save her younger sister, Prim, from becoming a tribute. In doing so she overrides her ego. However, deep down in her heart, Katniss does not like the reality that she has to bear. It shows when she thinks that, ―The only thing I feel is a desire to be somewhere else.‖ (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009, p.
54). Whether or not she is fond of her choice, she has to accept the consequences.
3. Supernatural Aid
Even though there are many ―mentors‖ in the novels like Cinna, the stylist or Effie, the escort, the character that fulfills the description of Supernatural Aid is Haymitch Abernathy. He fits the criteria of an ―…old man) who provides the
Desimasari, B. A. & Riyandari, A., The Archetypal Journey of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger 89 Games Novel Trilogy
adventurer with amulets…‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 63). Not only provides Katniss with amulets, Haymitch also fits the criteria of a mentor which is ―…typically one who has responded to the call.‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 67). Mentors of each Districts are the people who have won the game. They are responsible to guide the two tributes of each District each year. His advices become important on Katniss‘ life. When is called out to play the The Hunger Games again, followed by Peeta, Haymitch throws advice,
―You just remember who the enemy is,‖ (Collins, Catching Fire, 2010). It affects Katniss‘ decision in in the last part of the Catching Fire (Collins, 2010), Katniss remembers what Haymitch has said before the game started which to remember who the real enemy is.
Reminded by Haymitch‘s advice, Katniss stops trying to kill Enobaria, her rival tribute. Instead, she destroys the Arena. She is then lifted to a hovercraft by people behind her that has planned to rescue her without her knowing; one of the people is Haymitch (Collins, Catching Fire, 2010). Haymitch‘s amulets are mostly in the form of his advice to Katniss. Other than advice, there is one amulet in the form of Finnick, a district four tribute. Without Haymitch‘s interference on making Finnick as a guard, Katniss will not survive the game.
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
Joseph Campbell describes this stage as a stage where the hero or heroine
―crosses‖ or simply enters ―the regions of the unknown (desert, jungle, deep sea, alienland, etc.)‖ (2004, p. 72). Katniss crosses the First Threshold when her train enters the Capitol with full of amazement in a train:
Both Peeta and I run to the window to see what we‘ve only seen on television, the Capitol, the ruling city of Panem. The cameras haven‘t lied about its grandeur. If anything they have not quite captured the magnificence of the glistening buildings in a rainbow hue that tower into the air, the shiny cars that roll down the wide paved streets, the oddly dressed people with bizarre hair and painted faces who have never missed a meal. (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009, p. 59).
5. Belly of the Whale
Taken from the story of Jonah, Campbell translates the term ―The Belly of the Whale‖ into his own understanding which ―is a transit into a sphere of rebirth symbolized in the worldwide womb image…‖ (2004, p. 83). In Katniss‘ case, at this stage, she is also being swallowed into ―the belly of the whale‖, into the ―womb‖ of Capitol. Instead of fighting the force of the Threshold, Katniss adapts herself to Capitol. In The Hunger Games (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009), the ―Rebirth‖ of Katniss is illustrated by her transformations from a shabby girl of Coal Mining District or District 12 to a girl that can impress the Capitol just by her appearances. The transformation she has is by the help of Cinna the fashion designer, Venia, and Fulvia the beauty agents:
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I‘m in a simple black unitard that covers me from ankle to neck. Shiny leather boots lace up to my knees. But it‘s the fluttering cape made of steams of orange, yellow, and red and the matching headpiece that define this costume. Cinna plans to light them on fire just before our chariot rolls into the streets (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009, p. 67).
In contrast to Jonah‘s ―Belly of the Whale‖ experience, Katniss is not literally swallowed by the whale. The Belly of the Whale that is experienced by Katniss represents how she is being born again through the changing of her physical look. The Capitol as in whole, represents the whale that swallows Katniss into its ―womb‖. It is a symbol that Campbell explains as the place of rebirth (2004). Being inside the Capitol, Katniss changes into a new version of her as the shape of a rebirth.
B. Initiation
1. The Road of Trials
After going through a rebirth, the hero has to enter ―a world literature of miraculous tests and ordeals‖ (Campbell, 2004). Tests and ordeals are what The Road of Trials stage are filled with. Katniss‘ Road of Trials covers up the first novel (The Hunger Games) to the second novel (Catching Fire)
a. The 74th Hunger Games
In this 74th Hunger Games, Katniss has her first trial. Katniss goes through obstacles in the 74th Hunger Games that not all humans can bear. Even though being killed by the other contestants is one of the main causes of the tributes‘ death, the arena itself contains surprising hurdles. One by one the tributes die, including Rue, a little girl that saves Katniss. At the end of the 74th Hunger Games, the Gamemaker decides to change the rule of the game. The new rule is that ―both tributes from the same district will be declared winners if they are the last two alive‖ (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009). Katniss then forms an alliance with Peeta until the end of the game where they have to fight Cato from District 2 and muttations. (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009).
They manage to kill Cato. The cannon fires as the sign of Cato‘s death.
Suddenly there is a voice saying that the rules change again. It says that there can be only one winner. Peeta begs Katniss to kill him. Instead of killing him, Katniss asks Peeta to take the nightlock she has saved in her pouch. It turns out that Katniss finds the loophole of the rule. If both of them die, Capitol will have no winner. Together, they take the poisonous berries into their mouth. At that time the trumpet sounds and the announcer says that they are the victors of the game. (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009). As she is playing along the game, Katniss has proven that, the hero, whether god or goddess, man or woman, the figure in a myth or the dreamer of a dream, discovers and assimilates his opposite (his own unsuspected self) either by swallowing it or by being swallowed (Campbell, 2004, p. 99).
Desimasari, B. A. & Riyandari, A., The Archetypal Journey of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger 91 Games Novel Trilogy
By allowing herself to be ‗swallowed‘ by the game, Katniss finds the loophole of the rule. This event is the moment when Katniss ―…discovers for the first time that there is a benign power everywhere supporting him in his superhuman passage.‖
(Campbell, 2004, p. 89). After what has occurred in this first trial, Katniss can already be considered as a ―superhuman‖.
b. The 75th Hunger Games (The Third Quarter Quell)
In the second novel, Catching Fire (Collins, 2010), Katniss is dragged into another game by President Snow, the Ruler of Panem. Before the announcement, Katniss thought that she will receive freedom as her reward of winning the game.
Snow reads the letter on the television as Katniss‘ happiness turns into sorrow.
In this third Quarter Quell, the tributes that join the game are the previous victors. They are mentors that either have more experiences or skills. They are all victors. There are fifty-nine victors but the majority of them are filled with ―Career tributes from District 1, 2, and 4 …‖ (Collins, Catching Fire, 2010, p. 191).
In this game, Katniss and Peeta are coming back to the game. The game starts, and despite being unconfident to survive the game, Katniss gains her focus. She swims through in an attempt to take her choice of weaponry, a golden bow and arrows. Later in the game, she manages to have Finnick, Mags, and Peeta as her allies. Different from the first arena, a forest where Katniss easily adapts to, this arena has tropical humid weather, beach sand, saltwater and jungle. Not long after that, Mags dies and they find three other allies, Beetee, Wiress and Johanna. Later on, Katniss and her allies finally agree to kill the two remaining careers, Brutus and Enobaria. It becomes their new plan, to design a trap with Beetee‘s wire and electrocute Brutus and Enobaria to die. However, Katniss remembers Haymitch‘s advice to identify who the real enemy is. She fails her attempt to kill Enobaria. Instead, she shoots at the dome. It explodes and crumbles down. Katniss once again finds a flaw in the system or the game. Once again, Katniss surpasses the ―miraculous tests and ordeals‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 89) given by the Capitol and Gamemakers.
Based on how Katniss deals with the tests and ordeals of the two games, she has gone through several ―conquests and moments of illumination.‖ (Campbell, 2004, p.
100). It is proven by how she realizes who the real enemy is at the end of the games and how she realizes what the rulers of Capitol can do to take her down.
2. The Meeting with the Goddess
In The Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss also romantically involves with some characters. However, because Katniss is a female, the ―Goddess‖ here is depicted as a male character. This stage occurs at The Reaping. After Katniss volunteers to be a tribute, a male tribute, Peeta Mellark is chosen (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009, p.
25).
Peeta is boy who helps Katniss when she is younger and starved. A couple of years ago, Peeta takes a beating from her mother to help Katniss. He throws Katniss
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two loaves of bread that gives her hope. Peeta is considered as the ―Goddess‖ because the writer finds that Peeta‘s characteristics fit to the term.
Based on The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the Goddess is described as a being who, ―… can never be greater than himself, though she can always promise more than he is yet capable of comprehending‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 106). Although ―Goddess‖
or ―God‖ here sounds more powerful than the hero, they are not exactly better than the hero. This statement is supported by how in the novels Katniss is portrayed as a person who is much stronger than the ―God‖, Peeta.
With Peeta‘s help, Katniss unintentionally finds a nightlock. Peeta‘s role in finding the nightlock becomes a proof that Peeta‘s character fits the ―Goddess‖
character; that he or she ―bids him burst his fetters.‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 106). By winning the game with the help of Peeta, Katniss unlocks her fetters. Although they fake their relationship, their romantic affair later on grows out to be real. One of characteristics that he possess, also that he ―is the guide to the sublime acme of sensuous adventure‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 106) since he is the first kiss of Katniss‘.
3. Woman as Temptress
The Hunger Games Trilogy, the temptress or temptation that Katniss has to deal with is not in a female form or male form, but in herself. In postmodern literature, ―…
female characters begin to embody this spirit in order to break out of the singular sphere…‖ (Foti, 2011, p. 10) of being a temptress to the others, especially men. Thus, Katniss breaks the stereotype of women as ―temptress‖. She is the temptress of her own story. Katniss, as a representation of female embodiment in postmodern literature is
―… able to become individualized, unique human beings who construct their selves of freely chosen characteristics‖ (Foti, 2011, p. 10).
Cambell explains that, ―every failure to cope with a life situation must be laid, in the end, to a restriction of consciousness.‖ (2004, p. 111). Katniss has flaws that have to be eliminated. She cannot cope with reality and channel it to her sudden tantrums, rebellious acts and depressive behaviors. A part of the story that shows her weakness is the part when she acknowledges Peeta‘s love confession at the interview before the 74th Hunger Games begins. (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009).
Peeta has only just stepped from his car when I slam my palms into his chest. He loses his balance and crashes into an ugly urn filled with fake flowers. The urn tips and shatters into hundreds of tiny pieces. Peeta lands in the shards, and blood immediately flows from his hands. (Collins, The Hunger Games, 2009, p. 134).
In the game, Katniss also wins by being rebellious. Katniss tries to take nightlock with Peeta. It makes her win the game but it has consequences. She has to fake her relationship with Peeta, triggers the emergence of chaos in several districts, and puts her friends and family in danger (Collins, Catching Fire, 2010). That consequence is what Campbell describes as a moment where ―after the first thrills of getting under way, the adventure develops into a journey of darkness, horror, disgust, and phantasmagoric fears.‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 111). Another consequence is, the Quarter
Desimasari, B. A. & Riyandari, A., The Archetypal Journey of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger 93 Games Novel Trilogy
Quell. (Collins, Catching Fire, 2010). She also has regular nightmares at night post 74th Hunger Games which follows by negative thoughts and moods. She tends to have bad prejudice against people. Thus, Katniss‘ temptress is not in female nor male form but in her negative and her depressive behavior. She has been through some traumatic experiences which starts from her father‘s death and huge amount of pressure as a tribute or a victor.
4. Atonement with the Father
A ―Father‖ is a great symbol of ―dominance, assertion, provision, strength and bravery.‖ (Venefica, 2017). In this stage, Katniss meets the ―father‖ figure. Katniss will go ―against the father for the mastery of the universe.‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 125). After analyzing the novels, it is found that the figure that fits the representation of father as a symbol is President Snow, the ruler of Panem. Snow shares the greatest strength and dominance over the land of Panem. He also is the one that has the responsibility to ensure Panem‘s stability and security. With Katniss‘ rebellious act at the 74th Hunger Games that inspires people to do uprisings in some Districts, Snow takes an initiative to see Katniss. That is when this stage occurs. To do atonement, Katniss ―requires an abandonment of the attachment to ego itself; and that is what is difficult‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 120).
President Snow makes use of his power to intimidate Katniss, by putting Katniss‘
sister at stake. In order to reconcile her relationship with President Snow, Katniss has to convince the whole Panem including President Snow himself that she and Peeta are in love for the safety of her family and friends (Collins, Catching Fire, 2010).
5. Apotheosis
Apotheosis is a stage where ―childhood parent images and ideas of ―good‖ and
―evil‖ have been surpassed.‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 149). Katniss has her epiphany moment at this important stage. Katniss experiences apotheosis after The Quarter Quell. The moment that she attains epiphany is when she recalls what Haymitch said before the game, ―You just remember who the real enemy is [original italic]” (Collins, Catching Fire, 2010, p. 378). She immediately finds out whom she should fight and go against; it is President Snow, not other tributes in the game (Collins, Catching Fire, 2010, p. 378).
The enemy is President Snow because he has created a world full of tyranny and injustice. He uses Hunger Games to suppress his citizens with false use of dominance.
With the help of the Haymitch who gave her advice, Katniss reaches the moment of apotheosis. She is later seemingly to dead and is lifted to a hovercraft (Collins, Catching Fire, 2010). This event is a proof of her most perfect development.
6. The Ultimate Boon
Based on Campbell explanation, ―the supreme boon desired for the Indestructible Body is uninterrupted residence in the Paradise of the Milk that Never Fails‖ (Campbell, 2004, p. 162). In the hovercraft, slowly Katniss struggles to gain her