Quote 1
He puts the chain with the locket around my neck, then rests his hand over the spot where our baby would be. "You're going to make a great mother, you know," he says. (24.89)
It's hard to know whether or not to take Peeta's admiration at face value here. Does he honestly think Katniss is going to be "a great mother" (someday), or is just playing for the audience, who thinks she's pregnant? Is this a ploy to encourage Katniss to live?
Quote 2
"Your family needs you, Katniss," Peeta says.
My family. My mother. My sister. And my pretend cousin Gale. But Peeta's intention is clear. That Gale really is my family, or will be one day, if I live. That I'll marry him. So Peeta's giving me his life and Gale at the same time. (24.80-81)
Peeta's skilled at strategy too. In this moment he uses Katniss' loyalty to her family against her, urging her to think of them and put them first – and to use them as a reason to survive the Games. The problem is, Katniss can't be loyal to them and Peeta at the same time. If she saves him, she can't save herself to take care of her family. But if she saves herself, how will she be able to live with the guilt? How can either she or Peeta live with themselves after watching the other die?
Quote 3
"This has to stop. Right now. This – this – game you two play, where you tell each other secrets but keep them from me like I'm too inconsequential or stupid or weak to handle them." (5.13)
Layers of games run throughout the book. Everyone's running a game on somebody else. Even Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch, who are supposed to be allies, have secrets from one another. As Peeta rightfully points out, Haymitch and Katniss have been keeping him out of the loop at a time when they should have trusted him more than ever.
Quote 4
"You'd have thought we planned it," says Peeta, giving me just the hint of a smile.
[...] "No," I say, looking at Peeta with a new sense of appreciation. "Neither of use even knew what we were going to do before we went in." (17.26, 28)
Peeta and Katniss are becoming more skilled manipulators by the day. They're becoming so good that they can manipulate on the spur of the moment; they don't need to plan in advance anymore. That's one way they know they're getting ready to go into the arena.
Quote 5
"The point is that two of us are coming home from the Capitol. One mentor and one victor," says Peeta. "Effie's sending me recordings of all the living victors. We're going to watch their Games and learn everything we can about how they fight. We're going to put on weight and get strong. We're going to start acting like Careers. And one of us is going to be victor again whether you two like it or not!" (13.58)
Peeta's courage here is galvanizing: it gives Haymitch and Katniss courage too. Now it's Peeta who's the driving and encouraging force. He's courageous enough to be part of a team even though he knows that means he might not survive. In fact, he's planning to die, in order to save Katniss' life.