Question

How does the Hunger Games show the idea of "the fall of innocence" through Katniss's perspective?

Answer 1

Katniss starts off as a hardened tomboy, well aware of the horrors of her dystopian government. She doesn't really start off that innocence, but she keeps falling. Her government is out to kill her- well not just her in particular... everyone in the games is being killed off for the enjoyment of the upper-class, except for the lucky winner.

Throughout the games, she grows grimmer and grimmer. She meets the sweet and innocent Rue, and actually makes a friend in the games. Her friend is brutally taken from her for good. When the "team-winning" is allowed, she finally gets a spark of hope, unknowing that this is simply for the enjoyment of the viewers. When the competition is brought down to three people, she revels in horror at the the muttations, which are incredibly... freaky. On the horror of having your body controlled.

When the rules are changed back to normal, her innocence is shattered. She realizes that she can't fight back, and tries her suicide as an act of defiance. Luckily, the government freaks out and declares them both winners, her sanity not completely intact