Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The Mockingjay Won’t Get Fooled Again




SPOILER ALERT!!!! This is dripping with details that you don’t want to deprive yourself of discovering when you read the book for the first time.

I just finished the Hunger Games. I haven’t talked to anyone who really enjoyed Mockingjay, especially when compared to the first installment of the series. I find it the most complex of the three, but probably because I overthink it, however it does include my favorite part of the entire series. Was it as ‘fun’ a read as The Hunger Games? No—this is the opinion everyone gives of this book, which I totally understand. This is because what people end up finding the most interesting is the account of Katniss as a participant of the Hunger Games (which is pretty funny, because people comment on how obscene the Hunger Games are, but they can’t swallow a book that doesn’t give you a play-by-play of people hunting each other). I admit, I was disappointed when the Quarter Quell got cut short in Catching Fire. I wanted to see Katniss save Peeta and what would happen at the end, but what happened instead was much more mind-boggling.

Let me begin with the sappy love story, because that’s what Courtney always asked me, “Who do you think Katniss will choose?” I was a Gale supporter from the beginning. Gale was the most static of all the characters. Through the whole story, I don’t see Gale change at all. He begins hunting with Katniss and badmouthing the Capitol, he ends hunting and badmouthing the Capitol. His feelings for Katniss don’t even change. Yet Katniss chose Peeta. I don’t like the idea that it’s because they were both screwed up by the end of the whole things (although I do subscribe to the idea that the weird ones find each other—especially at BYU).

The reason comes down to their purpose in life. Gale was dedicated to a revolution—he had been since the very beginning. He was willing to go to any length to seize control from the Capitol, but Katniss was not. The short answer to this is that Katniss believed that ever since the nightlock incident she claimed responsibility for every rebellion-related death and couldn’t support a violent revolution. The long answer is that she didn’t want a revolution. She offers no evidence of desire for an uprising of the districts. In fact, every time she is faced with the prospect of being part of such an uprising, she wants to just run away. In the end her life’s only motivation came from 1) A desire to save Peeta and 2) A desire to kill Snow.

Up to the announcement of the Quarter Quell, I believed Katniss could have—and would have—ended up with Gale (although information revealed in Mockingjay disrupted theory). Katniss felt indebted to Peeta for 1) saving her in the Hunger Games and 2) playing him like a fool for the entire Hunger Games. Here entire behavior from there until Peeta’s rescue had been predicated on her need to keep Peeta alive. Katniss simply couldn’t live indebted to someone who loved her so much. When Peeta had been hijacked, though, she needed something else to get her through. She found strength in the thought of killing President Snow. During this time it appeared that she and Gale shared something, but in reality that was not the case. Not only did she not have different views than Gale, but she also thought less of him for his views, which is not something that is particularly awesome for relationships. She had such arduous hatred towards him for personally ruining her life and Gale’s spun his web of hate for the system through which he brought pain and suffering to people throughout all of Panem. That’s not to say Katniss approved of the system – she most certainly did not – but she wanted Snow for personal reasons, she didn’t think any other form of government could be different, which is why she always wanted to take flight into the woods and live without government interference like some crazy in the Idaho panhandle.

Peeta always loved Katniss. He’s such a figure of moral fortitude through the entire story, too. His hijacking destroyed him, of course, and what I never did figure out is how he got over his hatred for Katniss and began to trust her again. It never made sense to me. In the end I see their relationship a matter of convenience. They both end up in District 12, which is essentially the Idaho panhandle at this point, far from the commotion of an emerging government, and Katniss, after over a year of caring for not much more in life than Peeta’s survival decides she loves him. Gale goes on to serve in the new order of Panem and, I’m sure, is heartbroken over Katniss’ unstable mental state, but will get over it because he’s a warrior. And that’s what warrior’s do.

(For the record, Katniss was warrior, but was manipulated emotionally in a way that screwed her up. Major PTSD stemming from both the Hunger Games and the weird relationship with Peeta)

Now for some interesting questions. Mockingjay prompted so many questions about character decisions and speculation for the future of Panem. Because this is incredibly long, I’ll stick to these four, unless I think of any more.

What type of government will Panem use?
As someone whose political science capstone emphasis was in state building, I asked this question the whole way through. I absolutely loved the commentary on the state building process, especially reading it while this is taking place in Syria, where Alleppo might as well be District 2 (although the Syrians are not blessed with such help as District 13 provided). Although Plutarch tells Katniss that the government will be a form of representative republic, I don’t see that being the case. To keep things short, we’re looking at Stalin’s Russia, here. Coin was ready to step into power and force equality over the entire country, no capitalism; no system that promotes one person or group of people to feel superior or be perceived as such. This would theoretically prevent the previous extreme, cirque et panem, that existed under Snow. Without Coin, a representative republic is certainly more possible, but I still see a protectionist, socialist state run by a council rather than a president (I know they still have a president, but I’m sure they added some form of checks and balances as to decentralize power in some way).

Why did Katniss shoot Coin?
If there was one thing Katniss was able to recognize still through all the mental health issues, it was the scent of Snow’s grasp of power, and Coin stunk of it. This was my favorite part of the book. Snow was going to die either way, but why not take out Coin while you have the chance? Both a genius plot twist, and something that was totally characteristic of Katniss’ character. This obviously brings up the more pressing issue presented by Snow in the rose garden (does anyone else love that the president has a rose garden, just like the president of the United State has a rose garden?).

Did Coin send the parachutes?
When I read it, I thought Snow was sending the kids help as a publicity stunt, but Katniss’ description of the situation sounds like an atrocity beyond understanding. Snow had motive to lie to Katniss about it in order to enrage her to the point of still distrusting the government in hopes that she might just bring down the woman who brought him to his knees (Coin). Coin had motive to do it in order to make Snow look completely inhuman. Snow had zero motive to kill those children. He knew he was done, and what would killing the youth of the Capitol do for him? What an excellent way to end the book.

Why did Katniss vote for the Capitol Hunger Games?????
Would Gale have voted yes to a Capitol Hunger Games?
It makes no sense to me. The Hunger Games were a symbol of the Capitol’s power over the districts, which Gale did not like. I’m sure he harbored resentment for everyone from the Capitol who did not immediately join the uprising, but I do not see him enjoying the Hunger Games when it represents submission of those people to the new order. Peeta, the unchanging moral compass of the book believed this. I feel Katniss should have felt the same way. I don’t buy her position that she voted as a reaction to Prim dying, because it was likely Coin’s fault that Prim died, and the following events suggest that she must have believed it at that point. Now more children will die because of Katniss, a thought she abhorred since claiming responsibility for all uprising-related deaths in Catching Fire. If not for the other points I thought excellent, this could have given me a nasty aftertaste of the series. It still lingers a little bit.

There are other matters worth discussing, but I really should be working on schoolwork, the same way I should have been from 8:30-12:00 every night since Friday when I started Catching Fire.