In "Why does Katniss Fail at Everything she Fakes? Being versus Seeming to Be in the Hunger Games Trilogy," Dereck Coatney argues that Katniss is a "natural" person and has virtue because she lacks vanity and the ability to fake anything. He formulates this argument by defining what it means to be a virtuous person or a true human according to Rousseau, and by giving examples from the novels. By utilizing these two things to formulate his argument, he accomplishes his purpose of proving that Katniss is a virtuous agent, an example of a “natural” person. This argument appeals to scholarly audiences interested in analyzing the Hunger Games and those searching for deeper meaning in the novels.
Though I agree with Coatney that Katniss does have an inability to be anything but her true self in the novels, I am a little less willing to readily accept Rousseau's theory of what it means to be a virtuous person. Perhaps what its missing for me in the article is why I should accept his ideas, an argument as to why his beliefs about virtue should be used over others with differing opinions. Without this step, it seems that the article just proves why Katniss fails at being fake, but doesn't provide a reason why that matters and fails to dig any deeper than that.
Though I agree with Coatney that Katniss does have an inability to be anything but her true self in the novels, I am a little less willing to readily accept Rousseau's theory of what it means to be a virtuous person. Perhaps what its missing for me in the article is why I should accept his ideas, an argument as to why his beliefs about virtue should be used over others with differing opinions. Without this step, it seems that the article just proves why Katniss fails at being fake, but doesn't provide a reason why that matters and fails to dig any deeper than that.