I finally finished The Hunger Games! Well, the series. Pete's niece had the book and she lent it to me, which is amazingly awesome of her. (Maybe she'll lend me the movie next??) Also the book--for some reason, the momentum kind of died while I was reading the second book, but I picked right up on the third one easily and enthusiastically.
Apparently I wasn't really clear on the end of the last book, and there wasn't much of a recap in this book at the beginning (whoops). But the members of the Quarter Quell and districts had planned a huge rebellion, and now it's basically Panem against the Capitol. (If you need an apparently not-so-great recap, I've gone over the first two books in the series!) Katniss was knocked out during the Game with a large coil of wire, so she's suffering a concussion, and we enter the book with her, just as confused as she is.
That's basically what we know at the beginning of the book, and the fact that District 13 has just moved underground. They have been in agreement with the Capitol this whole time to pretend to be obliterated--the Capitol threatened to actually destroy them with nuclear arms, but District 13 also has nuclear arms. There was a really cool fan-made map going around Tumblr a little before I read the books of Panem. I don't remember it really well, but District 13 was located in or very close to New England (I'm pretty sure Connecticut was a part of it, cause I was kind of like, oh damn...). There's a nuclear submarine base in Groton, and Three-Mile island is in New York, apparently... So that may be accurate. I have a feeling that although this book is set in the future, its future started not too far after this time now. (Which makes me wonder what the rest of the world is like...) So, anyways. The rebellion is centred in District 13, which has, in X (up to 75) years, thrived.
So anyways. The people of the Rebellion want Katniss to be their leader, their Mockingjay, because she was the Girl Who Was on Fire--and she inspired the revolution, or had very good timing. From the start, it's clear that the rebellion that is intended is very similar to what those in the Capitol did to Panem... For example, Alma Coin, the leader--"president"--of the Rebellion, is just as cruel and conniving as Snow. In fact, she's a little more frightening, since she's supposed to be a "good guy". But she watches Katniss in the same way, and she treats her the same way as President Snow when he visited Katniss's house in the last book. She also clearly has her own goals in mind. Katniss is aware of the similarities from the get-go--she doesn't equate Coin with Snow until the near climax of the book, but she notices the similarities and necessities between the Rebellion and the Capitol's shows:
"What they want is for me to truly take on the role they designed for me. The symbol of the revolution. The Mockingjay. It isn't enough, what I've done in the past, defying the Capitol in the Games, providing a rallying point. I must now become the actual leader, the face, the voice, the embodiment of the revolution. The person who the districts--most of which are now openly at war with the Capitol--can count on to blaze the path to victory. I won't have to do it alone. They have a whole team of people to make me over, dress me, write my speeches, orchestrate my appearances--as if that doesn't sound horribly familiar--and all I have to do is play my part" (Collins 10-11).
"As a rebel, I thought I'd get to look more like myself. But it seems a televised rebel has her own standards to live up to" (Collins 60).
Okay, so I skip a lot. A lot of the beginning is Katniss recovering and the new life in the underground homes of District 13. Interesting, but not really worth my recounting, other than that life is very different in the new District. Everything is highly regulated, down to the food and daily tasks, which was obviously necessary in the District's early days of survival, and has been carried on because it clearly works. Katniss spends most of her time ignoring her schedule. Eventually she accepts that she must be the Mockingjay--it also gives her the chance to force President Coin to agree to some terms: for example, she saves her designing team, the other tributes, a few things for her family (she saves Prim's cat!), etc... So then they start filming this and that to get on the Capitol's television systems. Haymitch gathers a think-tank to try and figure out how to incite the most passion and fervour in Katniss that will scare the Capitol and inspire the rebels. This provides a two-three page summary of everything in the series that was emotionally wrenching: her volunteering for Prim in the Game of the first book, when she sand for Rue, when she kissed Peeta what could have been good-bye (well, that was Octavia), the berries, trying to help Mags in the last book... I only bring it up because as Katniss starts to flash back, it kind of forces the reader to flashback with real clarity, and yeah, I got a little emotional. (Not about the Peeta stuff, mostly when they brought up Rue and Mags.) Oh! And in the last book, to heighten dramatic appeal before the games, Katniss came up with the lie that she was pregnant with Peeta's baby (because remember, the angle since the first game was that they were together)--Haymitch covers this by saying that the child spontaneously aborted due to the trauma in the first games. (More specifically, an electric shock that Katniss endured.
Katniss also insists on fighting alongside the rebels as much as possible. She doesn't like just being the figurehead, which I can respect. Coin is incredulous: "'And if you're killed?' asks Coin. 'Make sure you get some footage. You can use that, anyway,' I answer" (Collins 76). This was kind of a poor idea to put in Coin's head, because towards the end of the book Coin sends Katniss on a mission that is supposed to kill her and make her be the martyr. (Though honestly Coin probably could have come up with that on her own, even if Katniss didn't plant the seed for it here... Coin gets pretty slimy by the end.)
Oh yes, Peeta was also captured by the Capitol. Caesar Flickerman continues to interview him, but... Ugh, I don't want to think he's a bad guy. He seems too goofy (in my head, I haven't seen the movie yet) and friendly to be a bad guy. Almost... A lot of the Capitol seems to be made up of bubble heads (hey, Scott Westerfield!), and that's kind of the feeling I get about him. He's sort of higher up on the food chain, but he's still basically just kind of there... But! President Snow is fattening him up and torturing him alternately to mess with Katniss, because he knows that she and the others in the District can see his broadcasts. He's using him to torment her, so eventually they do rescue him--but he has been brainwashed with the hallucinogens from the Tracker Jack's venom (modified yellow jackets). Eventually they work most of it out of his system, but I'm getting ahead of myself...
Anyways! As a mission of goodwill, Katniss visits the infirmary, but I don't think it's the one where her mother and Prim are working. They send her to inspire the hurt soldiers, to help her image, and to bring hope to all. Everyone gets excited to see her, she is being hugged, kissed, and adored by all. The touch makes her nervous at first, but she kind of... leaves her own body, or gets too wrapped up in her thoughts. What I noticed was Gale's word choice when he spoke to her after: "'I can't believe you let all those people touch you. I kept expecting you to make a break for the door'" (Collins 91). I think this is just me digging too deep--I wouldn't really go ahead and say that Katniss is a Christ figure, but there's a bit in the Bible where a poor, sick woman (what she was sick from differs depending on where you read it, Craig Thompson in Blankets says that she was "subject to bleeding", but other translations or retellings sometimes just say that she was very ill or what have you) touches Jesus briefly. The crowd is so thick that that is all she can manage. Anyways, a little bit of Jesus's power leaves him and goes into her and heals her, because her faith in him was so strong. Obviously Katniss isn't the divine, and again, it's a long shot to make that connection (I think), but it's the first thing that I though of. Anyways, the hospital is bombed moments later--which inspires Katniss to give a fury-fueled broadcast on the site, after attacking and taking down some bombers with Gale.
Oh yes, her speech--well it's really the end, directed at President Snow directly, that's the powerful part: "'Fire is catching!' I am shouting now, determined that he will not miss a word. 'And if we burn, you burn with us!'" (Collins 100).
"'It takes ten times as long to put yourself together as it does to fall apart'" (Collins 156).
So... Next note is on page 180, after they've gotten Peeta back. Like I said, he was brainwashed into hating Katniss and wanting to kill her with Tracker Jack venom. There's just a little entomology thing--instead of thinking the mutated bees are yellow jackets, they explain the name (though they admit that they're not sure) by saying that it comes from the "old English" word hijack. Just making a note of the phrase "old English". I still think the "75 years" of hunger games still started in like 2030, 2050... I think that is still acceptable...
Um... So as attacks get closer to the Capitol and the rebels gain more ground, you begin seeing more of the different characters. Peeta's out, of course, Katniss is kind of there, but caught up in it, President Coin gets nastier, people grow closer to Katniss... And Gale becomes more and more extreme. As in, he'll firebomb places that have citizens as well as enemies, or their imprisoned fighters. He doesn't care, the ends justify the means. So he gets very frightening. Now, of course there's the Peeta/Gale debate. I wasn't really into that part as much... But my roommate last year did this BS, "It's not about them, they represent the life she chooses to have, or how she chose to stage her rebellion". That's BS hardcore right there. It's also an insult to Katniss, I think, like she couldn't just go off on her own if she chose. And she can (okay, she doesn't. But she is strong enough to make her own decisions about everything, which she does through the entire book--when she is kowtowed into something at the very, very end, it actually seems really out of character). And Gale's harsh measures frighten her, because she sees that they're so close to President Snow's or Coin's measures. So... that's my rant. It's a little out of the blue, but the Team Peeta/Gale thing is really dumb, and this made me think of it. Deal with it. (Also that was SUCH a dumb way of putting it, ex-roommate.)
Oh, Katniss even has the concept of Panem et Circenses explained to her--I would not consider this too much, however, as this is a book meant for the YA audience. Probably your average 13-15 year old (this is me straight-up making up numbers right here) isn't that up on Roman history/concepts/culture/et cetera--though I'm disappointed in every YA reader who couldn't at least recognize names like Caesar. And Katniss obviously wasn't aware of the concept either, it explains the name (I didn't even put two and two together, though I got nearly every other Latin reference), and so on.
Skip ahead, and several teams are planning the final assault on the Capitol. (Sorry, it's been a few weeks since I updated, and I can't entirely remember what transpired, other than a lot of bombings...) President Coin puts Katniss on a team with Peeta, who has not fully recovered, and basically is planning on Peeta snapping, killing or mortally wounding her (if the assault does not), making her a martyr, and getting her out of the way. Spoiler alert; Katniss makes it, Peeta makes it, but most of the other team is killed, in absolutely horrible ways. Lizard-mutts appear and kill Finnick--it is the most horrifying death in the whole series. As he's climbing to follow Katniss and the mutt pulls him down and chew him in half. Made even more horrifying because he did marry the girl he loved right before, and I think they know that she's pregnant... I literally could not believe that she'd do that. I read the passage over about five times.
Next note: every soldier (except Peeta) has poison-in-a-pill called Nightlock. The deadly nightshade/hemlock. That is all.
I... that's my last note before we get to the aftermath of this final assault. Snow is captured, hundreds are killed, Katniss is firebombed into a naked, peeling mess, and in the cruelest irony of the whole series--Prim is killed, and Katniss sees her death. All of this started out of a desire to save/protect her little sister, and at the climax, she is killed. That was another thing I could not believe.
And, of course the irony: Katniss really did become the girl who was on fire...
Anyways, when Katniss recovers, she gets the final ceremonial arrow: the last arrow of war, intended to kill the captured President Snow. The climax is when she aims the arrow at Snow, already beaten and nearly dead, hating him--
--and she shoots Coin, also in the room, twice as cruel as Snow. Coin is instantly killed, and Snow chokes on his own blood laughing. Plutarch becomes temporary head.
Anyways... The most unbelievable part of this whole series is the epilogue. Katniss realizes that she doesn't need Gale's "fire, kindled with rage and hatred" (Collins 388). Peeta has recovered, and is sweet and gentle. So they end up together. Good. That doesn't really bother me, didn't really care about the romantic subplot (other than Finnick's), so good. I like the end. But the epilogue! Katniss has had two children at Peeta's insistence, and it took "five, ten, fifteen years" (Collins 389) to convince her. I don't care how long it took. Katniss having kids... No matter what... Just seems horribly out of character, terribly so. She never even refers to either child by name, which also seems to signal that she doesn't really like them/isn't that attached to them, whatever. I would have been happier without the epilogue, probably. It just threw a monkey wrench in, right at the very end...
MLA Citation Information: Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay. Scholastic Press: United States of America, 2010.
Hey, remember that time I finished writing this in September and just never typed up the works cited until now? Oops.
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