Often, people will perform selfless acts for the ones they love. This is true for the characters Peeta and Katniss from The Hunger Games. An examination of emotional, physical and spiritual sacrifice reveals several ways people often act to protect the ones they love. In Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, the characters make many sacrifices throughout the novel, and this could ultimately inspire others to act the same.
In the novel, Katniss and Peeta make many inspirational emotional sacrifices for the ones they love, and to help them survive. To begin with, Katniss saves her younger sister Prim and volunteers as tribute because she cannot stand seeing her name chosen at the reaping when she states, " 'I volunteer!" I gasp. "I volunteer as tribute'" (Collins, 22). This is true for all older siblings who always look out for their younger siblings and would usually act selfless in these types of situations. Katniss displays her willingness to risk her life and shows how powerful her relationship is with Prim. In continuation, Katniss gives up her childhood to take care of her family after her father's death. As stated by Katniss in the novel, "At eleven years old, with Prim just seven, I took over as head of the family" (27). This is an act of selflessness because she is taking responsibility and taking care of the family instead of leaving her mom who is tuned out from the world to do it. Instead of wasting time, and being lazy, she takes action as soon as the family is in need and takes the roll as an older sibling as well as a role model for Rue. Lastly, another form of emotional sacrifice is when Katniss and Peeta go for the double suicide when Claudius Templesmith declares that there can only be one winner and the end of the Hunger Games. Katniss is aware of her plan not to eat the poisonous berries, but Peeta is not completely aware of what she is trying to do, and decides to eat the berries with her hoping that they both would not have to go through the pain of not seeing each other after the games; as stated, "I give Peeta's hand one last squeeze as a signal, as a good-bye" (344).