Katniss 'Debt Depicted In The Hunger Games'

Debt, not of the financial sort necessarily but in the form of owing someone for their help, comes up multiple times in the novel. The most significant instance concerns Katniss’s first encounter with Peeta. Katniss was starving at the time, and Peeta essentially saved her life by giving her bread from his family’s bakery. Moreover, he apparently burned bread deliberately to help Katniss, despite knowing he would be punished as a result. Katniss describes how she has felt indebted to Peeta ever since. Thresh also brings up debt when he spares Katniss after learning about her alliance with Rue. He says they are “even” and no more is “owed.”
These feelings of indebtedness, Katniss suggests, stem from the experience of growing up poor. When Peeta expresses his surprise that Thresh let Katniss live, Katniss tells him he wouldn’t understand because he’s “always had enough.” What she implies is that Peeta has never been dependent on another person for either his or his loved ones’ wellbeing, so he can’t understand the feelings of debt associated with that experience. The tessera system plays into this mentality of
But as becomes clear over the course of the novel, appearances are extremely important to Katniss’s survival. The author’s focus on Cinna’s dresses subtly emphasizes this theme by forcing the reader to take notice of Katniss’s appearance. Katniss’s dress for the opening ceremony, we learn, makes her (and Peeta, who is similarly dressed) stand apart from the other tributes. The significance of this move isn’t fully clear until Katniss is in the arena and in need of sponsors. By making her stand out, the dress makes her popular, and this popularity is amplified by the public romance she shares with Peeta. Consequently, she becomes more likely to receive gifts, and these gifts actually turn out to be vital to her