girl on fire
The Hunger Games film adaptations continue to be everything I want in terms of improving on the books for entertainment purposes.
But after seeing Catching Fire over the weekend, a friend and I realized we disagree about how to read the end of Mockingjay. I'm pretty sure the eventual film version will prove me right, but I'm curious how other people interpret it.
It has to do with Katniss's vote to hold another Hunger Games with Capitol children.
My interpretation is that Katniss voted yes to make President Coin believe they were still allies, in order to keep herself in play for the assassination.
Friend's interpretation is that Katniss was so irreversibly damaged by her experiences that she voted yes out of some sort of psychopathic sense of revenge.
I admit when I first read the books, it was in a blind rush to get to the end (these books define "page turner") and the vote scene made me think, "Wait, wha...?" But after further thought and discussion with smart people on the internet, I realized what was really going on.
I do think it's a failing on the author's part that it can be read as ambiguous. And it sort of is -- I've seen confusion and differences of opinion in multiple forums. (But lots of people agree with me and I still think we're right, hah!) Like, I understand why one might want to leave things open to reader interpretation and/or keep the element of surprise about the assassination. But Katniss's choice speaks to a fundamental point of her character and her emotional arc and resolution. It's strange to me that people are so divided about that scene and what it means for Katniss, and that Suzanne Collins would be okay with such a divide. I mean, "psycho or not psycho" strikes me as kind of an important characterization issue! Also strange that one of the big narrative weaknesses of the books are that they're so limited to Katniss's POV that we miss out on all the stuff she doesn't witness...and yet even Katniss's POV doesn't make it clear what happened with the vote.
Anyway, here's why I interpret it the way I do.
Context of the scene: Katniss's sister Prim has been killed by the parachute bombs. Katniss visits President Snow, and he tells her it was President Coin who ordered the bombs and that President Coin has always planned to take Snow's place in the post-Capitol era. Gale is unable to say to Katniss that it wasn't Coin and the rebels who dropped the bombs. Then Coin gathers the remaining victors and lays out her plan for a new Hunger Games with the Capitol children as tributes. The victors vote, and it's evenly split until it comes down to Katniss and Haymitch. Then the scene reads:
All those people I loved, dead, and we are discussing the next Hunger Games in an attempt to avoid wasting life. Nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change now.
I weigh my options carefully, think everything through. Keeping my eyes on the rose, I say, "I vote yes...for Prim."
"Haymitch, it's up to you," says Coin.
A furious Peeta hammers Haymitch with the atrocity he could become party to, but I can feel Haymitch watching me. This is the moment, then. When we find out exactly just how alike we are, and how much he truly understands me.
"I'm with the Mockingjay," he says.
I think the first paragraph is Katniss understanding that Coin really will be just like Snow -- that there will be no swaying her from a repetition of history.
In the second paragraph, "weigh my options carefully, think everything through" is, to me, Katniss planning and strategizing. She's thinking rationally, not operating from a sense of revenge.
In the fourth paragraph, "how much he truly understands me" indicates she's hoping Haymitch will understand why she's just voted yes.
In the last paragraph, "I'm with the Mockingjay" indicates Haymitch does understand, and for that reason he didn't explicitly vote yes. He only voted for whatever endgame Katniss is positioning herself for. And that endgame is to keep Coin trusting her, until she's got her bow and arrow in hand and a clear shot -- not at Snow as she originally wanted, but at Coin who it turns out is the real danger. Not revenge for the past, but to prevent this particular future.
So am I right or wrong?
...and while I'm here, I'll drop a fic rec. I think this one's probably considered a fandom classic for Katniss/Peeta shippers who wanted a more satisfyingly healing end to the books.
The Unrecorded Hours by hollycomb takes 24,000 words to give Katniss a better ending. It's a bit of a wandering ramble through the post-traumatic healing process back in District 12, taking one step back for every two steps forward, going to unexpected places -- kind of the way life sometimes does. I think it works better on the second read, once you know where it's going and why. [rec copied here from
field_reports]
This post has
comments at its original location at http://hesychasm.dreamwidth.org/263200.html. Please comment there or here.
But after seeing Catching Fire over the weekend, a friend and I realized we disagree about how to read the end of Mockingjay. I'm pretty sure the eventual film version will prove me right, but I'm curious how other people interpret it.
It has to do with Katniss's vote to hold another Hunger Games with Capitol children.
My interpretation is that Katniss voted yes to make President Coin believe they were still allies, in order to keep herself in play for the assassination.
Friend's interpretation is that Katniss was so irreversibly damaged by her experiences that she voted yes out of some sort of psychopathic sense of revenge.
I admit when I first read the books, it was in a blind rush to get to the end (these books define "page turner") and the vote scene made me think, "Wait, wha...?" But after further thought and discussion with smart people on the internet, I realized what was really going on.
I do think it's a failing on the author's part that it can be read as ambiguous. And it sort of is -- I've seen confusion and differences of opinion in multiple forums. (But lots of people agree with me and I still think we're right, hah!) Like, I understand why one might want to leave things open to reader interpretation and/or keep the element of surprise about the assassination. But Katniss's choice speaks to a fundamental point of her character and her emotional arc and resolution. It's strange to me that people are so divided about that scene and what it means for Katniss, and that Suzanne Collins would be okay with such a divide. I mean, "psycho or not psycho" strikes me as kind of an important characterization issue! Also strange that one of the big narrative weaknesses of the books are that they're so limited to Katniss's POV that we miss out on all the stuff she doesn't witness...and yet even Katniss's POV doesn't make it clear what happened with the vote.
Anyway, here's why I interpret it the way I do.
Context of the scene: Katniss's sister Prim has been killed by the parachute bombs. Katniss visits President Snow, and he tells her it was President Coin who ordered the bombs and that President Coin has always planned to take Snow's place in the post-Capitol era. Gale is unable to say to Katniss that it wasn't Coin and the rebels who dropped the bombs. Then Coin gathers the remaining victors and lays out her plan for a new Hunger Games with the Capitol children as tributes. The victors vote, and it's evenly split until it comes down to Katniss and Haymitch. Then the scene reads:
All those people I loved, dead, and we are discussing the next Hunger Games in an attempt to avoid wasting life. Nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change now.
I weigh my options carefully, think everything through. Keeping my eyes on the rose, I say, "I vote yes...for Prim."
"Haymitch, it's up to you," says Coin.
A furious Peeta hammers Haymitch with the atrocity he could become party to, but I can feel Haymitch watching me. This is the moment, then. When we find out exactly just how alike we are, and how much he truly understands me.
"I'm with the Mockingjay," he says.
I think the first paragraph is Katniss understanding that Coin really will be just like Snow -- that there will be no swaying her from a repetition of history.
In the second paragraph, "weigh my options carefully, think everything through" is, to me, Katniss planning and strategizing. She's thinking rationally, not operating from a sense of revenge.
In the fourth paragraph, "how much he truly understands me" indicates she's hoping Haymitch will understand why she's just voted yes.
In the last paragraph, "I'm with the Mockingjay" indicates Haymitch does understand, and for that reason he didn't explicitly vote yes. He only voted for whatever endgame Katniss is positioning herself for. And that endgame is to keep Coin trusting her, until she's got her bow and arrow in hand and a clear shot -- not at Snow as she originally wanted, but at Coin who it turns out is the real danger. Not revenge for the past, but to prevent this particular future.
So am I right or wrong?
...and while I'm here, I'll drop a fic rec. I think this one's probably considered a fandom classic for Katniss/Peeta shippers who wanted a more satisfyingly healing end to the books.
The Unrecorded Hours by hollycomb takes 24,000 words to give Katniss a better ending. It's a bit of a wandering ramble through the post-traumatic healing process back in District 12, taking one step back for every two steps forward, going to unexpected places -- kind of the way life sometimes does. I think it works better on the second read, once you know where it's going and why. [rec copied here from
field_reports]
This post has
comments at its original location at http://hesychasm.dreamwidth.org/263200.html. Please comment there or here.