Chapter Text
"Peeta?" I say, pulling him out of his concentration as he adds the final strokes to a chamomile we've been painting for the past hour.
"Mhm, Katniss," his eyes sweep across mine in acknowledgment as he dips his paintbrush in water.
"Do you think certain people are inherently good or evil?"
"Hmm, inherently?" He repeats, scrunching his face as he delicately brushes yellow dots onto the disc of the white flower.
"Yeah, take Snow for example or a Gamemaker. How can someone like them have anything but evil in them? These are people who show no regard for lives that do not belong to them. Even if they believe we belong to them, do they have no sense of morality? Watching children as young as 5 turn to skin and bones, taking pleasure in the gruesome demise of a 12-year-old speared to death. And all for what? Their deaths are mere statistics in their ever-growing pool of tributes. How can they have no sense of morality, Peeta? You cannot tell me they feel nothing watching innocent people die." I demand, reaching for my teacup.
"Well, first of all, Katniss, you can't compare Snow and the Gamemakers on the same level. You do not know how they ended up in that position; they could've been threatened, blackmailed, or forced. And even if they did choose their position willingly, it doesn't mean they have much authority; we're all under Snow's thumb, no matter how lofty our positions may seem. As for Snow, well, he's a different case, but I still do not think he's inherently evil," Peeta answers.
"Sugar?" I ask as I pour him his tea.
He shakes his head and blows on the flower, willing it to dry before gently pasting it into our book.
"You can't be serious, how can you believe Snow has any good in him!" I exclaim.
"I didn't say good exactly, I just don't think he was born that way. I know what you're thinking; that being born that way would make him purely evil to the core, with no good ever seeping into him. But I think it's quite the opposite; if you were born with your brain wired to think certain thoughts, one could argue you aren't fully responsible for your actions. Because at the end of the day, there is something chemically wrong with your brain, and hence you are not of sound mind. But Snow is not like that, and I do believe that once upon a time, he was given the choice between good and evil and possessed a conscience that leaned toward the good. However, he chose to bury that choice and ride his way to evil," he retaliates, blowing on his tea as he takes tiny sips.
"Hmm, I see. Having a choice, that's the fine line between good and bad, huh. Awareness then? As soon as you are aware of your actions, you are held accountable?" I question, leaning forward and pressing my head against the cool wood of the desk.
He places his wide hands against my hair and starts stroking the stray strands from my forehead. The gesture is so soothing I feel my eyes drooping shut, but I steel myself up, willing to stay awake and come to a conclusion.
"Yes and no. Awareness is also a spectrum. Take our prep teams, for example; they're not oblivious to the reality of the games. They know they are prepping children to fight to the death, and yet, they derive pleasure from our bloody demise. The problem is they've been fed so much propaganda since birth, and the same thing is shoved down our throats. But it just doesn't work so much because amidst the rows of starving children and continuous suffering, we know what reality is. Their children go to sleep with more than full stomachs each night. Why would they question their providers when they have everything they want? I'm not sure how much we can blame people like our prep team and normal citizens because they have been desensitized to the point that they genuinely believe we are savage animals, all of us evil from birth, just because we were born a couple of thousand miles away. Still, no matter how brainwashed you are, I believe we all have a moral compass deep down, and somewhere in your subconscious, you can always recognize right from wrong. So they are somewhat to blame for not acting upon their conscience. But it's hard to come to a sharp answer; it depends on the situation of each person held accountable," he concludes.