Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

It is the fiftieth annual Hunger Games but it is also the Second Quarter Quell, meaning twice as many tributes will be reaped: two boys and two girls from each district. Taken "off to the Capitol for slaughter." It is also Haymitch Abernathy's sixteenth birthday. His plans, besides the reaping, are to spend time with his girlfriend, Lenore Dove.

Haymitch lives with his Ma and his ten-year-old brother Sid. His Ma takes in laundry to make ends meet. His pa is buried in the Abernathy family plot in the miner's graveyard. He died in a fire in the mines that some say was an act of resistance.

Haymitch visits Hattie Meeney whom he helps with her illegal distillery business. She gives him a bottle of white liquor as a birthday gift. He doesn't drink, but Haymitch knows he can trade this off for something else. He then meets up with his girlfriend, Lenore Dove who is one of the Covey, in the meadow. Lenore has been raised by her uncles, Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber, after her mother died during childbirth. Lenore gives Haymitch a flint striker shaped like a "C" with two animals, a snake and a long-necked bird facing one another.

Just prior to the reaping ceremony, Haymitch's mother gives him a year's supply of flour sack underwear and a new pocketknife while Sid gives him a piece of flint rock. 

The reaping ceremony takes place at the square in front of the Justice Building. There are posters as well as many Peacekeepers who are checking in the young reaping candidates - those children aged twelve to eighteen. Attendance is mandatory for everyone. Haymitch has twenty slips of paper in the reaping. The additional slips are due to his getting extra food for his family, so the odds are not in his favour. After the Panem anthem, Mayor Allister readers the Treaty of Treason. Then Drusilla Sickle, the escort for the  District 12 tribunes each year, does the draw. Thirteen-year-old Louella McCoy and Maysilee Donner are chosen for the girls, while Woodbine Chance and eighteen-year-old Wyatt Callow are chosen for the boys. Each makes their way up to the dias, when suddenly Woodbine, known for his ability to run fast, sprints down an alley, only to be shot in the head by a sniper. 

This causes chaos and the feed on the TV screens goes dark as there is a five minute broadcast delay so that the rest of the country isn't able to witness what's happening. Everyone is ordered on the ground while the Peacekeepers remove anyone with gore on them from the square. When Haymitch gets up to protect Lenore as she's trying to help Woodbine's distraught mother, he gets hit with the butt of a rifle. Furious, Drusilla orders him as the replacement for Woodbine and attempts to have Lenore shot. However, Plutarch Heavensbee, responsible for doing promo for the Games, intervenes, telling Drusilla he wants to keep Lenore to publicize the tearful goodbyes.  

The broadcast resumes with the naming of Wyatt and Haymitch. He is relieved to see Lenore spared due to bribes from Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber. Maysilee's father unsuccessfully attempts to bribe anyone to save his daughter. Haymitch's ma is distraught as is his little brother Sid.  Drusilla refuses to allow the families to say goodbye to their reaped children as is usually done. Again Plutarch intevenes, telling her he needs more shots for his recap.This gives Haymitch the chance to hug his Ma and Sid and say goodbye. As the train pulls out of the District 12 station, he sees Lenore Dove, screaming in rage into the wind.

On the train Haymitch, Louella, Wyatt and Maysilee watch a recap of the reaping from all the districts. There is no evidence of what really transpired in District 12. Plutarch tells them that he's attempting to help them out,  by selling them to potential sponsors. When they see the well fed, well trained, "Careers", children from Districts 1 to 4 who have been trained to win the Hunger Games, Haymitch feels intimidated. However, Plutarch tells him that brains, skills, strategy and luck all factor in to who wins. Haymitch believes Plutarch is simply manipulating them for the Capitol's gain.

At the Tribute center, each tribute is "prepped". Haymitch's team is comprised of Proserpina and Vitus who are university students. District 12's stylist is Magno Stift who has a terrible reputation for doing nothing and provides them with smelly black miner overalls and plastic miner hats. They are taken to the stables where each district's tributes are loaded into twelve chariots. Haymitch and his fellow District 12 tributes are placed into "a rickety chariot drawn by a quarter of skittish gray nags." With Maysilee and Louella at the front and Haymitch and Wyatt at the back their chariot enters the arena last. A firework explodes in front of their chariot, causing the horses to break into a run, colliding with the spiked wheels of District 6. Hamitch and Louella are thrown out, killing Louella instantly. Wyatt and Maysilee are also thrown out but uninjured. 

Furious at Louella's death, Haymitch takes her body dodging Peacekeepers and tributes, runs towards the president's mansion at the end of the arena. He hijacks District 1's golden chariot and races it to just underneath the mansion's balcony where he lays Louella's body. In an act of defiance, Haymitch claps, demonstrating to President Snow that her death is on him. This challenge to President Snow will not go unpunished, as Haymitch is soon to learn and will have devastating consequences for everyone he loves.

Discussion

Sunrise on the Reaping is the second prequel to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. It tells the story of Haymitch Abernathy during the fiftieth Hunger Games and the Second Quarter Quell. Haymitch seeks to resist the ongoing yearly murder of young people from the districts but in doing so, he sets himself up as the target of President Snow's revenge with devastating consequences. 

This novel explores the role of propaganda and lies, and the use of terror to control and subjugate a population to prevent it from rebelling against oppression and tyranny. It also asks readers to consider what motivates a population to finally decide to rebel under such total control?

One method of propaganda is the use of posters, a theme that carries throughout the novel by Haymitch Abernathy. The first description of propaganda are the posters that Haymitch describes in the square where the reaping ceremony is held. The Capitol has plastered the square in District 12 and likely in the other districts, with posters with the theme of "No Peace". They read, "NO PEACE, NO BREAD!" or "NO PEACE, NO SECURITY!", "NO CAPITOL, NO PEACE!" A huge banner with the face of President Snow promotes him as "PANEM'S #1 PEACEKEEPER."  Haymitch sees similar posters at the train station in the Capitol but this time geared to the residents there. as though the Capitol has to convince it's own citizens that this how things must be. The message is that without the Capitol there will be no peace, no security and no bread. Even more important, "NO HUNGER GAMES, NO PEACE!"  It is an ongoing attempt to maintain the status quo - that is - the annual reaping of young boys and girls from the districts as reparation for the rebellion against the Capitol years ago. But Haymitch is determined to paint his own poster and not allow the Capitol to use him as a "poster boy".

In an attempt to make it seem that the Capitol has total control over the districts and that they willingly comply, broadcasts of the reaping and the Hunger Games are manipulated and sanitized. When Woodbine Chance is murdered at the reaping, Haymitch realizes for the first time that the broadcast is not live, but that there is a five minute delay so they can whitewash any dissent or rebellion. Instead of showing the murder of Woodbine, the unrest in the square, the intervention of Haymitch to protect Lenore, and Drusilla's order to shoot Lenore, the broadcast is halted and evidence quickly removed. Haymitch is ordered to be the replacement for Woodbine and once the gore is cleaned up, the broadcast resumes, complete with canned applause. Later on the train Haymitch admits to being sickened by the false narrative that Plutarch has created. "I watch, both fascinated and sickened by the flawless transition from Maysilee's drawing to Wyatt's and mine. Not even a hint of Woodbine's shooting or the turmoil that followed. And there's my name, and there's me, and there's Ma gasping, Sid crying. Lenore Dove with her hand clasped over her mouth." He tells Plutarch, "That's not what happened." but Plutarch merely states that he changed things around to help them get sponsors. However, the reality is that people in the Capitol and the other districts do not know that a young boy was murdered trying to flee the reaping. Likewise Haymitch and everyone else in Panem do not know if there have been other similar situations in other districts. This serves President Snow's desire for power and control. If others witness acts of rebellion, they might be encouraged to resist too.

The tributes themselves are also used as propaganda. Plutarch arranges for a beautiful birthday cake to be presented to Haymitch, but Haymitch knows what Plutarch is doing. "Clearly, Plutarch wants to capture my delight so he can broadcast it all over Panem. Look how well the Capitol treats the tributes. How forgiving they are to their enemies. How superior they are to those district piglets in their stinkholes." Haymitch refuses to cooperate and be a part of that propaganda and turns his back. He won't be a poster boy for how thoughtful the Capitol is towards the tributes whom they are sending to their death.

Haymitch has no doubt about his part in the Hunger Games. "I'm entirely the Capitol's plaything. They will use me for their entertainment and then kill me, and the truth will have no say in it. Plutarch acts friendly, but his indulgences -- my family's goodbyes, his fancy sandwiches -- are just a method to manage me..."  He remembers what his Ma reminded him about his Pa's message to a girl reaped, "Don't let them use you, Sarshee. Don't let them paint their posters with your blood..."

When chaos occurs during the chariot parade resulting in the death of Louella, Haymitch decides he wants to show the Capitol citizens what really is happening and who is to blame. He sees the Peacekeepers rushing to take away Louella's body and decides to act. " They want to take Louella away, to hide her tidily in a wooden box along with their crimes, and ship her home to District 12. They don't want to feature this death on the Capitol's watch, unplanned and highlighting their incompetence. This is not the blood they want to paint their posters with."

And so Haymitch takes Louella's body and lays it below the balcony where President Snow can see her, in front of all at the parade. He then applauds, placing the blame for Louella's death on Snwo.  While the people in the area see what's happened, Haymitch has no idea if what's happened is actually being broadcast because on one screen all he can see is himself from the waist up clapping. Later, in an attempt to thwart Haymitch's actions, President Snow has a replacement, a body double of "Louella McCoy" brought in so that people will believe Louella survived. However, this young girl is likely the child of traitors. She's been physically altered, drugged and programmed but who seems to still know that the Capitol is murdering children.

The recap broadcast during Haymitch's Victor Ceremony is also grossly distorted and leaves Haymitch stunned and disillusioned. The recap deviates from Day 2. "Timelines are twisted. Connections misleading. It's less flat-out lying than lying by omission." This manipulation of what actually happened distorts Haymitch's actions. "What they showed during the Games, I don't know, but in the recap, I'm not even attempting to protect any of my allies." Haymitch along with Ampert is involved in a plot to break the arena, however the damage they inflict is not shown. The distortion around Maysilee and Maritte's deaths make Haymitch wonder, "Does no one remember? Do they just not care? Or during the Games, did they show the audience a different sky? Or none at all?...The Gamemakers must have been scrambling like crazy to control the narratives by this point. Whatever the case, the audience here in the auditorium has embraced this version, cheering and jeering on cue. Their lack of discernment transforms the recap, validating it as truth. I hope those in the districts can still see it as the piece of propaganda it is, but no telling what they've been fed."  The recap doesn't paint Haymitch as a rebel, but possibly as a cheater or a rascal. 

The novel's title Sunrise on the Reaping is a reference to Lenore Dove's question to Haymitch as to why they should accept the current situation; that every year the sun will rise on yet another reaping. She asks why is this acceptable?  Like most people in the districts, Haymitch is resigned to the fact that every year there is a reaping and this year there is the second Quarter Quell which means twice as many kids. "No point in worrying, I tell myself, there's nothing you can do about it...No way to control the outcome of the reaping or what follows it...They've taken enough already."  Lenore Dove challenges Haymitch when he says everything is going to be fine. "...Because the reaping's going to happen no matter what I believe. Sure as the sun will rise tomorrow."  However, Lenore tells Haymitch, "Thinking things are inevitable. Not believing change is possible." is part of their trouble. She asks him, "Can you imagine it rising on a world without a reaping?"  It is a request she will reiterate later in the novel.

Collins uses the character of Plutarch to question why people accept tyranny and what pushes them to rebel. During the training session, Haymitch realizes that the tributes outnumber the Peacekeepers and could easily attack them. He is dismayed when he thinks about how " Every year we let them herd us into their killing machine. Every year they pay no price for the slaughter." Plutarch, overhearing Haymitch and Ringina asks them why they didn't act. Haymitch realizes he's not just questioning them not acting in the training gym but also why they don't resist in the districts. It is a challenge similar to that posed by Lenore Dove. Ringina states that it's because of the guns, but Plutarch presses further since the districts outnumber the Capitol. When Haymitch and Ringina state that it is the Capitol's firepower that forces them to submit, Plutarch counters, "I see the hangings and the shootings and the starvation and the Hunger Games...And yet, I still don't think the fear they inspire justifies the arrangement we've all entered into. Do you?...Why do you agree to it? Why do I? For that matter, why have people always agreed to it?"  Haymitch and Ringina have no answer.

However, as the events in the novel demonstrate, the districts do not fight back because Snow and the Capitol have absolute control and create absolute terror. Any act of defiance or resistance is brutally punished as evidenced by what happens to Incitatus Loomy, Haymitch, Beetee and Ampert, as well as Mags and Wiress. At the presidential mansion, Snow reveals that he plans for Haymitch to die in the Hunger Games for what he did during the chariot parade, indicating that Haymitch's death will mean that "...Lenore Dove and your family should be free to enjoy long and happy lives."  When Haymitch survives to win the Fiftieth Hunger Games, he knows all who he loves will suffer and all who helped him will also be punished. "I don't dare think about my loved ones back home. Everything I did, every choice I made, was based on the knowledge that my death protected them from harm.,,,This I know: I have been publicly challenging Snow and his Quarter Quell since I landed in the Capitol."  If Snow poisoned his own parade master for botching the chariot parade, Haymitch wonders just "what feast must he have in store for me and mine?"

Prior to returning home, Haymitch sees that even those who helped him do not escape unscathed. At the Victor's Ceremony, Haymitch's sees that his mentors, Mags and Wiress have been tortured "...Finally, Mags arrives in a wheelchair while a still-mobile but distressed Wiress twitches her head about in a birdlike fashion, a steady stream of words spouting from her lips. Very bad things have been done to them."

He quickly experiences the violence of Snow's revenge upon his arrival in District 12:  his mother and brother Sid die in a fire. After the Hunger Games, Haymitch has been able to learn that, Snow, who seemed to know about the Covey, knew and loved the Covey girl from District 12 who won the Tenth Hunger Games. Her apparent betrayal makes Haymitch fear for Lenore. "Oh , Lenore Dove, what have I done to you? How will you pay for my surviving the Hunger Games?"  

Lenore Dove, as she is dying from poison, begs Haymitch to not let the sun rise on another reaping. But Haymitch is so devastated by her death that he begins drinking heavily. The depth of his loss is portrayed by his remembrance of a song ( Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven) he learned on her last birthday. No one can help or heal Haymitch, not even Plutarch who hopes to recruit him to help grow the rebellion.  Haymitch refuses Plutarch's request to help them change things, because he believes he is "...living proof that the Capitol always wins. I tried to keep that sun from rising on another reaping day, I tried to change things, and now everybody's dead."  Haymitch doesn't trust Plutarch because he creates the propaganda that sustains the Capitol. At this time, Snow's brutal suppression of any hint of rebellion is still working to maintain power and control.

This prequel is another well written novel in the Hunger Games series, with believable characters, many of them endearing, some of them very memorable:  sweet Ampert, bold Maysilee, kindly Mags, vicious Drusilla, intelligent Wiress and of course, the cruel Coriolanus Snow. There is a mention of a relationship between two men, kept hidden for fear of reprisals by the Capitol.  The wealth of characters in the series opens the possibility for many more novels detailing the world of Panem.

Sunrise on the Reaping is a tale of tragedy and loss, how challenging evil often exacts a heavy price. The novel ends on a somewhat hopeful note: eventually Haymitch was able to fulfill his promise to Lenore Dove, by lending a hand in the destruction of Snow, and the defeat of the Capitol. Unlike Coriolanus Snow, Haymitch was able to love again, his heart not poisoned by betrayal and wanton cruelty. Katniss and Peeta offer Haymitch a chance to mourn his losses, something he was reluctant to do. "I didn't want to let them in, her and Peeta, but the walls of a person's heart are not impregnable, not if they have ever known love."

Book Details:

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

New York: Scholastic Press       2025

382 pp.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay is the dark and tragic conclusion to The Hunger Games series. 

The final novel in Suzanne Collins' dystopian trilogy opens with Katniss visiting her home district, District 12, which was fire-bombed into oblivion  almost immediately after she was airlifted out of the Quarter Quell arena. This allowed no time for the people in the district  to flee.  Gale managed to save about eight hundred people from the district by herding them towards the Meadow where there were no wooden structures covered in coal dust to catch fire. Among them were Katniss's mother and her younger sister, Prim, as well as his own family. Three days later the survivors were evacuated to District 13 where they were assigned clothing and living compartments. Connor a survivor from another district has told Katniss that District 13 needs the survivors after a pox epidemic killed many and left others infertile.

The people in District 13 live entirely below ground in a huge complex that was originally designed to be some kind of refugee for government leaders during wartime. District 13 survived the war long ago, because the rebels were able to gain control of the nuclear arsenal stored there and to use it as a bargaining chip to have the Capitol retreat and leave them alone. After her rescue and physical recovery, Katniss now lives in Compartment 307 with her mother and Prim.

The president of District 13, Alma Coin, wants Katniss to be the symbol of the revolution- the Mockingjay. Most of the districts with the exception of District 2 are now in open revolt against the Capitol. Besides Katniss, Beetee an older inventor from District 3 and Finnick Odair, the career victor from District 4, the fishing district were also rescued from the arena, although Finnick is in rough shape due to the high voltage shock he received.  Katniss wonders if becoming the Mockingjay will actually do any good and if she might do more harm by getting more people killed.

Coin, and Plutarch Heveansbee and his assistant, Fulvia Cardew, are against Katniss returning to District 12, but she insists on it as a condition of her cooperation with the authorities in District 13 - to be their "Mockingjay", the symbol of the rebellion. She needs to see for herself the devastation. They agree to a brief visit. Katniss is overwhelmed by the devastation and ruin and the hundreds of incinerated bodies. Only the Victor's Village is left intact. To her horror, Katniss finds President Snow has left one white rose for her in a vase on the dresser in her bedroom - a promise of revenge. With Prim's cat, Primrose stuffed into her game bag, Katniss quickly returns to Gale and the others waiting in the hovercraft. 

Shortly after her visit to 12, Katniss and Gale are called to Command and watch a broadcast from the Capitol featuring Peeta being interviewed by Caesar Flickerman. Peeta looks unharmed and indicates that he had no knowledge of the plan to rescue Katniss and that Katniss herself had no prior knowledge of the rebels plans. Shockingly, Peeta calls for a cease-fire.  Gale believes that Peeta's outburst may have done much harm to those districts not quite ready to rebel. He also believes Peeta did this to help keep her alive. Not understanding why Peeta would call for a cease-fire, Katniss makes the decision that she will be Coin's Mockingjay, but with conditions.

Those conditions include amnesty for Peeta, Johanna Mason and Enobaria, that she and Gale be allowed to hunt outside the complex and that she be allowed to kill President Snow. Coin agrees. Once she decides to be the Mockingjay, Plutarch shows Katniss the special uniform Cinna designed for her and she is assigned to making propaganda films (referred to as propos in the novel). At this time Plutarch, Fulvia along with Katniss and Gale discover that her former prep team of Octavia, Venia and Flavius being held prisoner for stealing bread. After freeing  them  Beetee also designs special arrows for Katniss, ones that range from just ordinary arrows to ones that are incendiary.

Katniss attempts to film a propo  but Haymitch intervenes and tells them that this will never work. With Coin, Plutarch, Fulvia, Finnick, Gale, Beetee and others gathered around, Haymitch asks them when Katniss has genuinely moved them. He suggests that Katniss be put out in the field, into combat zones, where she is likely to be more emotionally invested. Coin arranges for Katniss to travel to District 8 to a makeshift hospital with a camera crew consisting of Cressida and Messalla and two cameramen, brothers, Castor and Pollux. On the way to District 8, Plutarch tells Katniss more about the rebellion and that the rebels plan to organize a republic where "the people of each district and the Capitol can elect their own representatives to be their voice in a centralized government." He also tells her that rebels plans are to take over the districts one by one, with District 2 being the last to be secured. This will deprive the Capitol of supplies and weaken it enough that it can be invaded.

When Katniss arrives in District 8 she is taken to a makeshift hospital where she is appalled to see all the wounded. However, the people are buoyed by her presence. Her visit turns deadly however, when the district is bombed and the hospital is completely destroyed. While under attack, Katniss and Gale break free of their security and help shoot down several of the Capitol's bombers although both suffer wounds. The brutal carnage enacted by the Capitol on innocent civilians in the hospital infuriates Katniss. She is filmed telling the rebels that she is alive and in District 8. She points to a downed Capitol plane on fire and warns President Snow, " Fire is catching!...And if we burn, you burn with us!" This dramatic footage of Katniss is sent through all the districts but not the Capitol as Beetee is still struggling to override the system he created.

After their propos runs, Katniss and Finnick view another Capitol broadcast of Peeta being interviewed by Caesar Flickerman. This time it's obvious Peeta has been tortured; he's lost weight, is in obvious pain and his hands are shaking. Again he beseeches Katniss not to allow herself to be turned into a weapon by District 13 and asks her "...do you really trust the people you're working with? Do you really know what's going on? And if you don't...find out."  Finnick warns Katniss not to let on that they saw Peeta. When Gale doesn't mention Peeta's appearance, Katniss begins to wonder how Peeta could know anything more than what the Capitol tells him.

On a second trip to District 12 Plutarch reveals that with the inspiration of the first few propos, the rebels have taken districts 3 and 11 (Panem's main supplier of food).  Cressida records Katniss as she sings 'The Hanging Tree' for Pollux who requested it. The song is picked up by all the mockingjays in area of the lake. Back in District 13, the next night another broadcast from the Capitol shows President Snow along with Peeta. But their broadcast is continually interrupted by five to ten second clips that Beetee has created. Peeta however looks unfocused and worse than before. . Despite his condition, Peeta tells District 13 they will be dead by morning - an indirect warning that they are about to be bombed. The last image is of Peeta being beaten, his blood on the tiles. Haymitch understands and along with Katniss they manage to convince Coin who orders everyone evacuated to the lowest levels of the bunkers. Katniss begins to realize that Snow is using Peeta not to extract information he doesn't have but to weaken Katniss and break her emotionally.

After the bombing, they learn that the first ten levels have been totally destroyed but Coin wants them to produce some propos to show that the district is fine and the Mockingjay has survived. Outside of the bunker, Katniss and the group discover the ground near the entrance strewn with two dozen red and pink roses, another threat from Snow. Designed to torture Katniss emotionally and psychologically.  Katniss is unable to make the film because she knows everything she says will be taken out on Peeta. After she breaks down into hysteria and awakes from being medicated, Haymitch tells her that a team of seven people, including Gale, are going into the Capitol to retrieve Peeta. 

To distract the Capitol, Plutarch has Katniss and Finnick film something that will grab President Snow and the Capitol residents' attention. It is Finnick's segment that highlights the depravity and cruelty of President Snow. Finnick reveals that he and many other tribute victors have been trafficked. However, Finnick was paid in secrets and he reveals that President Snow came to power through the use of poison.  It is a shocking revelation that helps Katniss understand Haymitch and Finnick better.The team successfully rescues Johanna Mason, Annie who is Finnick's love, and Peeta. But when Katniss attempts to embrace him, Peeta brutally attacks her, attempting to strangle her.

When she awakes, Katniss learns that Peeta has been subjected to a torture called "hijacking" which is a type of fear conditioning that uses tracker jacker venom. Peeta's memories of Katniss have been altered and saved so that he sees her as life-threatening. Katniss is sickened by the fact that someone could make Peeta forget that he loves her. She is told that Peeta has been turned into a weapon and that it will take time to deprogram him.

Eventually the only district left to overtake is District 2 which contains "the Nut", "...an impenetrable mountain that houses the heart of the Capitol's military." It was built after the Dark Days and was built to replace District 13 which was where the military was located. With District 13 gone, they needed somewhere to house their military assets like nuclear missiles and aircraft. The old mines within the mountain with a train system became the new military installation. The rebellion needs to take control of this before they move on to the Capitol. But during a meeting to discuss how to do that, Gale suggests they bomb the mountain to create avalanches to seal the tunnels. Although he argues that all the tunnels should be sealed, trapping everyone who works in the Nut, they decide to leave the train tunnel open.

Meanwhile Gale and Beetee are working on adapting Gale's traps so they can be used against humans in the assault on the Capitol. Efforts to deprogram Peeta seem useless - he is angry and hateful towards any mention of Katniss. Katniss believes her sister is wrong, that Peeta is irretrievable and she decides she wants to go to the Capitol with one mission - to kill Snow and end the war. However, Plutarch tells Katniss that they must secure all the districts and District 2 is the only one remaining. He agrees to send her to District 2 with a team to help the rebels crack the Capitol's military base in a mountain nicknamed "the Nut". Katniss leaves believing Peeta is lost to her and her only remaining choice is to die killing Snow. 

With Peeta recovering, all the districts on side, Katniss's one focus now is to get to the Capitol to kill Snow. At first Coin refuses to place her in a squad telling her, her job is done but eventually Katniss is assigned to the Star Squad led by Boggs, along with soldiers Jackson, Mitchell, Homes and Leeg 1 and 2, as well as Gale, Finnick, and the film crew of Cressida, Messalla, Castor and Pollux. With the death of Leeg 2, Peeta is strangely added to the team. It soon becomes apparent to Katniss, that her real enemy may not be President Snow, but the one person running the rebellion - President Coin.

Discussion

Mockingjay as the final novel in the Hunger Games trilogy picks up where Catching Fire left off, with Katniss recovering in District 13. At the beginning of the novel, Collins sets up the groundwork for the conclusion of the trilogy. Mockingjay is first and foremost a tragedy; there is no true happily-ever-after because this is a dystopia and Collins stays true to the genre. 

The novel opens with Katniss struggling to accept her role as Mockingjay - leader of the rebellion against the Capitol. Unknown to both her and Peeta is the rebel plan to rescue her from the Quarter Quell. "What they want is for me to truly take on the role they designed for m. They 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...can count on to blaze the path to victory." Katniss can't see how becoming the face of the rebellion will help because every time she acts, it results in suffering and death. It is only when she sees that Peeta is being manipulated and possibly tortured in the Capitol that Katniss makes accepts her role as the Mockingjay.

Part of Katniss's struggle is her inability to understand the effect she is capable of having on others - something Peeta repeatedly states. It is only when Katniss visits a bombed District 8 that she begins to realize "Its the sight of me, alive, that is the inspiration....I begin to fully understand the lengths to which people have gone to protect me. What I mean to the rebels. My ongoing struggle against the Capitol, which has so often felt like a solitary journey, has not been undertaken alone. I have had thousands upon thousands of people from the districts at my side. I was their Mockingjay long before I accepted the role." It is at this point that Katniss realizes she has a certain power. "I have a kind of power I never knew I possessed. Snow knew it, as soon as I held out those berries. Plutarch knew when he saved me from the arena. And Coin knows now."

But once Katniss has the power as the face of rebellion, it isn't until she's on her way to the Capitol with her squad that she is made to understand the risk that comes with power. Boggs tells her that when the war is over she will have to throw her support to someone who will be the new leader. "If your immediate answer isn't Coin, then you're a threat. You're the face of the rebellion. You may have more influence than any other single person." Boggs reminds Katniss that Coin doesn't need her anymore. She's succeeded in uniting the districts against the Capitol. The best thing for Coin is that Katniss dies because that would add more fire to the rebellion. Once aware of this, Katniss begins to question some of Coin's motives such as bringing Peeta into her squad and even the bombing of the children in the Capitol.

What Collins manages to portray so effectively and with much pathos is the effect war has on both society and  individuals.  Panem is a country in ruins: the utter destruction of District 12, and the bombing of innocent civilians in a hospital in District 8 and the ruin of the Capitol. Each of the many characters in the novel have also deeply suffered from the war.

Throughout the trilogy, the cost to individuals and their families of the Hunger Games is evident. Those families who tributes have not survived the Games suffer, but even the survivors are not immune. Katniss is emotionally traumatized after the Quarter Quell - her second, consecutive Hunger Games. But especially so when she discovers that Peeta is being held prisoner and that Snow will use Peeta to hurt her. Her response is to take on the role of the Mockingjay, leader of the rebellion against the Capitol. While she seems to be resilient, the loss of each friend and those around her is emotionally crushing. The hijacking of Peeta makes Katniss realize that she loved him. His fear conditioning has made Katniss "...appreciate the real Peeta... The kindness, the steadiness, the warmth that had an unexpected heat behind it." She comes to realize that Peeta loved her unconditionally. 

It is the loss of her beloved Prim near the end of the war that affects Katniss to the point where she can no longer speak. When the Capitol is crushed and she is made over by her prep team, Katniss wonders "I can't believe how normal they've made me look on the outside when inwardly I'm such a wasteland."  It is the loss of Prim, only fourteen-years-old that so deeply hurts Katniss. Although it takes a long time, Katniss does learn to accept her beloved sister's death. And with Peeta, she learns to live again.

The experience of the Hunger Games and all-out war with the Capitol forever change Katniss's relationship with Gale. Gale's trauma of watching Katniss in two Hunger Games and the annihilation of District 12, has hardened him. This is seen in his approach to cracking "the Nut", the Capitol's military installation. Gale also begins to realize that Peeta's hijacking has come between them. Gale recognizes that the only time Katniss expresses concern for him is when he's in pain but Peeta's pain is so much greater that he can never compete with that. Gale cynically tells Peeta that "Katniss will pick whoever she thinks she can't survive without." The final blow is his reworked parachute bomb that was likely responsible for Prim's death. To Gale, it seems like he considered this just a necessary part of the war. He never apologizes to Katniss even though he's not certain it was his bomb. Katniss cannot forgive and cannot forget at this point.  In the end, she recognizes "That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred." Katniss needs "What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that."  

Peeta too has been affected by war. A prisoner of the Capitol, he tells Caesar Flickerman that anyone who goes into the arena knows they are going to have to kill. "It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people?' ...'It costs everything you are.' "  Peeta, despite everything he has suffered votes against holding another Hunger Games with the children from the Capitol. He may have been hijacked but Peeta's inner goodness wins out.  And it is he who saves Katniss from taking poison after she assassinates Coin.

Haymitch has always been a symbol of the trauma of war throughout all three novels; he's an alcoholic who has been forced to mentor tributes for the past twenty-three years, forcing him to relive the Hunger Games over and over. This has led to him becoming an alcoholic as a way of self-medicating his inner pain. However, once in District 13, Haymitch is forced to "dry out" and for a period of time he demonstrates his acumen and intelligence. It is Haymitch who understands Katniss in a way that even she does not. He understands that she cannot be scripted. It is also Haymitch who reminds Katniss that she needs to try and help Peeta recover from the hijacking, not cast him off. But once in the captured Capitol, Haymitch reverts back to self-medicating, never really able to overcome the trauma he's suffered. The character of Haymitch is reminder that some people never fully recover from the effects of war.

Collins also explores the theme of ethics in war when the rebels are debating how best to crack "the Nut", the impenetrable military mountain fortress in District 2.  Gale suggests there are two ways to disable the Nut; to trap people inside or flush them out. Gale wants to set off rock avalanches to block the entrances, trapping the soldiers inside along with most of the Capitol's air force. Boggs indicates that this risks killing everyone in the mountain but Gale makes it clear he has no intention of saving anyone. He wants to seal not only the entrances but the train tunnel to the square in District 2. The planning group argues about the morality of killing everyone. Some want to offer the workers a chance to surrender, others like Gale suggest that they will never be able to trust them again. Katniss however, frames the situation in terms that Gale can relate to - a coal mining accident. Katniss realizes that while Gale used to talk like this back in District 12, he is now in a position to act on his words.  "Back in the old days, when we were nothing more than a couple of kids hunting outside of 12, Gale said things like this and worse. But then they were just words. Here, put into practice, they become deeds that can never ben reversed."  She argues that the people in the Nut may not have had a choice to be there and that their own people, who are spies, are also in the mountain. When Gale states that were he a spy in the mountain he would gladly sacrifice himself, Katniss believes "...it's a coldhearted decision to make for other people and those who love them."  This exchange not only demonstrates the trauma the war has had on Gale but it also offers readers to consider  the concept of "just war doctrine". Waging "just war" has as one of its tenets, that war should be waged defensively in a way that doesn't do more evil than what is being fought. In this case, entombing thousands of workers, some of whom may not have had to choice, along with military personnel is a grave evil. Fortunately, Coin and the rebellion do not take the action Gale is offering and leave the train tunnel open for survivors to escape. This exchange highlights how their differing experiences are beginning to drive Gale and Katniss apart. 

The biggest twist in the novel comes during Katniss's unexpected meeting with President Snow in the palace. He expresses sorrow over the death of Prim and indicates that he did not order the parachutes, but that Coin did so. He also reveals that Coin's plan from the beginning was to "...let the Capitol and districts destroy one another, and then step in to take power with Thirteen barely scratched. Make no mistake, she was intending to take my place right from the beginning...After all, it was Thirteen that started the rebellion that led to the Dark Days, and then abandoned the rest of the districts when the tide turned against it. But I wasn't watching Coin. I was watching you, Mockingjay. And you were watching me. I'm afraid we have both been played for fools ..." When Katniss doubts him, Snow responds, "Oh, my dear Miss Everdeen. I thought we had agreed not to lie to each other."   

This leads Katniss to reconsider who is the real enemy of the people and it changes her perception of what is happening. When she questions Gale as to whether the bomb that killed Prim, the children, and the rebel medics was one of his traps redesigned by him and Beetee, he tells her he's not sure. At this point,  Katniss has to consider that Snow might just be telling the truth. And if he is, they have exchanged one dictator for another. She also remembers Bogg's words to her that Coin views her as a liability and originally wanted to rescue Peeta. It is possible that Coin's determination to hold yet another Hunger Games, confirms Katniss's worst fears. Coin may be another President Snow. Collins foreshadows this early in the novel with the mistreatment of Katniss's prep team, reminiscent of Snow's cruelty.

Despite the incredibly tragic conclusion to the war, with almost everyone that Katniss loves dead, Collins ends her trilogy on a somewhat hopeful note. There are no more Hunger Games. There are free elections and a democracy is built out of the ashes. And Katniss and Peeta, heal with time and make a life together. Peeta has given her "The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again."

It is likely that the Hunger Games trilogy will become a classic in young adult literature and rightly so. Although filled with violence and controversy, especially since it involves children who are forced to kill one another, these novels have much to say about the ethics of war, the effect of war on individuals and society and the themes of betrayal and revenge.

Book Details:
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
New York: Scholastic Press     2010
398 pp.