How does poverty affect the characters in the hunger games

Panem is a country built on extreme class divisions. The districts are kept from contacting one another, and each is forced into a particular industry, thus limiting the social mobility of those within the district. Class is a strong tool used by the Capitol to keep its citizens distant from one another, hence limiting the chances of another rebellion. The tesserae is a prime example of how class keeps the poor resentful of the rich.

Katniss, as the girl from the Seam in District 12, is the poorest of the poor. Though friendly with some in the merchant class, she exhibits various class resentments throughout the novel. She associates the Career tributes with their richer districts, and has trouble falling for Peeta partly because he knows the privilege of the merchant class, comparing him to Gale, who knows poverty.