Part of what I do professionally is write novels for children and young adults. So how I managed to miss out on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a mystery to me.---
Imagine my surprise when I finally picked up the book (in preparation for seeing the movie) and discovered that the blog post I had just finished (this one, in fact) was all about the protagonist, a young woman named Katniss. Truly a case of life imitating art.
Katniss, a deft combination of hero and antihero, is a perfect example of the extremely psychologically defended person I was writing about.
So, without further ado, let me share with you the now-modified blog post I wrote before reading the book.
Almost everybody wants to be safe--physically and emotionally. You don't have to live in dystopian Panem to know it's a dangerous world out there. You never know when lightning might strike while you are dancing in the rain or when your best friend might become your worst nightmare.
In the physical world, our bodies do a magnificent job of defending us from bacteria and viruses with antibodies, interferon, T-cells, fevers and white blood cells, among other things. In turn, we defend our bodies from elements that can wear down our immune systems with clothing to protect against rain and cold, blazing sun and heat, and everything in between.
In the emotional world, our psyches defend us (and people like Katniss) from such things as vulnerability, insecurity, fear and judgment with bravado, preemptive anger, passive aggression, suspicion and secretiveness, among other things. We defend our psyches from emotional danger by clothing them in personas, those social masks and costumes we wear in public that present "acceptable" parts of ourselves (picture the dandies in Panem's Capitol with their dyed hair and tattoos or the flaming costumes Katniss and Peeta wore to city center while riding the chariot).
Danger is part of being alive. Defenses against danger, both physical and emotional, are part of what keeps us safe in the world. To be emotionally healthy, it is important to be aware of our defenses. In addition, we need to be conscious of those aspects of ourselves that our defenses are trying to protect. Are we, like Katniss, afraid of death or ostracism--or both? Are we, like most citizens of District 12, trying to defend a sense of autonomy or integrity--or both?
As valid as our need to defend against danger, defenses can sometimes take on lives of their own. In the physical world, our bodies' immune systems may become so energized that they begin destroying healthy tissues in the body. Our bodies become victims of the "friendly fire" of autoimmune responses that result in disease, from Grave's disease to lupus to rheumatoid arthritis.
The same is true of emotional defenses. Emotional defenses that are too effective can make it impossible for us to connect to the important people in our lives, to thrive psychologically.
Outwardly, Katniss is agile, strong and quick. Psychologically, she is clumsy, weak and slow. She moves through the world as if she were wearing the emotional equivalent of full-body armor, heavy and rusted. For Katniss, this armor deflects both kindness and cruelty. She becomes impervious to love as well as hate. Frozen and sealed in such emotional armor, she is unable to hug or be hugged, to help or be helped--except when it comes to her younger sister, Prim.
Emotionally, Katniss resembles many people around us--and perhaps ourselves as well.
As dangerous as the world can be, it remains full of wonder, love and delight. To be so afraid of potential danger that we isolate ourselves physically and emotionally from everything and everybody is to wage war on life itself, to create emotional defenses that are the psychological equivalent of autoimmune diseases.
In The Hunger Games, Katniss lives in a world where many choices are a matter of life and death. For most of us, the world in which we live is not as dangerous. To paraphrase the great Roman historian, Tacitus, we need to ask ourselves if we have made our lives into deserts in order to rid them of danger, to feel safe, to make them peaceful.
Defending ourselves emotionally is not often a matter of life and death--thankfully. This is a truth even Katniss begins to understand as her riveting story unfolds in this trilogy.
