Today, 9/2/18 is the third instalment the series of posts praising my all-time favourite characters for their quirks and flaws etc. called Favourite Character Praise Friday. I will be sharing these posts every two weeks to gush about fictional characters in a proactive environment. With this segment, I intend to demonstrate what makes characters great so you and I alike can use these facts to improve our characters!
So who is the subject of my third Favourite Character Praise Friday?
Thresh from
The Hunger Games, portrayed by Dayo Okeniyi!
Well, for those who do not remember Thresh's character particularly well, he was the male tribute from District Eleven that was drawn to participate in the 74th Annual Hunger Games. In the books, he was regarded to be built like an ox due to working in the fields of his agricultural district. He was the tribute that killed Clove from District Two after she claimed that the career tributes killed Rue, his female companion from District Eleven. He killed Clove by banging a heavy rock against her skull, but decided to spare the life of Katniss Everdeen as she was Rue's ally.
The following character praise will contain spoilers
So, why is Thresh one of my favourite characters, despite not being a main character?
It can be inferred that Cato and Thresh are trait-based inverses
Whether of not Suzanne Collins intended to make Cato and Thresh inverses is beside the point as there is plenty of space to delve into this idea; Cato was the last surviving career tribute and murdered Thresh in the books, as opposed to the films when the wolf "muttations" killed him. They were of similar physiques, but Thresh was still bulkier. Cato was broad due to training in the special academy to volunteer for The Hunger Games, and Thresh was built like an ox due to working to help support his family.
Another point that supported this clever little titbit is how they treated the "innocent bystander"; in Thresh's case, he spared Katniss' life when she had every opportunity to shoot him. However Cato maimed Peeta, who had witnessed Katniss' escape after Glimmer was killed by tracker jackers. Peeta was injured to the level where he ended up having his leg amputated by the Capitol and replaced with a prosthetic.
Neither man died as a martyr as Rue had done, but that did not matter; it is unlikely that his death would have evoked the same reaction from the masses had he been killed before Rue.
Suzanne Collins used great subtle images to provide insight into Thresh's life before he was selected for The Hunger Games
In Catching Fire, the second book of the series, Katniss and Peeta embarked on a Victory Tour. On this tour, they visited Thresh's home, District Eleven. And while Katniss' primary focus was on Rue's bereaved family, Thresh's family are acknowledged. His mother and grandmother stood upon a plinth to be acknowledged as grieving over their fallen son. It is presumed by the fact that he was so young, that Thresh was likely to be the primary breadwinner for his small family. This meant then when Peeta offered up a fraction of his and Katniss' winnings to Rue and Thresh's families, their emotional states were due to the fact that their fallen son/grandson's hard work was also being recognised.
In the film, Thresh's character proved to be a parallel of his district in their responses to Rue's murder.
In the film, the residents of District Eleven are greatly upset over how Rue was killed by Marvel and how Katniss responded to it; her emotions were genuine and raw and the people could tell that she felt strongly about the loss of her ally, as she reminded her so much of her younger sister. District Eleven's people began to riot at the fall of their female tribute and were sanctioned for it. Thresh, having heard that Katniss and Rue were allies, opted to spare her life as a form of acknowledging that she would not have wanted Rue to die. He said that he was sparing her "just this time" and it was "for Rue".
Though the connection was subtle, I found that it gave his character a great amount of development. This is because most connections between allies were formed over the idea that a majority had something to gain from wiping out another force. For example, the career tributes stick together for the best odds of survival as they were trained in order to win The Hunger Games, and they only decided to make Peeta their ally so they could find and kill Katniss. Once she was out of the way, Peeta would have been killed too.
Thresh had no allies in the arena. In the books, he kept to himself, hiding in fields of wheat as that was terrain he would be familiar with. However, despite that, he felt enough kinship with his fellow tribute to keep her ally alive, despite the fact that Katniss could have waited until his back was turned to shoot him. Katniss, however, only really seemed to avoid shooting Thresh in order to keep herself alive as Cato was running in pursuit him anyway, in order to avenge Clove.
But what does Thresh teach us about writing and how to write minor characters:
- Contrasting a "good" character with a more antagonistic force tends to prove interesting as there's room to interpret their similarities and differences on a somewhat level playing field
- Small details about a character and their background can prove to give a reader insight into their life prior to the events of the story
- When a minor character manages to save the life of the protagonist, there tends to be a stylistic reason why someone so "insignificant" had so much power
Thank you for reading my reasons for loving Thresh! I hope my praise influenced the way you perceive your own characters!
Until next time!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley
