Peacekeepers or Peace Disturbers?

       One of the most ironic symbols in Catching Fire has to be the idea of the Peacekeepers in the districts.  The Peacekeepers are basically like police that run the districts and "keep them in order."  However, the role of the Peacekeepers is solely to keep peace in the Capitol, by harshly punishing anyone in the districts who steps even a foot out of line.  This strict patrolling is supposed to ensure that no rebellion will ever form against the Capitol; however, the actions of the Peacekeepers generally make the people in the districts despise the Capitol even more.  In District 12, the Peacekeepers were initially very relaxed.  One Peacekeeper, named Darius, was extremely nice and let the strict, unnecessary rules slide in the district, such as hunting game and trading things without the Capitol's knowledge.  The worst Peacekeeper in District 12 was old Cray, who wasn't necessarily violent, but he was a heavy drinker and basically ran a prostitution business for himself where he offered poor, hungry girls money to have sex with him.  Unfortunately, there is no shortage of poor, hungry girls in District 12 because they are so underprivileged.  However, Cray was still a very forgiving Peacekeeper compared to others.

       Once Katniss returns back to District 12 after the Hunger Games, the Peacekeepers in her district are forced to crack down.  A whole new crew of new Peacekeepers are enlisted in District 12 and they're effects are immediate.  Citizens are afraid to leave their houses, wages in the mines are cut, and people are suffering in general all around the district.  The old Peacekeeper, Darius is even sent to be an Avox (a servant in the Capitol whose tongue is cut off to torture them) when he refuses to whip Katniss' best friend, Gale, who was caught hunting outside the fence that encloses District 12.  They also try to set up a trap to catch Katniss hunting outside of the fence, but it fails.  Peacekeepers in general are allowed to, and will kill any citizen that shows the slightest sign of a rebellion.  They once killed a man who started whistling a tune that the Capitol arbitrarily determined at that moment was rebellious.  As you can see, the role of a Peacekeeper in the districts is the farthest thing from keeping the peace.  Instead, the reek havoc in the districts and make sure life for their citizens is a miserable existence.