#volumnia gual

[nighteyed]

It has been close to a week now since I have finished TBOSAS. It is not as vivid as I would like it to be, as I have cracked the spines of other books and have drunk deep from their pages.

However, here is an image that reminds me of one of the more intriguing characters in the book.

Volumnia Gual:

[everlvrks]

naming in songbirds and snakes

authors note: it is 1 am and this is unbataed, apologies for any spelling or grammar errors.

the hunger games is known for its outrageous, futuristic names; one of my favorite pieces of the series. this post does a beautiful job analyzing the names that appear in the original trilogy and categorizing them into 4 different categories. but that post is a little old and we’ve just recently got a lot more content (and names) to pick apart and analyze.

researching these names reminds me how everything suzanne includes in her novels is intentional. she doesn’t pick random names because they sound good but because they mean something. i think that’s important to remember while reading this series. it’s definitely something i will keep in mind during my next reread of the trilogy.

i didn’t cover every name in tbosas. if there’s a name you have thoughts about, reblog and let me know.

potential tbosas spoilers and long post under the cut

names will be divided into capitol and tribute (district) names  

capitol

capitol names take many influences from ancient roman and greek names, but they also tell the story of the character. i will only be discussing major characters, not all will be mentioned.

coriolanus: snow’s first name largely has to do with his story. from the play coriolanus by shakespeare, meaning “conqueror of corioli,” a heroic roman solider, caius marcius, gains his name from a victory at corioli. when he leads the attack on corioli, it does not go well. but he keeps fighting and returns to rome victorious. he brings glory to rome and his mother volumnia. basically summing up his whole story. he tries to lead an ‘attack’ (him trying to win the games) but that fails. he’s reduced to a peacekeeper but he still doesn’t stop trying to be something greater. he wins in the end. he goes back to the capitol, attends university and is mentored dr. gaul.

which brings me to...

dr. volumnia gaul: dr. gaul’s name has two parts. one representing her relationship with snow. the other representing her relationship with panem. volumnia is the mother of caius marcus in shakespeare’s play, coriolanus. volumnia, in the play, uses caius as a means of securing personal prestige aka using snow’s ideas in her games. she wants her games to be better, the best. and she uses snow for that. gaul was also a roman province that embarrassed rome (read: gual’s games not being popular, things going wrong, etc.). but unlike gual, dr. gual was not stop/conquered by panem/rome.

sejanus plinth: sejanus was a close friend and ally of roman emperor tiberius who worked to improve conditions for the empire. he was also strangled to death. sejanus plinth was unable to change anything before his death by hanging. a plinth can be looked at in two different ways. @hutchhitched described it as a platform—a place someone can take a stand and deliver a message. it can also be looked at as a means for climbing. social climbing, if you will. the main ambition of the plinths.

strabo plinth: a wealthy philosopher who allied with the romans and was granted roman citizenship as a reward. seems familiar? plinth: see sejanus.

crassus snow: crassus was a roman general who played a key role in the transformation of the roman republic into the roman empire. just like his namesake, crassus snow was known for his military experience and wrote the proposal for the hunger games, successfully transforming panem into what we know today.

tributes

typically, tributes have names that reflect the industry of their district. there are a few exceptions to this; including sabine, ginnee, jessup and lucy gray baird.

district one

one of the wealthier districts in panem, district one is responsible for producing luxury items, such as jewelry, for the capitol.

male tribute: facet, literally meaning “one side of something many-sided, especially of a cut gem” suggest gemstone that is placed into jewelry but he is merely a part of the captiols larger plan.

female tribute: velvereen, derived from velveteen, meaning “a cotton fabric with a pile resembling velvet.”

district two

another wealthy district, district two is the home of the nation’s quarries and masonry workers. also recruits and trains peacekeepers and produces weapons for their use.

male tribute: marcus, derived from malleus, latin meaning “hammer.” the main tool of a masonry worker.

female tribute: sabyn, derived from sabine, italic tribe located near the tiber river. captured and raped by the romans. parallel to her current situation of being captured by the capitol.

district three

one of the poorer districrs. responsible for technology, district theee manufactures televisions, computers and other electronics. citizens of this district are very adept at engineering.

male tribute: circ, derived from circuit, something which an electric current can flow; used in electronics.

female tribute: teslee, possibly derived from tesla, an inventor and engineer.

district four

it’s major industry is fishing, trains citizens at a young age for their industry.

male tribute: mizzen, literally a part of a ships mast aka ships used for fishing.

female tribute: coral, do i have to explain this one? marine invertebrates that live in the ocean.

district five

it’s main industry is power and electricity.

male tribute: hy, possibly derived from hydroelectric, alluding to the hydroelectric dam that produces power for panem.

female tribute: sol, derived from solis, latin for sun. another producer of power.

district six

responsible for transportation.

male tribute: otto, variation of auto derived from automobile. a form of transportation

female tribute: ginnee, meaning “pure” a reminder that these are innocent children.

district seven

main industry is lumber

male tribute: treech, possibly a styilization of tree, the source of lumber

female tribute: lamina, the blade of a leaf, something trees have ;)

district eight

the textile makers

male tribute: bobbin, a spindle which thread is wound. typically found on sewing machines

female tribute: wovey, possibly derived from woven because textiles are, woven.

district nine

responsible for grain production

male tribute: panlo, derived from pan, meaning bread in spanish. bread is made from grain.

female tribute: sheaf, literally meaning “a bundle of grain stalks.”

district ten

the cattle ranchers of panem

male tribute: tanner, from the verb to tan, meaning “convert animal skin into leather”

female tribute: brandy, a brand is “an identifying mark burned on livestock”

district eleven

agriculture!

male tribute: reaper, to reap, meaning “to cut or gather a crop or harvest”

female tribute: dill, an herb. that you grow

district twelve

the coal miners

male tribute: jessup, derived from hebrew “yosef.” interestingly this is only the second name derived from hebrew within thg. second to johanna. could also be a reference to jessup, nevada; a mining area.

female tribute: lucy grey baird, she explains her own name. baird meaning poet or minstrel.