hungergamesbookshelf

[hungergamesbookshelf]

i’m so appreciative to suzanne for reframing the rebellion from the original trilogy as a “they saw their moment and took it” type situation and showing us that they’ve been trying, over and over, with so many failed attempts, to break the arena and incite a rebellion for decades. in this current political climate never giving up hope is so essential. haymitch wasn’t the first nor the last, and they kept going even when it seemed completely futile, and that’s what counts, and what ultimately saves them all.

[hungergamesbookshelf]

suzanne collins coming back to make her point even more this time around bc people are still too ignorant to get it god i would die for this woman

[hungergamesbookshelf]

Serena de Ferrari for Annie Cresta?

[hungergamesbookshelf]

Reading Mockingjay as an adult is extra devastating because. Of course the plucky teenager and her ragtag friends aren't going to sneak into a government building to kill the president with a bow and arrow. That's absolutely ridiculous. It's the kind of thing that's only possible in the kind of propaganda that Coin developed. But she's so good at it that in some ways she tricks the reader into thinking that's the kind of story this is, too--even after 3 books reminding us that pretty much everything that Katniss does the second she volunteers is manipulated by adults pulling strings to make propaganda in some form or another.

[hungergamesbookshelf]

eagerly awaiting the reveal of what political science 101 concept is she going to stop the plot to teach middle schoolers about. we got bread and circuses we got the extended work on thomas hobbes my money is on haymitch starting this book as an objectivist and having to unlearn that in the face of true struggle

[hungergamesbookshelf]

everyone like 'oh YA sci-fi like Hunger Games where the protagonist is special" is SO wrong that's other YA sci-fi which tried to copy thg and failed. Katniss is only important because she loves her sister. The regime doesn't fall because of uniqueness or skill or some inherent difference or ability. Sure she can shoot but that's not important. the regime falls because a girl loves her sister. Don't you get it.

[hungergamesbookshelf]

Idc what anyone says, Finnick and Annie absolutely had some sort of secret marriage at one point in their relationship, whether that was before he left for the Quarter Quell or even earlier. It was definetly something very small, with only Mags present, but I'm sure it meant everything to them.

[hungergamesbookshelf]

Personally, it's always a bit wild to me to see commentators interact with the Hunger Games franchise as if Collins were writing science fiction stories instead of essays with faces. She's just not that interested in fleshing out side characters or digging into the details of the worldbuilding. These characters are concepts and symbols before they're people. There's an almost mathematical precision to who and what she explores and how deeply she does it. This is a step or two away from pure allegory. If she were writing a couple of centuries ago, she'd have named her characters things like Innocence and Anger and Watch-Carefully-Your-Soul-Lest-Ye-Be-Damned, but since she's writing for modern audiences, she has to settle for puns and allusions. If she has another essay to write, she'll assign some faces to it; she's not going to look into backstories or other eras just for the sake of storytelling, and it's not a failing as a writer that she doesn't.

[hungergamesbookshelf]

I’m so interested in how people view the Hunger Games as a love triangle because while rereading gale and katniss’s relationship feels much less like “omg are they gonna get together” and much more like “this is a story about how a close relationship can completely fall apart”

[hungergamesbookshelf]

When we first meet the Careers of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss remarks how they appear “fed and trained” as they are from “the wealthier Districts”. She contrasts this by remarking that everyone else appears “underfed” (THG, 7). To the tributes from District 1, 2, and 4, “winning the reaping is such a great honour, people are eager to risk their lives” (THG, 2).

As I’ve theorised in my previous post, it might be possible that the First Quarter Quell brought about the concept of volunteering, where tributes were perceived as brave heroes who protect the community. The following years might have normalised volunteering past the First Quarter Quell.

However, the safety of volunteering calls into question the tesserae system. To Katniss in District 12, where the tesserae bringing a year’s supply of grain for one person in exchange for one more slip in the reaping bowl, taking tesserae is a decision made by those who are starving. In 12, the tesserae system exploits the poor (THG, 1).

However, this is unlikely to be the case for the Career Districts. The tesserae system as a risk increasing the chance to be reaped entirely falls apart as the volunteering removes this fear.

Instead, children can theoretically take out as many tesserae as they need. This would explain why the Career tributes are well fed, and why their Districts are so much wealthier: The food insecurity, a central aspect of the Hunger Games, is entirely removed.

The tesserae aspect would further help to strengthen the role of the heroic volunteer. They are once more perceived as the protector of the community, with a higher chance to return, and nonetheless, of course, akin to human sacrifices made for the community.

[hungergamesbookshelf]

Do you ever just realize that Annie was supposed to be reaped for the Quarter Quell. There is no freaking way that the Capitol didn’t try and make that happen on purpose. To force Finnick, a Victor that they know is anti-Capitol, to go into the games with the woman he loves, another known anti-Capitol Victor and who happens to be incredibly vulnerable. But Mags, who has raised these two kids and done everything in her power to keep them safe, who has seen so many Hunger Games and so much loss, refuses to just let it happen. She knows she has the opportunity to save at least one of her Victors and she takes it, no hesitation. Because she has been fighting the Capitol in her own little way for years now and she knows that the Capitol doesn’t play fair, but that doesn’t mean she has to take it. So with all the love in her heart, in the face of the most unfair circumstances, Mags once more stands in front of her Victors and says, “No. There will be hope.”

[hungergamesbookshelf]

The hardest thing to believe about The Hunger Games is that an authoritarian government in North America would invest in high speed rail.

[hungergamesbookshelf]

Suzanne Collins deserves tons of credit for her ability to rap up the series with Mockingjay. She easily could have made Katniss a general or frontline soldier, but instead she stayed true to the messaging of the series and placed Katniss as a political puppet. She is never allowed to venture to the frontlines nor is she in the Districts during the heart of the uprising. Instead she is mainly sheltered in District 13 and videotaped to create propaganda. Even when Katniss goes on her mission to kill Snow, she is sent two days behind the front lines with no real expectation to be the one who actually captures him. Trying to fit an entire war/battle in one novel seems dauntingly impossible ( and most of us have experienced novels failing to do so). Instead of falling into the trilogy sinkhole (looking at you Divergent), we are given a beaten and bruised main character who ultimately just wants to end the cycle of violence and disappear, with no desire to be a part of the rebuild. Katniss drives and motivations never change for the sake of more “exciting action” or “heroic acts”, Collins instead lets us the reader feel what it’s like to be used as the figure-head of a movement, someone exploited for a great plot or goal. 

Collins shows us that Coin and Snow have both placed Katniss on some weird mantle to uphold their societal beliefs and neither deserve to hold power for that reason.  We as readers get to hear and see the toll taken on all of the survivors and get a deeper understanding of their distain for being political pawns. Peeta, Johanna, Haymitch, and Finnick all suffer greatly for their mere existence. Katniss never tries to be revolutionary, she is just trying to survive and be kind along the way, however, Snow and Coin take her authenticity and manipulate it to their advantage.

That is so gutsy of Collins to do and we all owe her immensely for landing the story on such an impactful note. As a twelve-year-old I was angry that Katniss did not get to be a glorious hero, unaffected by all the trauma around her, but now I am so grateful to have the story of someone continually forced into a role she does not want find her own peace and comfort afterward, far away from any further possible traumas. 

[hungergamesbookshelf]

whatever you do, don’t imagine haymitch coming home from yet another game where his tributes lost and walking in town and running into their parents and not being able to look them in the eyes and feeling so guilty about his shameless wanderings while their children are buried that he does everything he can to avoid them and they just keep accumulating so much over the years that he just stops leaving his house altogether because there are ghosts everywhere now and he can’t take their condemning stares anymore, just don’t imagine that

[hungergamesbookshelf]

Arriving at your District: 70th Hunger Games Victor Annie Cresta

[hungergamesbookshelf]

Beetee: You're supposed to bang your fist against mine.

Wiress: Why?

Beetee: I'm told it's a widely accepted gesture for mutual success.

Finnick: I love it when you two impersonate earthlings.

[hungergamesbookshelf]

shout out to suzanne collins for normalising, and honestly even romanticising, body hair on girls/women. shout out for writing a lead female character who honestly likes her body hair and is sad when she has it forcibly removed.

shout out for describing it in a pleasant way ("soft, curly down") rather than something unsightly and vaguely embarrassing.

honestly just shout out to suzanne collins