HG Week: Team Gale, Peeta, or Katniss?

With all the excitement surrounding Mockingjay, I've seen a lot of posts around the blogosphere that support either Team Peeta, Team Gale, or Team Katniss. I think the idea originally started with Twilight, as people started saying Team Edward or Team Jacob. I was never really into either side of that, because I always felt it was obvious she was and would always be with Edward. With The Hunger Games, it's not quite as obvious, and I think there are valid arguments for each side. In this post I will attempt to examine the 2 (or 3) sides, and give my conclusion.

***WARNING: This post contains spoilers for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (but not for Mockingjay, of course). If you haven't read either of the first two books, stop reading, and go to the nearest bookstore and buy them, and read them now!***

Team Peeta: Team Peeta suggests that Katniss should be with Peeta, who has been in love with her since she was 5 years old, and has been with her through The Hunger Games twice, and cares for her a lot and wants to be with her. I am not Team Peeta, I'll explain why later.

Team Gale: Gale has been Katniss's best friend since they were 12 and both of their dads died in a mining explosion. They've survived and fed their families together and become best friends, but neither admited they had feelings for each other until after the Games. Gale rocks...umm, I'll explain that later too.
Team Katniss: I'm pretty sure we can all agree that Katniss is one of the coolest, best heroines ever written. I mean seriously, this girl kicks butt. Team Katniss basically states that you support Katniss in whatever decision she makes, because whoever she chooses, she's cool enough to make it an awesome choice, and she wouldn't choose anyone without a good reason.


My Opinion:
So, I'll just say it. I'm Team Gale, though I fully support Team Katniss also.

In Catching Fire, Katniss is terrified that her future might have to be spent with Peeta. She doesn't want to marry him and live with him the rest of her life. So instead, she makes a plan to run away with Gale. Once Gale hears of the rebellion, he doesn't want to leave, he wants to help fight the Capitol.

So Katniss's decision is this: Choose Peeta, turning into the Capitol's puppet and eventually conforming to the false person she's pretending to be for them, or choose Gale, and be part of the rebellion to overthrow the Capitol. I'm not saying if she chose Peeta she wouldn't be able to be part of the rebellion, but I'm just saying if she chose Peeta, there really wouldn't be need for the rebellion. Imagine in the beginning, if there was no Gale and she was truly in love with Peeta during the whole first Hunger Games. All of the tension in Catching Fire would be gone, she wouldn't have sparked a rebellion. This is why Team Peeta cannot happen! It won't work!

I really hope that argument makes sense to anybody else! It makes sense in my head, but my head is a jumbled up place sometimes. :)

That's not all, though! There is more. One of my favorite things about this book is that Katniss does not spend a lot of time thinking about Gale or Peeta, and which one she should choose, or obsessing over either one of them, as happens a lot in other young adult series. No, she's too busy fighting for her life! If she did suddenly decide she really wants to be with Gale and started obsessing over him, I would probably start hating him (and her). Katniss is just so cool, that I fully support Team Katniss. I know if she did choose Peeta, or she ended up on her own, it would work out fine. I trust her!

Earlier I mentioned that I connect Katniss choosing Gale with choosing the rebellion. You don't agree? I was reading Catching Fire today and I think this part totally proves that. (The first part also proves how strong of feelings Katniss really has for Gale! She doesn't feel this way at all about Peeta!) This is actually probably one of my favorite parts of the whole series, because she decides she truly loves Gale, and that she truly wants to be part of the rebellion, so I have to share it.

For the first time, I reverse our positions in my head. I imagine Gale volunteering to save Rory in the reaping, having him torn from my life, becoming some strange girl's lover to stay alive, and then coming home with her. Living next to her. Promising to marry her.
The hatred I feel for him, for the phantom girl, for everything, is so real and immediate that it chokes me. Gale is mine. I am his. Anything else is unthinkable. Why did it take him being whipped within an inch of his life to see it?
Because I'm selfish. I'm a coward. I'm the kind of girl who, when she might actually be of use, would run to stay alive and leave those who couldn't follow to suffer and die. This is the girl Gale met in the woods today.
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.
I rest my head forward on the edge of the table, overcome with loathing for myself. Wishing I had died in the arena. Wishing Seneca Crane had blown me to bits the way President Snow said he should have when I held out the berries.
The berries. I realize the answer to who I am lies in that handful of poisonous fruit. If I held them out to save Peeta because I knew I would be shunned if I came back without him, then I am despicable. If I held them out because I loved him, I am still self-centered, although forgivable. But if I held them out to defy the Capitol, I am someone of worth. The trouble is, I don't know exactly what was going on inside me at that moment.
Could it be the people in the districts are right? That it was an act of rebellion, even if it was an unconscious one? Because, deep down, I must know it isn't enough to keep myself, or my family, or my friends alive by running away. Even if I could. It wouldn't fix anything. It wouldn't stop people from being hurt the way Gale was today.
Life in District 12 isn't really so different from life in the arena. At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead. The hard thing is finding the courage to do it. Well, it's not hard for Gale. He was born a rebel. I'm the one making an escape plan.
"I'm so sorry," I whisper. I lean forward and kiss him.
His eyelashes flutter and he looks at me through a haze of opiates. "Hey, Catnip."
"Hey, Gale," I say.
"Thought you'd be gone by now," he says.
My choices are simple. I can die liek quarry in the woods or I can die here beside Gale. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay right here and cause all kinds of trouble."
"Me, too," Gale says. He just manages a smile before the drugs pull him back under.
Catching Fire, pg. 117-119

Awesome scene. Love it so much!

One more great quote (a lot shorter one, haha):

I have chosen Gale and the rebellion, and a future with Peeta is the Capitol's design, not mine.
Catching Fire, pg. 121

There are a lot more great Team Gale quotes (Danielle at Every Last Page has a great list!) Just reading those would make me want to switch to Team Gale. Unfortunately, the Capitol seems to be foiling all the rebellion/Team Gale plans when they send Katniss and Peeta into the Hunger Games again! But I know in Mockingjay we'll see some great continuing of the story, and my fingers are crossed for Katniss and Gale.

My Personal Mockinjay Prediction: Because of everything I said earlier, my personal guess is that Katniss will end up with Gale, and not choose Peeta, because choosing Peeta would be following what the Capitol wants, not who she really is. I wouldn't be surprised if Peeta ended up sacrificing himself to save her. In spite of everything, I still really like Peeta and hope he does get a happy ending even if not with Katniss, but I don't think everyone in Mockingjay will get a happy ending. Just my personal opinion though. Who knows what twists might happen...

Now I want feedback! What are your opinions on anything I mentioned?