You must be lost

Meh, you and I would likely never fight over the same guy then. ;) I just found him utterly uninteresting.

You explained it fine! But, I kind of don't agree, or at least I half agree.

There's enough given to you through interactions with Haymitch and later, through Boggs (who we can trust to know the inner workings of Coin's plans at least, since he was sort of her right hand man) that you can piece together that she's being manipulated from all sides. Katniss even knows it. From the moment she decides to be The Mockingjay, she knows enough to make her own demands. She's playing them somewhat as well. Giving them what they want to get close enough to get what she wants.

I believe they thought she was a pawn, right up until she fired that arrow at Coin. She did everything they expected her to, except they obviously didn't see that coming, or if anyone did, they wanted her to go through with it. At strategic points throughout the story, she chooses her own way and defies their plan for her. From the moment she pulled out those poisonous berries to the moment she agreed to Coin's Hunger Games. But even they knew she was a loose cannon and trying to manipulate her as they did was always a risk. Sometimes it seems as though they banked on her not following orders, as in District 8 when the airships came. You could tell right then that Coin half wanted her to be a martyr and half just wanted her dead so she would no longer be a threat. I mean, of all the people pissed off at her for not following orders, I don't recall Coin having much of a reaction, other than being pleased with the footage they caught of it. I think that's why Haymitch is perpetually pissed off at her for that sort of behavior. He knows she's playing right into their hands, but he can't tell her that without giving everything away. He takes some serious shit from that girl, too! ;)

I think as much as it is about her being used as a piece in the war games, just as she was in The Hunger Games before the war, it's about how she intelligently and strategically sought her independence from the the whole thing. She wasn't just bucking the whole system because then it would come crashing down on those she loved as well. She played her hand smart and close and made them comfortable, thinking they had her where they wanted her. Like Peeta said on the roof the night before the first Hunger Games: he was looking for a way to not be just a piece in a game; that even if he was going to die, he wanted to somehow show they didn't own him. Katniss, whether she's conscious of it or not, was living that wish. She had the courage, or at times the stupidity, to show her defiance time and time again. I think that's one of the main reasons Peeta is so drawn to her. She's living out the life he wished he could grab onto for himself. But it's not Peeta who pulls out the berries. It's not Peeta who darts off to the woods outside the fence of District 12 everyday. And so on...

So, just as it is a story about a dystopia and just as it is a story about how freedom will conquer oppression if it can only find its voice (and I still can't help reading about the struggles in the Middle Eastern countries right now, particularly in Libya, without an extra heavy heart, wondering how much of this horror is a reality there, especially reading reports about pro-Gadhafi forces opening fire on an ambulance, District 8 hospital bombing anyone? But I digress.) and just as it is a story about how two people who were completely manipulated and used on both sides of the conflict who survived unimaginable horrors can get on with their lives, it is also a story about how a little spark of defiance is all that is needed to ignite the flames of independence and how quickly and widely that fire can spread out of control. They use that exact metaphor all throughout the books and I simply can not think of a better one for it! Katniss' defiance, repeatedly displayed is all the Districts needed to ignite and continually fuel their uprising. It is teenage rebellion at its absolute finest because it has a real and just cause to rail against. Not bullshit like what mom won't let you wear to the mall, but serious oppression!