In today’s second installment of There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom, I take Henri to task for his blatant character assassination of my beloved fictional boyfriend, Peeta. Now, if there were really a boy in the girl’s bathroom, we all know we would drive him out with that classic strategy from the 7th grade: discussions of our menstrual cycles.
Henri’s made of sterner stuff than that, though, so I had to resort to playing dirty . . . which means talk of cupcakes.
Oh, MAN. Okay, I have to say, you make some good points, Henri. Particularly about how Peeta might get overly concerned with a lady’s enjoyment of certain acts, to the point of putting her off those acts. (Oh, sophomore year of college, I remember you fondly, if not with any actual interest.)
However, your defense of Gale and character assassination of my beloved Peeta is based on a flawed interpretation of the Chase-Krackow-Catalano Venn Diagram of Teenage Angst. It’s not your fault, really; it’s the entire adage that’s wrong. Nice guys don’t finish last; Nice Guys do.
Everyone knows at least one Nice Guy. I don’t know any girl who managed to make it out of college without contending with at least one Nice Guy romantic assault. Nice Guys just want to help out. Nice Guys want you to tell them your problems. Nice Guys think, because they are so nice, you should let them touch you in the girly bits. You owe it to them, cause they are So Nice.
Peeta is not a Nice Guy.
He is, however, a good guy. A guy who tries to help out the people of his district, a guy who tries to use his relative good fortune (as fortunate as anyone is in District 12, which is kind of like saying there are lucky Haitians. Hmm. Too soon?) to help alieve the negative circumstances of others. A boy who’ll take a beating from his crazy-ass mom just to make sure Katniss and her family have some bread to eat.
That’s a good guy. And the great thing about Peeta is that he doesn’t expect a damn thing in return; he does it because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. He protects Kat in the arena because it’s the right thing to do. And he backs off and gives her space when he finds out she isn’t all that into him.
Gale, on the other hand, falls victim to one of the classic Nice Guy blunders: Secretly Pining For A Girl While Being Her Best Friend.
It’s like that Taylor Swift song, but even more obnoxious, if that’s possible. This guy has grown up with Kat. They hang out, in the woods, every day! They’ve got a secret, illegal hobby! If some 20-sided dice were involved, Kat and Gale would be exactly like these two kids who went to my school and refused to go by their actual names and forced everyone to call them things like “Raven’s Breath.” Are you telling me that in all that time, not once did Gale make a move?
Of course he fucking didn’t, because he was absolutely comfortable in keeping Katniss in her little friend place. If Gale’d had his way, he would have Friend Zoned her until such a time as she was feeling vulnerable – for normal girls it’s usually cause they’ve broken up with someone and/or their dog died, but for Kat it’d probably be more like her rebellion lost a key battleground and she just had to kill her mom for being a double-traitor – and then he’d plant one on her. And then poor Kat would have felt the same confusion and ickiness that all girls eventually feel, usually well before their sophomore year in college. (I was a late bloomer.)
But of course, Gale couldn’t operate on his chosen timeline, cause a Terrible, Terrible Thing happened: some other boy got it in his head to like Katniss as well. And oh, suddenly Gale remembered that he didn’t actually own Katniss, and that if he wanted her to be with him, I dunno, maybe he should fucking say something?
Peeta, on the other hand, is upfront. He’s honest. There’s no bullshit, and Peeta doesn’t play games. And it’s not that he can’t play games; we’ve seen that he can. He joined with the Careers to keep his ass alive, and to keep Kat alive as well. (And okay, Kat doesn’t need any help, and Peeta pretty much turned useless for a while there in the cave, but whatevs, he had BLOOD POISONING, and that shizz is crazy.) Actually, that leads me to another point: he realizes Kat is way more kickass than he is. And he likes that.
Do I wish that Peeta would, I dunno, actually talk to Kat about his and Haymitch’s crazy plans instead of announcing them during the Opening Ceremonies? Sure. I’m not saying he’s perfect. But he’s a hell of a lot more perfect than Gale. He’s tough, he’s sweet, he’s sensitive, and he can Get Shit Done. He’s got talents and interests that aren’t Kat’s talents and interests, which means that they’d be more well-rounded and better suited as a couple. And most important of all, and this cannot be overstated -
He bakes. Stop laughing, Henri! Because I know, and you know, that there is nothing better than a delicious baked good in your tummy. In fact, the only thing that might be better than that is the anticipation you feel of eating a delicious baked good, right before you sit down to eat it. Life with Peeta would be like that ALL THE TIME. I, er, I mean, Kat, could wake up every morning to the aroma of fresh hot cross buns or beignets. She could make a lunch of a sandwich with fresh bread just baked earlier. And the sweets. Oh, President Snow, the sweets! Cupcakes, pastries, petit fours, baklava, cookies . . . I know from my learnings of Toddlers and Tiaras and Ace of Cakes that a sweets diet is actually the base of the Food Pyramid.
So, sure, Katniss could side with Team Gale, and find herself stuck doing the same thing every day (after they win the rebellion, of course), trapping, hunting, and watching Gale brood about shit. Or she could choose Team Peeta, and actually have someone who will talk to her about how he feels and what he wants, someone she can turn to in the middle of the night when the nightmares get bad, because he’ll understand exactly how she feels.
In conclusion, croissants.
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OH SNAP!!!!!!!!
erin, i have to apologize to you. after reading henri’s argument yesterday, i had no idea how team peeta was gonna survive that kind of smackdown. i mean, we got SERVED, y’all. and by a boy, no less!
but the minute you brought up “the Chase-Krackow-Catalano Venn Diagram of Teenage Angst,” BOOM! and the fact that gale totally friend zoned katniss and didn’t make a move until he felt threatened by peeta? DOUBLE BOOM. and then, the baked goods? NUCLEAR BOOM.
so please, accept my apology for thinking that no one could possible stand up to henri’s pro-gale defense. girl, you BROUGHT IT like the east compton clovers, and i heartily applaud you.
oh man i can’t wait to see wear this goes. INTENSITIES IN TEN CITIES!!!!
p.s. “Raven’s Breath”?!!
I think you are right about nice guy vs. Nice Guy, but I don’t think that Gale is a Nice Guy.
With your reasoning, Peeta is a Nice Guy, he takes advantage of Katniss being in a pretty vulnerable situation with a frail to non-existant ability to make emotional decisions (a la dog dying). I mean, did Peeta EVER talk to her before they were in a life-threatening situation together? He was the one pining for Katniss unable to talk to her. I don’t care how much you don’t like someone, if he admits to you that he has been in love with you and that someone is dying right in front of you, I’m sure you’d be a little fucked in the head.
I actually don’t think that Gale is in love with Katniss (but I also haven’t read Catching Fire). I think that he loves her, but as his dearest friend. I don’t think he can even muster to think of Katniss that way. I’m sure he’s pissed about Peeta. I mean I kind of hated my best friend’s boyfriend because he took my best friend away! I think every friend goes through that. (I like my pal’s guy now, don’t worry, because he is really, really good for her, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t hate hearing his name for a while.)
Now, for Katniss’ relationship status, I think that Peeta is a better choice. I mean, dating Gale would be like dating herself. She needs some balance there. But if you were to ask me who I would like to date, it would definitely be Gale. Can I play both teams but use them strategically, like offense and defense on the same team?
sally, I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU HAVE NOT READ “CATCHING FIRE” YET?!!! do you have some kind of mutant ability when it comes to will power?!!!!
you need to read it, obvs cos it’s awesome, but for the purposes of this debate, because some LOVE TRIANGLE SHIZZ GOES DOWN.
Erin, you make some good points. Particularly: croissants. But I was all gearing up to say the exact same thing Sally said: Peeta’s the one who didn’t make a move on Katniss despite his decade-long pining! Gale didn’t make a move–not because he cared to keep Katniss in the friend zone, or to play games–but because, like Kat, Gale is a REALIST. He knows there’s no end game in pursuing your dearest love in District 12, in a hopeless society like Panem, where falling in love and getting married and having babies means BAM YOUR BABIES MUST NOW FIGHT TO THE DEATH ON NATIONAL TELEVISION! If they didn’t live in a scary dystopian future, Gale totally would have made his move. But he knows Katniss wouldn’t appreciate it and he respects and understands the reasons why.
Peeta’s a dreamer, which has its place, for instance as the face and voice of a passionate revolution. But he just sat around baking cupcakes and mooning over Katniss while Gale was actually getting to know her, respect her and, by teaching her to trap and track, giving her the tools of independence. The bread incident versus Gale’s years of hunting with Kat is the perfect analogy, and I can’t think it was inadvertent on Collins’ part: Peeta wants to be able to protect Kat, and Gale wants Kat to be able to protect herself and her family.
Also, the fact that Peeta wholeheartedly believed Kat’s whole kissy game in the first book, not really grasping that she was doing this in order to survive, indicates to me that Peeta doesn’t really KNOW Katniss. Yes, he knows she’s brave and curmudgeonly and a good kisser and has nightmares, but he doesn’t know her outside the games. And the way he keeps making decisions for her and working with Haymitch without ever consulting her to decide for her what her strategy should be: it’s insulting. Yeah, Katniss isn’t a charmer or a strategist, but Haymitch and Peeta don’t give her the chance to learn those skills the way she quickly adapted to hunting and trapping. They just sort of assume they should take care of that for her because she’s not smart enough to handle it. That’s gross, and I don’t think Gale would ever be so presumptuous and condescending to Our Bad-Ass Heroine.
But on the other hand, croissants.
Okay, Mere and Sally, you make good points. And I promise to discuss them in detail later, but right now I just took an entire bar of Xanas plus cough syrup for codeine (internets, I’m not a drug addict! I’m a claustrophobic with a bad cough! Promise!), so I can’t adequately counter your arguments
But I do want to say this: Peeta sat around mooning for Kat from afar. Other than The Bread Incident, it’s not like they ran in the same circles. Liking someone from afar and not knowing how to approach her is one thing. Being best friends with someone, seeing them DAY AFTER DAY, and, no offense, but not being smart enough to pick up the hints that Katniss was dropping for Gale at the beginning of the Hunger Games is, in my humble opinion, lame and stupid.
Also, croissants.
Erin, you astound me with your argument. I, like Sarah, didn’t think Peeta had a leg to stand on (oops!) after Henri’s post, so well done! Now I find myself firmly with the belief that I still want Gale, but for Katniss…. I’m undecided.
Okay, well Meredith pretty much already schooled the shit out of you, Erin, but I’m gonna pick up where she left off and decimate Team Whiny Guys Are Awesome once and for all in my next post. But here’s a preview:
Guess what? You can trade meat for croissants. And journeying through the woods hunting and trapping together gives you a different adventure every day. Watching some crybaby put things into the oven? THAT’S the same day in and day out. Yeah, your house smells nice, but Katniss ain’t an indoor cat anyway.
HA! trade meat for croissants … as IF!
but while i still think gale is the dead sexy one, you make some good arguments, erin. and gale DID totally friend zone katniss — i always felt like it was because he thought she was too young, which is just his way of patronizing her (although the girl IS remarkably clueless …). and katniss started to believe her kissy game at one point, or at least to be very flustered and confused by it (and i DON’T remember peeta ever asking her if it was good like this or if she was ok).
i mostly still agree with meredith, BUT this argument is a wicked good one. no wonder katniss is having such a hard time choosing (OH, but peeta’s little publicity stunt in catching fire? TOTALLY pushed me onto gale’s side. something THAT big and life-changing as you-know-what can’t be just sprung on a girl in front of a live studio audience. see? peeta can be an insensitive ass, too). obvs i’m not capable of making either a decision or coherent argument, and i can’t blame codeine. so …
croissants.
I like Peeta and Gale equally so I think the obvious solution is… polygamy. Katniss should just do both of them and then choose. And if she still can’t decide? They can all live happily ever after as a threesome! Anyone with me? Anyone?
I don’t think Gale really loves Katniss either. He NEVER did anything until Peeta made a move and I agree that he did it out of instinctual fear of losing his best friend. I think Gale and Katniss are too much alike to be a good couple down the road.
Plus, why does Katniss need to trade meat for baked goods? She can hunt her own meat while her man bakes her some goods.
And Peeta doesn’t strike me as the “Is this good for you” kind of lover. He laid some pretty good smooches on her without asking her for her opinion after each one.
Opposites attract for a reason- there needs to be diversity in a relationship and the important thing they’ll have in common will be the games and when Katniss wakes up terrified in the middle of the night, Peeta will have a much better understanding than Gale.
I just don’t get the feeling Katniss is in love with Gale- he’s her best friend, practically her brother, they’re completely bonded but I never got any real romantic vibes from her. Not like her getting twisted up over Peeta.
Okay, so I was waiting to finish reading CATCHING FIRE before jumping in because I was scared as hell that I’d get a spoiler. Now that I’m caught up and educated, I am without a doubt TEAM PEETA.
What exactly has Gale done in the past two books to even make him boyfriend material? At first I was Team Gale because sure, he hunted illegally with her everyday for food and survival. Like a BROTHER. He’s loyal and gets it done.
But since the minute Katiss got pulled into the Hunger Games, Peeta’s been there for her. He knows how to play the game both on camera and with the Careers. If Gale had been drawn instead of Peeta, he would have just run in and probably blown himself up. Gale would probably have wrestled emotionally with killing Kat for a whole five minutes and taken her out because he’s practical.
The p-bomb that Peeta dropped in the 75th pre-Games interview was AWESOME. He knew exactly what to say to keep Kat alive and how to keep the crowd on her side. His only motivation in the Games is Kat.
Love isn’t about practicality and being perfectly alike with someone. That would get boring. Peeta balances out hunter-Kat by giving her love and comfort, both with the snugglies and the bread.
So unless Gale pulls something magical out of his ass in the next book, TEAM PEETA all the way.
Everyone makes good points, but Talya makes the best (and hottest!) point. I’m now switching my argument to Threesome.
obv.
Let me say this: Guilt factor –> Katniss has known Gale since she was a child and they got through there fathers deaths together, he kept her family alive ect. but Katniss may only like him because he is something stable in her crazy life and because she feels she owes it to him for all they went through.
Katniss tends to take Peeta for granted. I feel she realized when she was on her way to district thirtenn with gale that she needed Peeta. He comforts her, protects her, loves her and she lets him.
I cannot wait for Mocking Jay the third book to come out.
Any argument that ends in croissants has the best defense EVAR imho. I feel like I should make one of those macros that says Peeta has croissants therefore your statement is invalid.
I honestly don’t feel I’ve been given enough of an opportunity to get to know Gale to make a final call on who is best for Katniss. However, Peeta has complete control of my heart.
And I think I have just found my new favorite blog. Any blog that contains the phrase Chase-Krackow-Catalano Venn Diagram of Teenage Angst has my undying love.
Welcome! Feel free to poke around, we have all sorts of goodies on this site (for example, today we will have another installment of our super-exciting Choose Your Own Adventure story!)
I LOVE PEETA! i defintally think GALE DOES NOT LOVE KATNISS! First of all he never made a move and he had soo many chances like come on ALL THOSE YEARS! really?….anyway i just think that he likes it the way it was when they were all buddy buddy in the woods, but once he saw PEETA MAKE HIS MOVE he was like CRAP MAN things are going to change and i LIKE it when im with Katniss and probally the only way to keep her is to say i love her. Cause he really dosnt know any other girls. PEETA on the other hand i straight up with it ands all like HEY I LOVE YOU DEAL WITH IT! which is super bad-ass ! and plus Katniss and Gale are the same she even says so! there needs tobe balance here! come on people!
GO TEAM PEETA!
Haven’t read Catching Fire, but I really don’t like Peeta.
Why I don’t like Peeta:
-Seems a bit too perfect. Too kind(most of the time), self-sacrificing, etc.
-Edward Cullen-like obsession
- I find myself questioning his motives like others.
-I just don’t think he sees Katniss as who she is – strong and independent.
I really liked him at first, but then as we got into the games that ended fast.
And a lot of people are saying Gale had never shown her any sort of romantic feelings and ‘made no moves’ – and we don’t know him that well, so we really dont know – but neither did Peeta until they were chosen for the games together. He kept it hidden, so who’s to say Gale didnt do the same? Oh, I don’t really count the ‘Bread Incident’ to be honest simply because he seemed like he was just being a really nice guy.
Why I like Gale better -
-Did NOT fall for Katniss right away
-Actually knows Katniss very well, for at least five years
-He sees her not only as his best friend but as someone who is independent and can take care of herself
Also, Katniss was first wary of Gale, then over the years became best friends and maybe more, and this hasn’t wavered. With Peeta, it was almost as if she was obligated to like him in a romantic way – he always loved her, and she never noticed him. And she even said so herself most of the romance during the Games was an act – not all of it, but most of it.
Whether or not Gale is in love with Katniss and vice versa is actually doesnt really matter to me. I just don’t see Peeta and her as a good pair.
Again, I have NOT read Catching Fire.
Claire, How can you make a good argument if you haven’t read Catching Fire? The ending had me permanatly on Peeta’s side. Go read it!!!