“He Bakes I Hunt” The Boy with the Bread as the Damsel in Distress in Susan Collins’ The Hunger Games series

This thesis examines gender and gender subversion in Suzanne Collin’ The Hunger Games trilogy, focusing on its main characters Katniss and Peeta. Drawing on Vladimir Propp's Theory of narrative functions, the thesis situates these characters within a traditional narrative role such as the hero or princess persona, and analyses how the trilogy subverts these roles in relation to gender expectation. The thesis begins by examining Peeta as a damsel in distress archetype using both Propp’s functions as well as gender theory with Simone De Beauvoir and Helene Cixous. It then considers Gale as a masculine archetype regarding scholars in masculinity studies such as R.W Collins. The last chapter concerns Katniss as the hero archetype. This thesis argues that The Hunger Games stands out in terms of its subversion of gender expectations of heteronormative gender roles.