#thg analysis

[thatrandomblogsays]

Me: *reading a post that makes the joke “Peeta dropped the baby bomb, Gale drops bombs on babies”* haha good one

Also me: you’re missing the point! You’re missing the point! YOURE MISSING THE POINT! He grew up starving. His best friend almost died of hunger. Most of his people live in poverty. He watched children die in a bloodbath every year for the capital’s entertainment. The girl he loved went into the games. Was tortured by the capitol. His district was bombed out of existence. Nearly everyone he knew was killed. Their only crime was being fed up of being hungry and oppressed and sharing the same district as Katniss. All those innocent people. Murdered. He had to take refuge in a district that was bombed out of existence and forced to live underground. Of course he joined the war effort. Of course he designed unethical bombs and battle tactics. He wanted revenge. He wanted the capitol to have a taste of their own medicine. He wanted the rebellion to succeed. And tell me you could live through what he did, and that no part of you would be screaming for Justice and vengeance. Gale is you. You are Gale. He represents a part of feelings and actions that reside within us, even if you don’t act on it.

“But he killed prim!” Exactly! Gale loved prim. She was a second family to her. He looked after Katniss’ family. He saved them from the district 12 bombings. He loved her. He never would’ve put her in danger. He never would’ve put in order for a bombing if it would kill Prim. But coin would. And did. She took what was meant to be a tool of Gale’s righteous revenge for all the suffering he and his people suffered through, only for someone in power to take it and use it to kill someone he loved.

There’s some many lessons to take. We can’t control the things we create. War spares no one. Even justifiable rage and actions can end up rebounding and hurting those you love instead of your targets.

“He drops bombs on babies” is too simplistic of a takeaway and does a disservice to the story and Gale.

[vasilissadragomir]

one of the most heart-wrenching things about thg universe is that you feel the loss of who each character would be outside the circumstances of their birth almost as acutely as you feel the loss of the characters themselves.

sure, we know what lucy gray and her family would be doing in a different world; she’d be dancing and singing and making music which defines a cultural identity. but what about the others? would haymitch have been a hilarious, loving father with a family had he not been forced to survive 47 other children’s brutal deaths? would finnick have been a charismatic and beloved actor, bringing joy to immeasurable people on his own terms? would beetee and wiress have worked together to develop technology to make it easier to connect loved ones far and wide? what would reaper and annie have given to the world, or thresh, or rue, or even coral or cato or glimmer or clove?

if katniss wasn’t half-starving and forced to spend each day hunting to feed her family, would archery be her true passion? or if she’d been a well-sustained little girl with access to art supplies, would she have spent her time sketching captivating dresses? she picks up ropes and making fish hooks quickly—could her dexterity have lent itself to knitting, sewing, or crocheting with vibrant yarns and fabrics? there’s so much evidence that katniss finds clothing inspiring and empowering, even when she dismisses it as frivolous. she likes being pretty, she just hates the circumstances under which she’s made to look pretty. cinna shows her that beauty has its own power, and there are several moments in her interactions with cinna and his designs that make me wonder who she’d be if she had space for art and creativity in her life.

conversely, peeta has had art in his life since he was a small child, but for him, art has always been entangled with his trauma. he could bake and decorate well because he learned from his mother, a mother who beat him his whole life. but his talent grows, not only as a survival tool in the first games, but when he paints rue on the floor of the training center before the second games. his art becomes not only a symbol of his trauma, but a means of resistance and solidarity. in a world where peeta’s intrinsic kindness and loving heart had been nurtured and welcomed rather than abused, could he have been a painter, helping people find collective meaning in the simple realities of life?

could katniss and peeta have still found each other in another world, a world without the horrors they were raised with, and bonded over their love of art? could they have been each other’s muses?

maybe they find their way to share art, after the events of mockingjay, as part of their process of healing and falling in love with each other. when they’re finally safe and have been for a long time, maybe katniss fashions peeta an easel for him to paint in their living room. after months of watching him gaze out the window and paint the changing leaves, katniss takes to knitting on a rocking chair in the other corner of the living room to steady her restless hands. they work silently as the days go by, quietly exchanging the things they’ve made to give each other the reassurance and love neither could ever fully convey with words.

and maybe one day, when they learn there’s a baby on the way due in midwinter, katniss takes a page from peeta’s sketchpad and starts to plan a series of sweaters and hats and socks she can knit for the baby. and peeta goes to the little nursery upstairs and starts working on a mural, so the baby will have something beautiful to look at every day. they work together to design the perfect baby blanket for their child, to ensure they will always be wrapped in a layer of protection and love by their parents.

but even if they find creativity and beauty in their lives after the end of mockingjay, the art they make will simply never be what that art could have been had they not faced what they faced. art comes from suffering, yes, but the human condition has so much suffering as is, and we’d never know what kind of art they’d make if they hadn’t experienced trauma of a distinctly sadistic and inhuman nature. but maybe their children, raised in a better world with love and protection and safety and joy and creativity and expression, will be the ones to create the art peeta and katniss never could.

[thesweetnessofspring]

There's something so poignant about watching Katniss start so adverse to developing love for anyone, only admitting she loves Prim, and watching her open up to others: Peeta, Haymitch, Cinna, Rue, Madge, Finnick. But then having her fears confirmed that, under an unjust system, she can't protect those she loves. Not even those she loves the most. And that they can, in fact, be used against her and put in danger because of her love for them.

But that at the same time, the only way forward, the only way to heal, is through that love. By preserving the memories of those lost, by connecting to those remaining, and by opening herself to love more, even under the risk of their loss. Because in the end, love is how we survive.

[triassictriserratops]

Would you be able to elaborate on your statement about the pseudo sexual imagery of the Everlark pearl? I hadn’t really considered the pearl from that angle before and would love to hear your thoughts on it.

In response to this post So firstly, this in NO WAY takes away from the other symbolism present in the pearl. This is in ADDITION to, NOT instead of. In fact, lemme go into it all from my perspective, although I know MANY creators have expressed a lot of this much more eloquently than I will! PEARLS AS THEY RELATE TO THE CAPITOL

i always viewed the presence of the pearls on Katniss' capitol wedding dress as twofold. Firstly, it speaks of the opulence and extreme perceived wealth of the Capitol. To have a dress adorned with chains of pearls - what a symbol of luxury! I also viewed them as binding/chains. A representation of the "freedom" of the victors. The trappings of their wealth while living under the thumb of the Capitol. Their chains aren't metal, they're beautiful and delicate but still present and just as deadly. Like a gentle hand on their throats.

PEARLS AS THEY RELATE TO PEETA In direct contrast to the Capitol pearls, the pearl Peeta gives Katniss is singular. It isn't purchased, it is found. It is found in a space where Peeta has nothing else to give to Katniss, other than his life. Instead of a chain or a burden it is meant as his symbol of freedom to her, in conjunction with the locket - "I give you fully back to your family. To the people who love and need you. I let you go, but this, here is something to remember me by." (And I also love how it's representative of Peeta's ability to find pieces of beauty in the most horrific of circumstances.) KATNISS' MENTAL CONNECTION OF PEETA AND THE PEARL We also know that, during Peeta's capture, Katniss connects this pearl heavily with Peeta's life and her need to protect it. "Tomorrow morning, I'm going to agree to be the Mockingjay." I tell her. "Because you want to or because you feel forced into it?" she asks. I laugh a little. "Both, I guess. No. I want to. I have to, if it will help the rebels defeat Snow." I squeeze the pearl more tightly in my fist. "It's just...Peeta. I'm afraid if we do win, the rebels will execute him as a traitor." I slip the pearl from the drawer and spend a second sleepless night clutching it in my hand, replaying Peeta's words in my head. "Ask yourself, do you really trust the people you're working with?" I knot the pearl into the corner of the parachute, bury it deep in the recesses of the bag, as if it's Peeta's life and no one can take it away as long as I guard it. Then, later, when Peeta returns and is found to be hijacked, his essence and personhood taken from him and from HER - the Pearl becomes a symbol of the boy she lost and everything he isn't anymore. Then she finds the pearl Peeta gave me. "Is this-?" "Yeah," I say. "Made it through somehow." I don't want to talk about Peeta. One of the best things about training is, it keeps me from thinking of him. "Haymitch says he's getting better," she says. "Maybe. But he's changed," I say. I consider saying a final good-bye to Peeta, decide it would only be bad for both of us. But I do slip the pearl into the pocket of my uniform. A token of the boy with the bread. And, finally, when in the Capitol, in the last mention of the pearl, we connect it with his literal LIFE in Katniss' HANDS. (And Peeta's unwillingness to risk Katniss' life even for his freedom.) "Should we free his hands?" asks Leeg 1. "No!" Peeta growls at her, drawing his cuffs in close to his body. "No," I echo. "But I want the key." Jackson passes it over without a word. I slip it into my pants pocket, where it clicks against the pearl."

And, finally, here we go: THE PEARL AS IT RELATES TO KATNISS' SEXUAL AWAKENING It is no coincidence, to me, that the pearl is gifted from Peeta to Katniss following the events of the kiss on the beach. Katniss has now admitted to herself that Peeta holds sexual currency with her. Her body is reactive to his own and feeds a hunger in her, a flame. The giving and acceptance of the pearl can be viewed as the "tender" of that sexual currency. Katniss ALSO thinks of the pearl as it relates to Peeta in the ways that Peeta was able to make her PHYSICALLY feel. She connects it with both what she felt with him that night on the beach, and what she HOPES to feel with him upon his return. (And what she misses when he is "lost" to her.) I feel around for the parachute and slide my fingers inside until they close around the pearl. I sit back on my bed cross-legged and find myself rubbing the smooth iridescent surface of the pearl back and forth against my lips. For some reason, it's soothing. A cool kiss from the giver himself. I take the pearl from where it lives in my pocket and try to remember the boy with the bread, the strong arms that warded off nightmares on the train, the kisses in the arena. To make myself put a name to the thing I've lost. But what's the use? It's gone. He's gone. Whatever existed between us is gone.

all I'm saying is that Peeta would literally pass out if he ever hears about how she basically kept rubbing one out in 13 to thoughts of him. (Because, let's be real. That's what the symbolism of the pearl was.) Rolling the pearl between her fingers? Kissing it to her lips? COME ON. It's so on the nose. (Or clit in this case.) 🦪😏

[thegreatmelodrama]

The mutts in Part III of The Hunger Games are just a particular kind of cruel. Because they are Capitol made, and yet bc they resemble the other tributes it’s like another way to have the tributes fight to the death. But not only that, it completes this cycle of dehumanization that begins the second their names or reaped or from when they volunteer. The wolf mutts represent exactly how the Capitol sees the districts: as animals—barbaric and beastly. As Crassus Snow used to say, the people in the districts “only drank water because it didn’t rain blood.” But the Capitol also perceives them as being like the deer that Katniss and Gale kill and bring back to the hob. Flesh to be torn apart, hacked at, and sold once they are dead (and even while alive as we see with the victors). And when Katniss sees them and she has that hesitation and terror it’s because she looks at those mutts and knows that that interpretation is the furthest thing from the truth. She looks into their eyes and can’t help but see the humanity in them bc they are the eyes of the fallen tributes staring right back at her. But once again, it’s the Capitol continuing to strip these children and people of their autonomy in some form or fashion even after death (even if it is just using their likeness). What’s more is that despite these mutts being Capitol made, the fact that they are designed to resemble the fallen tributes gives the appearance of the tributes going in for the (supposed) final kill: a final feast. This moment is so deeply unsettling and upsetting and that is because it is supposed to be. We are meant to reflect on how the Capitol strips these children of their autonomy and dehumanizes them, even after their deaths; using their likeness as another weapon designed to kill and torture and creating an image that will haunt Katniss and Peeta long after the games end.

[necromelli]

annie cresta, in all her madness, taught finnick how to love.

finnick was a boy with a puppy crush + no real idea beyond expensive gifts, tacky dates, and old-fashioned advice from mags on how to convey genuine interest. especially when annie comes back from her games wrong. all messed up with her head screwed too loose.

annie was a girl who, even on her worst days, loved fully. her love consumed her whole chest from the very beginning. she was the first to say 'i love you', get finnick sentimental gifts (he still has the first hagstone she found and strung on a rope to protect him on his capitol trips), and truly teach him how to love and not to pretend to love.

annie is the first person who doesn't use finnick for his body. she's the one that taught him how to worship. it keeps her sane, really, when she can unfocus her eyes, turn her brain off, and press kisses into the damaged parts of finnick. all the doting, loving things finnick does didn't start with him, it started with annie.

when she has it in her, which isn't often anymore, she's so doting and affectionate and gentle with finnick it's sickening. i can imagine annie waking up, body and brain on autopilot at whatever ungodly hour finnick comes home from the capitol, and she silently kisses the top of his head and leads him into the bathroom. she turns the water on — hot, because she knows finnick wants to burn the the feeling of their hands away — and let's him decide whether it's a bath or a shower. either way, annie is right there, lathering her shampoo into his hair (it helps finnick calm down when he can smell her), gently rinses it out without stinging his eyes, puts the conditioner in, and washes the touches off his body. annie knows finnick is funny about going to bed with a wet head, and so she'll blow dry it for him.

then, once everything's all done and finnick is taken care of, she'll climb back into their bed, beckon finnick to her, and let him lay against her chest. she doesn't force him to sleep or talk about it as long as he's willing to be with her through it.

and, in the years to come, as annie's episodes start getting worse, start lasting longer, finnick does the same. he'll wash her with his soap, spend the time taking care of her hair, and lays with her in silence. she doesn't have to sleep or talk about it as long as she's willing to be with him through it.

[realmermaid333]

I wonder if Tigris and Lucy Gray having so many similarities was supposed to highlight a potential moment for Coryo to see how District families and Capitol families were one in the same and really change his views on District people. Or at least highlight this truth to the readers. But of course he sadly doesn't make that choice as he never has the opportunity to learn much empathy, and we all know the path he ends up going down. But anyway, it's interesting how similar Lucy Gray and Tigris are. I feel like they both have similar philosophies, they're both artsy artist girls, both very bold and fashionable, both have a little cousin they care for like a baby sibling/child, and both lost their parents and guardians in the war, which led to them fending for themselves as children and needing to do traumatizing things for food. I think they would have gotten along very well had they met. And you'd think Coryo would notice how he was almost like a little Maude Ivory and how Lucy Gray would maybe remind him of Tigris. But I think he just couldn't make comparisons between Capitol folks and District folks because he viewed them as too different and saw district people as alien and less than

[catoscloves]

one of the many things to love about katniss is that she's not spiteful, or revenge minded, no matter how many reasons society and her circumstances give her to be, and always has empathy for others.

and this extends to people she doesn't have much emotional connection to. for as much as she regarded the careers as the capitol's well trained lapdogs, she killed cato out of mercy rather than revenge. she acknowledged that cato and clove could have survived if her and peeta hadn't, that someone like marvel who murdered her ally (a twelve year old, the most innocent and vulnerable person in the arena and who katniss saw as a sister) might have had a life to go back to, a home with family members waiting for his return. she felt guilty during her interactions with gloss and cashmere because she killed children from their district that they might have mentored. katniss explicitly said she did not like enobaria as a person, but didn't want to exclude her from the protection deal with coin.

katniss also has a kind view of people that, as cinna himself said, she should have despised. the capitol citizens are vapid and privileged and watch children like her die for their entertainment every year. yet katniss still forges a relationship with cinna and is able to be vulnerable and share her private stories and treasured memories with him acting as the capitol audience. and while she sees her prep team as ignorant and childish pets, she does have affection for them and objected to them being tortured in district thirteen. even though effie literally comes to her district representing the most evil aspect of the capitol and every year sends two children from her home to die, katniss still sees her redeeming characteristics, bonds with effie, and makes an effort to spare her from the rebels.

no matter who the person is or what they might have done to her/her loved ones, katniss recognizes humanity in everyone and attempts to limit the suffering of others when possible, regardless of her personal opinion about them.

[chaoticgoblinwife]

Enobaria

Trigger warning: talk of tr*fficking, r*pe, forced medical procedures

I keep seeing the theory/opinion recently "what if Enobaria got her teeth filed in order to avoid being tr*fficked by Snow???" and like i get where people are coming from, but no. Katniss states in the plain ass text, "She became so famous for this act that, after she was a victor, she had her teeth cosmetically altered so each one ends in a sharp point like a fang and is inlaid with gold. She has no shortage of admirers in the Capitol. " (p. 224-225 Catching Fire)

Guys. Katniss says it. Before she knows it or realizes the implications. ENOBARIA'S TEETH WEREN'T FILED TO MAKE HER LESS APPEALING TO THE CAPITOL, IT WAS TO MAKE HER MORE APPEALING. SO SHE CAN BE TR*FFICKED. Enobaria most likely was tr*ffIcked by Snow, with the explicit appeal being that she was "brutal and animalistic". I feel like a lot of you gloss over that this is a minor body modification compared to literally just the Capitol citizens, and in their eyes was something to the affect Daniel Radcliffe deciding he wanted to be known as "the Harry Potter Guy" and wore glasses for that.

And I know part of this narrative comes from people wanting to believe that others defied the Capitol before Katniss or that she wasn't the only victor to do so, but you don't have to ignore one of the only pieces we get about a character to get it- its literally everywhere in the series. Haymitch, Johanna, Finnick, Lyme, Seeder all do so. Haymitch, who wins his games by making a mockery of the gamemakers' arena, using it as a weapon. Johanna, who loses everyone she loves, refusing to be tr*fficked, Finnick, who brings back his competitor IN THE ARENA. Lyme, who is from a career district and most likely won as a career tribute- literally the Capitol's attack dogs, being at the forefront and one of the leaders of the rebellion. Seeder, who has never met Katniss but hugs her close to whisper that Rue and Thresh's families are alive, standing with them and the other victors, holding hands to tell the Capitol "We are here, together. We are people. We see what you're doing to us." These victors all do something to make the statement you want so desperately for Enobaria to make.

Enobaria's story is about a young woman who is praised, held up, and told that the worst moment of her life is the only moment that defines her as a person. It's a story of manipulation from authority figures and a life of living in something you want so desperately to forget, but you can still taste his blood even when you just brushed your teeth and everyone is telling you that they've never seen that in the games before, and it was brilliant and then you're sitting in a hospital with your stylist beside you, next you see your face again and you know you'll never move past it, and then President Snow is throwing you a ball for your Victory Tour and your escort introduces you to a 'very generous sponsor from your games who wanted to meet you' and "what you thought that would put me off? No the whole reason I picked you is because you're such a fiesty one." You wake up the next day knowing why you'll never get to forget. The Capitol citizens, it seems, revel in the desperation of those from the districts.

Like yeah, Enobaria is most definitely a tragic character like most of the other victors, but her story would run a lot more parallels to Finnick's than Johanna's.

[2006aquamarine]

A lot of people critique things not for what they are, but for what they aren’t. For example, a lot of the THG criticisms usually boils down to ‘it’s not radical enough’, ‘it ended with both sides bad’, ‘it sets a bad precedent for how to fight oppression’, ‘it had a lukewarm liberal take on anti-oppression’.

The issue here is that the people with these critiques are approaching the books as if they were meant to give a step by step guide for how to lead a revolution, how to fight against oppression. The books were never meant to be discourse on anti-oppression; they were anti-war.

[angrycommiedyke]

"Supposed crimes" and "life of ease"

In CF (p.35), Katniss mentions the “supposed crimes committed generations ago” by the Rebels during the Dark Days. I found that interesting compared to what she’ll be thinking of the Rebels plans and strategy in MJ. 

Before the Quell, she only knows what the Capitol taught her about the war and is well aware that they keep some information from the Districts. But with this sentence, it seems like she can’t think of the Rebels as criminals. Of course, even if we never get to know why exactly the districts rebelled in the first place, it’s not hard to assume that they were already very poorly treated. Sejanus admits “Things in the districts are worse than ever” due to them losing the war (TBOSAS, p.147). 

Even though in both cases the reasons to fight the Capitol are just and fair, Katniss in MJ gets to live in war times and witnesses the killings of numerous children and civilians from both sides, coming to the realization of crimes comitted.

There’s another part that shows how Katniss is unaware (How could she ?) of certain things until it happens to her. Like when in the very first pages of THG, she explains how the games work and says the victors receive “a life of ease back home”. It makes sense since at this point, she only knows what the Capitol allows the districts to see and can’t imagine the threats and the abuse forced on the victors.

That’s why I love to reread the books, because then you start to notice the details you missed the first time yet that are so important to show the characters' evolution. 

Katniss is certainly conscious of a number of things concerning how the system works (with the tessera, the class and racial divide between the Seam and Town, and between the districts, etc.). But at the end of the day, she's still a 16-17 years old girl from the districts who couldn't possibly know everything about the world she lives in.

[vasilissadragomir]

idk i don’t think it takes katniss 15 years to want kids or even to feel that the new world is safe enough to raise them. i think it takes 15 years for her to feel she’s ready to be the mother her kids will need in the instance she has to raise the children alone.

we all know from how she treats prim and rue that katniss is very maternal, even when she’s explicitly opposed to having kids. we also know that the only reason katniss ever says she doesn’t want kids is because she wouldn’t want them to face the world she lived in growing up. when the world is safer, i think there’s still a huge barrier to her having children: they way her mother reacted to her father’s loss. katniss never demonizes her mother for her illness and always acknowledges that her neglect was not a choice, and yet, she also recognizes how devastating it was to her, especially in her formative years. and not just because she had to step up as the caretaker—katniss resents her mother’s emotional neglect just as much if not more than the physical toll her disappearance took on her and prim.

katniss also knows that she, like her mother, will shut down at her breaking point, because she did when she lost peeta to the capitol. so i think it takes 15 years for katniss to feel stable enough, comfortable enough with the treatment options now available to her, to know she’ll always be there physically and emotionally to protect her children on her own. she still has ptsd, still has nightmares and fears, but they no longer control her life, because she knows that she’ll be able to handle them on her own if something were to happen to peeta.

even in a world with no games and no starvation, katniss would still need to wait to have children, even if she actively wanted them before. because katniss’ father might still have died when she was young and her mother still might have shut down. the severe emotional neglect katniss faces as a child is a trauma she acknowledges even more than her father’s death throughout the first book. katniss knows she can’t protect her future children from the accidents, the unfortunate events, the unavoidable evils of the world, like losing a parent at a young age. but she will do everything she can to ensure that, in the event of such loss, her kids have the emotional support system she never had. and i think that, more than a politically stable future or food security, is what takes her 15 years to build for her family.

[thesweetnessofspring]

The similarities between Casca Highbottom and Haymitch Abernathy.

Both use substances to dull their pain.

Both reluctantly put in charge of young people to mentor.

Both prickly and unlikeable to most people.

But both showing sympathy to kids who get stuck in the rotten system of the Games in the gruff way that they can.

In the question, then, if anything could have been a turning point for Coriolanus--could Dean Highbottom have been the answer, the missing piece? Raised by Grandma'am and Tigris, infatuated by Lucy Gray, with memories of his soft mother, he had strong feminine support. What he seems to be missing, in part, is a masculine figure for him to identify with. Coriolanus's father was cold and cruel and power-hungry, Strabo too similar to Coriolanus's own father, and Sejanus was too District for Coriolanus to take seriously. Pluribus is the only other male connection he has, and that's limited. Could Dean Highbottom have been the difference, if he had tried to steer Coriolanus away from becoming like his father instead of sentencing him to the same fate and tried to ruin him? Dr. Gaul was the one who won out, but she was the only one trying to mentor Snow. Dean Highbottom bowed out because he had written Coriolanus off as being the same as his father, which resulted in a self-fulfilling prophecy. And more than that, a student who wanted to stand up to the games, Sejanus, was passed over by Dean Highbottom who wanted the games to end as well.

Despite Haymitch's defeatist attitude in the beginning, he did rebel and he did fight for Katniss and Peeta. Dean Highbottom's only fight was with a teenage boy, making him fight back and turn to the person who supported him, Dr. Gaul.

Maybe it was Casca Highbottom and Haymitch Abernathy who had the power to make a difference.

[triassictriserratops]

Reading this bit of Mockingjay today something became clear to me -

"About halfway there, I become aware of the concrete barricade. It's about four feet high and extends in a large rectangle in front of the mansion. You would think it would be empty, but it's packed with refugees. Maybe this is the group that's been chosen to be sheltered at the mansion? But as I draw closer, I notice something else. Everyone inside the barricade is a child. Toddlers to teenagers. Scared and frostbitten. Huddled in groups or rocking numbly on the ground. They aren't being led into the mansion. They're penned in, guarded on all sides by Peacekeepers." - Mockingjay

This was the Reaping of the Capitol's children. The scene, as described, is so reminiscent of the Reapings in the districts. These are the Capitol's children. Penned in. Being offered up as tributes.

"Twelve- through eighteen-year-olds are herded into roped areas marked off by ages, the oldest in the front, the young ones, like Prim, toward the back. Family members line up around the perimeter, holding tightly to one another’s hands." - The Hunger Games

Of course, OF COURSE Coin's suggestion for the symbolic Hunger Games follows this scene. THAT'S WHAT COMES AFTER A REAPING.

[thegreatmelodrama]

I think Snow was a such an interesting and well-written villain in the trilogy. This is largely because Snow makes very few physical appearances in the book; he exists as this sort of ominous omniscient character that presents a looming sense of danger. We see this with the rose(s) he left for Katniss, the sending of peacekeepers to 12, the sewer mutts, etc. He elicits such a strong reaction, namely one of fear, within Katniss without ever having to be physically present. But even when he is physically present, his physical description also adds to that ominous aura that emanates from him: the “snake eyes” and faint stench of blood that is barely covered by the smell of rose perfume.

And yet, he still exudes a certain amount of charm about him as we see through his interaction with Mrs. Everdeen and even somewhat through his last conversation with Katniss. And this is something which we see even more of in TBOSAS. But what always stuck the most out to me about Snow is how he said that lying is a way to cover up weakness and he makes an agreement with Katniss to never lie to one another. Something about that honesty and his ability to be candid about what he does to some extent is what makes him truly terrifying.

As for the end of TBOSAS, Snow’s transformation is tragic and infuriating all at once. Namely because, he could’ve acted otherwise. And that is one of the messages of the novel. We aren’t born inherently bad, however we can become that through our actions and reactions. Snow had these opportunities to grow and to learn from the different perspectives he encountered. And yet every-time he failed to do so. He could have let Sejanus go, even if he didn’t agree. He could have let Lucy Gray go. He had so many chances to learn to love—truly love. But everytime, he chose power and control over human beings which evokes within us a frustration and anger. There is definitely nuance here: Gaul’s manipulations and his own trauma. However, this doesn’t justify his actions especially in the third act of the novel. But it doesn’t make it any less tragic to see someone with the capacity for goodness go down the wrong path. Snow wasn’t destined for this. It was of his own agency combined with some other external factors (to a lesser extent) that he ended up where he did. And when you understand this, and his agency within his actions, it makes him all that much more horrible when we see him in the trilogy.

[necromelli]

"from the treaty of treason: in penance for their uprising, each district shall offer up a male and female between the ages of 12 and 18 at a public 'reaping'."

from the first scene of the hunger games movie, there's this quote. it's worded in a way to make it sound like the districts are willing to send children to their deaths. that it's their choice, when in reality, we know it isn't. their forced.

"These tributes shall be delivered to the custody of the capitol and then transferred to a public arena where they will fight to the death, until a lone victor remains. Henceforth and forevermore this pageant shall be known as The Hunger Games."

the wording makes it sound a special, beautiful thing. a pageant, which is defined as "a public entertainment consisting of a procession of people in elaborate, colorful costumes, or an outdoor performance of a historical scene." which is precisely what the hunger games have been since the beginning.

we even see that in tbosbas in which the tributes are showboated around, locked in a zoo, and are subjected to use the same arena that has been used 9 times. where 207 children have fought to the death and died for nothing.

we see it in Finnick's games where a fourteen year old boy is sought after for his beauty. we see it in the way johanna's family is killed. In the way Haymitch is blamed for using the arena to his advantage. We see it in every game, everything, every year.

and, it only gets worse when coriolanus snow rises to power.