*SPOILERS AHEAD*
On September 14, 2008, Suzanne Collins rocked the world of dystopian fiction with her first installment of “The Hunger Games,” introducing a world full of death, rebellion and political statements.
“The Hunger Games” is a post apocalyptic world where the United States is split into different sectors called districts, and two children from each distracted are selected and forced to fight to the death for the rich’s amusement.
With the overwhelming amount of love and interest from fans, Collins continued writing, now publishing the fifth installment, “Sunrise on the Reaping”, a prequel to the original trilogy, this past March.
The novel showcased a much anticipated telling of the second Quarter Quell from the perspective of one of District 12’s only victors, Haymitch Abernathy.
Haymitch lives in District 12 with his mother and younger brother, Sid. During the reaping for the Second Quarter Quell, which mandates double the usual number of tributes, Haymitch is selected as one of four tributes from his district. His fellow District 12 tributes include Wyatt Callow, Louella McCoy and Maysilee Donner, the original owner of the Mockingjay pin later worn by Katniss Everdeen.
In the Capitol, Haymitch adopts a defiant persona to attract sponsors, and despite receiving a low evaluation score he becomes involved in a covert plan to sabotage the arena, orchestrated by Beetee, a former victor, and supported by Capitol cameraman Plutarch Heavensbee.
Although the plan fails, it gives Haymitch a temporary advantage.
As the Games progress, Haymitch forms a temporary alliance with Maysilee Donner. They discover a force field surrounding the arena, which reflects any object thrown at it. In the final confrontation, Haymitch uses this knowledge to his advantage, he dodges an attack from Silka, a tribute from District 1, causing her weapon to rebound off the force field and kill her. Haymitch is declared the victor of the 50th Hunger Games.
Upon returning home, Haymitch faces devastating consequences. President Snow, enraged by Haymitch’s exploitation of the arena’s flaw, orders the execution of Haymitch’s mother, brother, and girlfriend, Lenore Dove. Lenore’s death is particularly tragic, as she is tricked into consuming poisoned candy, dying in Haymitch’s arms.
This trauma leads Haymitch to become emotionally withdrawn and an alcoholic, behaviors observed during his mentorship of Katniss and Peeta in the original series.
After a month of letting the book simmer, the biggest thing I noticed was how brutal it was, specifically the deaths of Ampert, Beetee’s son and Wellie, a district six girl Haymitch looked after in the training building, with Ampert getting eaten alive by rabid squirrels and Wellie getting beheaded by Silka in the final act of the games.
But the most important point I noticed was the purpose of the book.
Suzanne Collins doesn’t write unless she has something to say, and in our current political climate, there’s much to talk about.
In the last 50 pages of “Sunrise on the Reaping,” when Haymitch returns to the Capital after winning the games, he gets to view the recap of his game and it completely changes the narrative. Instead of having him appear as a rascal and rebellious victor, he is painted as a loner who only looked after himself. This recap scene shows how the Capital has complete control over the narrative and how they are willing to censor the truth to portray what they seem fit to the citizens.
This censorship parallels how corrupt governments are willing to lie to their citizens to keep them complicit and in the dark, similar to how American social media is currently getting filtered to not notice that they are on the brink of war.
Suzanne Collins never disappoints to create a narrative that commentates on real world events, and I can’t wait to see this narrative on the big screen later this year.
