#lit: thg

[brionysea]

her completely wrong assumptions of what's going on are so funny. she's like "grrrr peeta's trying to manipulate me into trusting him so he can stab me in the back grrrrrr" the whole time he's just. nice

i genuinely love that the hunger games is in katniss’s pov bc shes the one character that has no clue about whats going on, clearly does not want to be there, and shes just walking through life in a permanent state of utter confusion. and idk i really relate to that.

[fandomaesnet]

-ˋˏ @fandomaesnet event five: otps ↳ Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark

And while I was talking, the idea of actually losing Peeta hit me again and I realized how much I don't want him to die. And it's not about the sponsors. And it's not about what will happen when we get home. And it's not just that I don't want to be alone. It's him. I do not want to lose the boy with the bread.

[district3autism-moved]

did anyone else get the impression that wellie from sotr was a victim of child abuse? of course, the behaviour of a child facing imminent death and suffering would probably be pretty similar to the behaviour of a child who had been abused, but a few things made me think that suzanne wrote her that way on purpose.

first of all, wellie "recoils" as haymitch approaches her to give her his lunchbox after hers was taken by the careers. again, very normal for any child in her circumstances, but more indicative of something deeper when read with other evidence.

she immediately apologizes for the district 6 chariot hurting louella, which was obviously not their fault. she also thanks haymitch for not blaming them. apologizing needlessly and assuming that they will be blamed are both noted behaviours in child abuse victims, especially the latter.

before haymitch goes on for his interview, he promises wellie despite what he might say in the interview, he would never betray the newcomers. he specifically says, "i will never hurt you, okay?" this phrasing is very deliberate, especially since during his interview he never even implies that he would attack or betray the newcomers. wellie claims that she knows, and her eyes are "full of trust". through the lens of my interpretation, this can be taken as wellie clinging to a kind protector that she's never had before.

while her behaviour in the arena can't be taken as any indicator of how she is outside the arena, because she's literally starving to death, her extreme insistence that haymitch doesn't leave her could line up with the rest of my evidence. has she been abandoned, neglected, or left alone before? her immediate assumption is that maysilee abandoned the newcomers, not that she got separated from them by accident. wellie is smart enough to realize this and seems to be a good judge of character; perhaps her assumption was influenced by past neglect.

finally, a couple comparisons can be drawn between wellie and lou lou, who we know was tortured and abused at the hands of the capitol. they are both very thin, prone to intensity, and quiet. while none of these things actually indicate that wellie was abused, the comparison itself matters. it reinforces the idea that these little girls share similarities, and have potentially suffered in similar ways.

also: wellie comes from district 6, which is implied to be suffering from a morphling/opiate epidemic. it is not a far reach to say that her guardian could have been an addict, and consequently an unstable, neglectful, or abusive caregiver.

[inlovewithatvshow]

Rereading The Hunger Games books has made me realize something. A good piece of media makes me think about what it would be like to be a character in that story, in that world. I pictured myself at Hogwarts and in Resident Evil’s Raccoon City and as a Warrior Sister and as a Runner in The Glade, and as various other people in various other fictional places, fighting monsters and dragons and the evils of the world in many forms of media for as long as I can remember.

The one thing I never pictured myself in was The Hunger Games. I never wrote one shots about Panem, in fact it’s probably the only piece of media I have never consumed a single fanfic about. Not only did it feel wrong but I plain didn’t want to.

Katniss told us what it was like in a way that left very little to the imagination. Yes, she’s kinda obtuse in some instances but she’s also a literal teenage girl and as a prior literal teenage girl, sometimes you overthink the things that don’t matter and underthink the things that do.

The point is: Suzanne Collins did a really good job writing a piece of media that forces you to experience the story in a way that I’m not sure many others do. Yes, you experience the story but I feel like Collins was very effective in making you feel it too. She told the story and made you feel it, made you understand it. You witnessed all of the brutal and unholy horrors that the Capitol subjected each of the districts to. She didn’t allow for a single word to be wasted over-explaining to the point of boredom and she certainly didn’t allow you to look away from the monstrosity.

I’ll admit, I fell victim to the “the new books are a cash grab” mindset when Ballad was released, although I did borrow it from a friend a few weeks after release and ate my words for it. Granted, the narrator was the most unlikable character in the entire series so it’s not one I can really say I enjoyed. But the story was consistent with the original trilogy and the change from first person to third person was masterfully executed and a very interesting (in a good way) stylistic choice. Perhaps I brushed it off and didn’t give myself as much time to digest it as I did the original three, and maybe one day I will and I’ll decide I like it more.

However, Sunrise on the Reaping really sealed it for me. I think it is easily the best book in the entire series. And even then. Even laying beside Maysilee and Hamitch in the bed of katniss in the arena, even then I never thought, “I wonder what that would be like.”

Because Suzanne told us, and Katniss told us, and Haymitch told us, and, hell, even in his own twisted and distorted way, Coriolanus Snow told us:

“This is not what you want.”

And I never did.

Or maybe I’m just overthinking things again.

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

People are foaming at the mouths yelling how sotr is a cash grab as if majority of YA isn't cash grab right now. As if everyone isn't writing the same mediocre books over and over again. If Suzanne Collins writing one book once every few years is such a travesty, what do we call the authors who are releasing new books almost every year or unnecessary spinoffs? Why don't we bash other YA authors for that? What are the Fourth Wing's sequels, the inheritance games and its spinoffs, King of Scars duology, the Heavenly Tyrant, Chloe Gong's, SJM's, Holly Black's books? But how dare Suzanne Collins name-drop her characters from another book, it's unheard of 😱. Get a grip. 🙏 Everybody does it, and not just in YA.

Suzanne Collins writes when she sees the need to say something. She isn't even advertising her books as much as others are. At least her works still carry meaningful and relevant messages, especially considering recent events in the world.

Suzanne Collins is one of the few good YA authors left that are still popular. I'm grateful she's still writing.

Edit: I have made peace with the fact that none of the prequels will be as good as the original trilogy. I'm glad she tells us other characters' stories. Are there better YA books out there than sotr? Sure. But it's still better than the majority, and while I recognize the criticisms people who make fun of mediocre YA books (like me) might have because we hold Suzanne Collins to a higher standard, hearing it from people who eat up mediocre ya books but turn into literally critics about sotr is just pure hypocrisy.

[mswyrr]

This is so much. This whole section is just WILD. This confirms that we can read Lucy Gray's songs as being about her and Coriolanus too -- particularly those bits, damn. And do we think he showed that clip to Peeta too? I wonder! Trapping these boys who remind him of the boy he was in a subterranean lair and forcing them to watch lolll Phantom of the Opera much???

And the video is clearly readily available to Snow, the one copy of her Games. I wouldn't be surprised if Snow rewatches this over and over and over again. And even Haymitch, who doesn't know Lucy Gray, can tell she "cares" for Coriolanus, the one she's reaching out to. Snow rewatches it and sees that and convinces himself (over and over) that it's not true, that she didn't care. And it never quite works. He's turned all of Panem into a reenactment of his childhood trauma - all the propaganda? About him being Panem's "#1 Peacekeeper" just doing what's necessary??? That's what he was when it all went wrong, a Peacekeeper. He's trying to convince himself as much as anyone! That he didn't have a choice, that it had to be done. And it never works, so he keeps doing it. Ruining everyone's lives, reenacting the same horror story over and over.

LOL that all of this --that he'd ripped his own heart out and condemned himself to a living death--is subtext in both the TBOSAS book and film. Especially in him looking up with a dead-eyed stare at the statue, in contrast to the way looking up at Lucy Gray made him come alive at the beginning of the story. But I didn't realize she'd lean into it so hard! Never expected that. And then in this book - boom, there's all this Phantom/Heathcliff Gothic wildness. LOVE.

[senecantragedies]

I just finished Far From the Madding Crowd in small part because I read that Suzanne Collins said in an interview Katniss’s last name comes from Bathsheba Everdene.

I just finished the book and I think she may have referenced a bit more than just a name …. More thoughts to come.

[katnissmellarkkk]

everlark aesthetics :

The idea of actually losing Peeta hit me again and I realized how much I don’t want him to die. And it’s not about the sponsors. And it’s not about what will happen back home. And it’s not just that I don’t want to be alone. It’s him. I do not want to lose the boy with the bread.

[mossyfernhugger]

god i want you to love me, and if you can’t love me then kiss me, and if you can’t kiss me then please hold my hand, and if you can’t hold my hand please speak to me, and if you can’t speak to me can you think of me, and if you can’t think of me at least look at me, and if you really can’t bear to look at me then would you please just be near me

[thecultureapothecary]

Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

[allthebestcowgirls]

i think katniss would generally dislike getting high bc she hates the loss of control but she will still smoke from time to time with gale bc he would be a total stoner and probs spend most of their time in the woods high off his ass after they finished hunting. smoking a joint by the lake or at their spot yuppp and madge is their plug bc she gets them the good stuff from district 4. peeta is a dork and doesn't partake

[bones-clouds]

books i read in 2025:

“sunrise on the reaping”

suzanne collins

“don't let them paint their posters with your blood.”

[katnissandpeetamellark]

Idk if people aren’t getting Why I’m hyped that the logo on the book cover is shaped like a lyre

But here is why I am SO thrilled about the TikTok commenters epiphany!

••••

I assume most people at least have come across the Lyre as a symbol of Greek & Roman mythology (thank you Greek/Roman phase we all had as a child lol!) BUT for this post let’s look at the lyre as a symbol of one god, Apollo.

Apollo is the god things such as: music and dance, truth and prophecy, poetry … sun and light. AND archery. (among other things… but these are the ones I want us to focus on)

Let’s connect these things to what we know from the previous books!!!!⭐️

- we can connect music & dance to the Covey & Lucy Gray (and music eventually to Katniss & the propos)

- truth to what really happened during the 10th hunger games. The hidden truth of how Snow cheated. The one we as readers know and citizens of Panem were forced to forget.

- prophecy to the line in TBOSAS about the Katniss (root) not being ready yet 👀 To Mockingjays and their connection to Katniss and the eventual symbol that haunts Snow to his grave. The connection between the 10th hunger games to the 74th and beyond.

- poetry again could be Lucy Gray and her songs that continue to persist in 12 despite Snow trying to destroy her and her memory. Ballads of course are poetry (or song) that tell a story. The Hanging Tree originally tells the story of the Arlo & Lil. The Ballad of Lucy Gray is about her failed romantic relationship and being sent to her grave in the games because she was betrayed. Poetry & Ballads are the way history “stays alive” in 12, even if the masses have forgotten.

- the sun and light are … of course the “sunrise” in the title. The beginning, the start. Apollo is the one who brings the light to the sky every day! Maybe this is Lucy Gray or maybe this is Haymitch. Personally I believe they are both Apollo here. Perhaps each child sent to their death in the games is a spark… a beginning to a brighter world where the games no longer happen? A reason to fight.

- another connection of Apollo to Haymitch is that Apollo is the patron of herds, flocks, crops. Haymitch is herding all these poor district 12 children after he wins the games. Unwillingly and unhappily but in a sick way he becomes a Shepard — and he also eventually has his geese. A peaceful Shepard at last.

NOW! Here’s another thing— Apollo has a twin!! Artemis!

Artemis is the goddess of the HUNT! Goddess of wilderness and child care (among other things)… she is also the goddess of ARCHERY!

Sound like anyone we know??

ANYWAYS! Feel free to add on any ideas, argue points (I just ask you please be respectful in reblogs & comments! I like to chat but I won’t engage with condescension or asshole-ry lol), or even speak on different aspects of the cover💜

[machinel1ke]

We all know that when the Hunger Games series first came out, it was a smash hit and spawned dozens of copycats, many of which (Divergent, the Maze Runner, the Selection, etc.) simply appropriated the aesthetic and didn't engage with the themes. In honor of Sunrise on the Reaping, I'd like to share some lesser-known book recs that honor the spirit of the Hunger Games, although they don't necessarily have similar plots.

• Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace. This is one of my favorite books, and it's criminally underrated. It follows a young woman in the twenty-second century trying to stay alive in a city ravaged by a corporate civil war who accidentally becomes drawn into investigated a conspiracy. It engages with themes like the entertainment-industrial complex and parasociality, as well as corporate control and war for profit.

•We Set The Dark On Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia. In this Latinx-influenced dystopian fantasy, a young woman, secretly an undocumented immigrant, is forced to marry a powerful man and becomes a spy for the resistance. It explores themes of wealth inequality, immigration rights, authoritarianism, and peaceful vs. violent revolution.

•Metaltown by Kristen Simmons. A dystopian with steampunk flavoring which tells the story of a labor rights movement through the eyes of three teenage narrators; two factory workers and a wealthy heiress. This one discusses the capitalist mode of production, worker's rights, war profiteering and foreign policy, and class warfare.

•Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters by Emily Roberson. A retelling of the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur with a reality TV twist. It deals with entertainment and celebrity culture, the exploitation of children (especially girls) in media, and the commodification of women in the entertainment industry.

•Solis by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher. This is a near-future dystopian and a companion to Sanctuary by the same authors, although it can be read separately. It follows four young women, three prisoners in a labor camp trying to survive and one a member of a resistance group trying to free them. It talks about propaganda, the scapegoating of vulnerable groups, the prison-industrial complex, and the slippery slope into authoritarianism.

•Fable For the End of the World by Ava Reid. I haven't read this one yet, but I've heard good things. It follows two young women in a livestreamed assassination spectacle, one the hunter and one the hunted. Some key themes are poverty and debt cycles, for-profit healthcare, and of course, the romanticization of violence in media.

[vampiresuns]

ngl, I am yet to read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and watch the adaptation, but one thing that's popping out to me is the amount of people I've seen who assuming that, because Katniss knows the Hanging Tree song, she must be related to Lucy Gray, almost entirely forgetting the source material and its author.

because there are no chosen ones in The Huger Games. Never have been. There are a lot of elements that border on magical realism/the supernatural in the novels, from the character perspectives, but there is no predestination: it is all choice. Katniss isn't special because she's related to someone, she's special because of what she chooses and what that means in the context she's in.

if Suzanne Collins did one thing is write a web of social constellations and memory in constant conversation with the present. It doesn't matter if Katniss is or not related to anyone in TBOSAS. what matters is oral tradition and folk culture of the districts, specially D12 and within that district, The Seam, cannot be controlled. that it exists regardless of Capitol control. that it will always exist regardless of Capitol control. it is in direct conversation with the irl experiences of BIPOC in Appalachia and the working class in Appalachia (and in many places of the world by similarity of irl circumstances due to colonisation and class struggle alone) who have rich oral traditions that constitute an important part of USAmerican Folk, but exist on its own right.

you could interpret it as them being related, sure. nothing stops you: it could be just a hc, it could be analysis with more or less textual evidence, that's up to you. but as people in fandom or who engage with the world of THG we shouldn't ignore this reading bc it's so, so blatant. it is right there. in the end, one of the greatest tools these characters had to overthrow, cheat and avoid the Capitol was the existence of a second history, a local, working class, brown kind of history that in real life and for the characters is taken as non-existent and not valuable for the people in power.

and because it is not of importance, because those people think the people they oppress are barely human and therefore incapable of "actual" culture, it creates a massive blind-spot. these people have the audacity to keep existing. believe me the reason why Katniss knows those songs is because the Seam had the audacity to keep singing — not because it was capital P political, or capital R Resisting. but simply because they existed, against all odds. they lived, against all attempts to exterminate them.

there will still be singing, in the dark times. Suzanne Collins knows that.

[hungergameshyperfixation]

They’re just sitting on my floor right now since I can’t handle opening them just yet. I HAD A WHOLE PLAN FOR MY DAY/NIGHT AND THIS CHANGES IT COMPLETELY (I mean it doesn’t have to but this will change it for me. I probably will be reading some of it tonight then, if I can stomach it)