Mockingjay Lesson Plan

Why is Katniss so willing to kill Peeta when he first arrives, and why does Haymitch's rebuke work so strongly?

Katniss is desperate not to feel pain about Peeta anymore. If this means killing him, in her mind, so be it; she also imagines that Peeta is a tool of either President Coin or Snow now and wants to defend herself against them. However, Haymitch reminds her that her loyalty to Peeta goes beyond that, both in the public eye—all the members of Katniss's squad must have followed the Hunger Games in which she and Peeta were tributes—and inside her. It is more painful for her to believe that the real Peeta is in there somewhere, but as the squad's actions after the...