Mockingjay Review
So I finished Mockingjay last night, and wrote majority of this review then, even though I’m posting it now. I’m still reeling, so I’m trying to figure out the best way to do this review. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly just won’t cut it this time around. But we’ll figure something out.
( Spoilers obviously )
( Spoilers obviously )
Gale would never have dropped those weapons on innocent children.
Um, yes he would. Didn't the whole thing at the Nut prove that? And his parting words to Katniss were not about the innocent children, he says that protecting her family was the only thing he had going for him. FUCKING TOOL. GO DIE IN A HOLE ALREADY.
Also, Katniss said that he could easily end up justifying another Hunger Games with that mentality. And she's right. He believes the ends justify the means. It's not inherently bad--it's who he is--but he lacks the compassion Katniss has (remember his comments about her prep team!).
He could have easily, for lack of a better term and it really is the wrong term, taken advantage of her weakness and her sadness.
Um. He did. May I direct you to page 130, Chapter 9. And then again in Chapter 14. Both times he stopped--only after he initiated and got her to participate. FUCKING TOOL. (Sorry, this enrages the shit out of me. I'm like...seeing red.)
And the fact that he was aware of it, and didn’t exploit it?
HE DID. He could have just said it, instead OF FUCKING GETTING HER TO KISS HIM. RAAAAAAAAGE. Dude, he makes me feel violated, it's that bad.
I too, was slightly let down by the resolution of the love triangle, but mostly because I wanted Katniss to earn back Peeta's love after he's been hijacked. Like dude, how awesome is that? The one thing we (Katniss, the reader, AND FUCKING HAYMITCH) take for granted is his love for her. We thought it was incorruptible. WRONG. It is!
Instead we have the power of his love for her overcoming the hijacking which...eh. I was always staunchly Team Peeta, but possibly because I was always anti-Gale, especially after CATCHING FIRE (where evidence of his toolbaggery comes up SEVERAL TIMES but not to the extent it does in MOCKINGJAY), but I felt let down, even as the conclusion was so very realistic. They are two people who are so broken (and very much broken in the same way) who find healing together.
(I could wield my English major and whip out all the textual evidence that the romantic triangle couldn't have ended any other way, but even I felt kind of deflated by it.)
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I definitely agree by the end Johanna and Gale are great for each other.
Didn't the whole thing at the Nut prove that?
I think there's a difference between adult workers and innocent children. Gale understood the need for casualties, but he also understood the need for society to keep going. I really don't think he or Beetee would have planned something like that. I could very easily be wrong. But I just don't think that.
And of course his last words to her were about her family. They grew up together. Katniss didn't know the kids, she knew her sister. It had to be about her. I mean, I think I've stated my thoughts on your blog as well, but I really read that as his resignation. Something so awful, and I think he will always be wondering, same as she, if it was his fault, that they will just never recover from. Gale has no filter, he is dead honest. He was being honest. What happened was unforgiveable. And protecting her family really was the only thing he had over Peeta.
Of course Katniss' own compassion seemed to die when she agreed to another Hunger Games. I still do not understand that. I am just staring blankly. And to use Prim as the justification for it where with it she would have died a year ago? I really don't understand her thought process there.
I have read page 130 many times, and presented majority of my argument on your blog. I read it again, just now, and I (borrowing from your blog here so I don't have to keep skipping around) read the "This is where we kissed" bit, but I just REALLY don't see that as him trying to entice her to kiss him. If it was, it was for him to test his theory that she only wants him when he's sad. Yeah, it's kind of a dickish thing to do in that case, but even more dickish had he not said a word, like I said. His honesty with her over it said much more to me than anything.
What I did not read again was Chapter 14. So I just did. And I was wrong in that it doesn't say who initiates it, just "Nonetheless, after we've dropped off the birds and volunteered to go back ot the woods to gather kindling for the evening fire, I find myself wrapped in his arms". Before that he gives the speech about how no matter how much pain he's in he'll never compete with Peeta's, and she'll always feel wrong about being with him.
I'm sorry, I just find that sincere and honest. I don't see manipulation there one bit. He's upset, and that does exactly what he said and draws Katniss to him, but what's he supposed to do, never show weakness so that Katniss doesn't treat him like a broken bird? It's not his fault she reacts like that. And when she does react like that, he puts a stop to it. She says herself "I shut my eyes and kiss Gale to make up for all the kisses I've withheld, and because it doesn't matter anymore, and because I'm so desperately lonely I can't stand it." Never once is it because she loves him. She wants him to be Peeta.
Gale wants her to want him. And he can tell she's wanting Peeta, and he doesn't want to be the for-now man, so he makes her make a clear decision. Hi, I'm Gale, please know who you're kissing. And when she can't say for sure she wants to be kissing Gale, he stops. I find that mature.
I never read anything as him enticing her to him or using her. I saw his weakness, his love for her, and then him catching himself and saying "it's not me she wants." and ending it. But I have a feeling we'll go round and round about this forever, because I doubt either of our opinions will change :)
Aaaand I'm hitting the character max for comments. To be continued
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Great review!
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Thanks! Can I talk about Finnick more? I miss him.
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So let's talk about something we totally agree with:
I too, was slightly let down by the resolution of the love triangle, but mostly because I wanted Katniss to earn back Peeta's love after he's been hijacked.
EXACTLY! She never really did anything to earn his love. She never really admitted to herself that it WAS love. He bent over backwards to prove his love for her, and she really didn't do squat. And I'm with you about FEEEELINGS, and part of the reason I wasn't the biggest Peeta person was because of his FEEEEELINGS. But I really needed Katniss to reciprocate. Not a million times. Just once. One thing to say to him that would have proven it all. I'd even settle for a magical bounceback, everything cured because the knowledge that she loves him fixes all his hijacking hooray it's a miracle. But I needed something. Haymitch said it best "You could live a thousand lifetimes and never deserve him" (or something like that). As far as I'm concerned, she still doesn't. Not yet.
I'd like for you to wield your English major and give me that argument and evidence. I'd love to read it.
And now I shall respond to your facebook comment(look at me, I'm condensing!)
I read the part abotu Finnick and Snow being a child pimp in my library at school. I gave a huge gasp, and then a mini-sob, and I got tons of stares and I just glared back through my tears like "I will kill you all. Say a word to me, I dare you."
I should have known! I should have known at the wedding that it was all over for him but I had to go convince myself it meant he was safe. Because no author would be that cruel as to give someone everything they ever wanted just to rip it away 40 pages later. Right? WRONG!!! BLARGH!!
Seriously I don't care about Katniss and Peeta and Gale. Finnick is dead. My world has collapsed.
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Page 130 bothered me because of what came before. That whole exchange about her feeling sorry for her prep team. He can't see why, but figures out that she's softhearted. Gale, who "never cries" purposely does so to get her to kiss him. UGH. I can't deal with that. I don't like people who are manipulative. I don't see it as honest. If I were Katniss, I would have run away screaming. (But, as we all know, Katniss is a bit, um, slow on the uptake about many, many things.) If he's not enticing her to kiss him in that scene, then why else would he say "I knew you would do that?"
Gale Hawthorne, you were always iffy for me before, but now you are officially dead to me as a viable romantic candidate for Katniss. The point of page 130 was not to get Katniss to realize that she wasn't in love with him. It was to try and convince her to pity him. Ew.
Chapter 14 bothered me less because he says "it's like kissing a drunk person". Oh good, at least you won't take physical advantage of Katniss, even as you're emotionally manipulative of her. Gross. Unfortunately, because he lost my good opinion forever back in Chapter 9, I got irritated with him even more in Chapter 14.
"No. Just the opposite.” Gale pulls a feather of out of my hair. “I thought…I’ll never compete with that. No matter how much pain I’m in."
GROSS. I'm sorry, but I read that as "I'm a sore loser. My pain isn't as big as Peeta's. I'm going to be jealous of something I can't control."
Hence why when he finally steps away, knowing that their friendship is broken, I'm applauding him. THAT'S when I felt he stopped trying to force his feelings on her and stopped turning her into something she did not want to be. She didn't want to be the Mockingjay; she wanted to survive.
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You're right, he's not completely honest with her. But I believe that about his feelings, he is.
I definitely did NOT see Gale's crying as purposeful. What I saw was a boy reliving the memory of an awful time, when he was almost killed and in terrible pain, combined with a happy time of thinking maybe he would get to keep Katniss after all. Reliving that memory and realizing he wasn't going to get it, and it seriously getting to him. What lead you to believe it was on purpose?
"No. Just the opposite.” Gale pulls a feather of out of my hair. “I thought…I’ll never compete with that. No matter how much pain I’m in."
And I read that as completely resigned. Peeta has all of that, and all he has is pity. It's no contest. But that's the thing about books, I guess. You get to decide the inflection in which it's said. And going back to your entry about 1st person narrative, we're seeing everything through Katniss's blurred focus. It's hard to look at it objectively, where a 3rd person narrator could have given us an adjective to clue us in on Gale's motive.
Of course, so much is needed to come from Katniss' perspective that having this book in 3rd person just to understand Gale would have been totally pointless.
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I don't know why I dislike Gale's manipulation so much. Probably because Ben doesn't manipulative people's emotions. Gale is manipulating Katniss's FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS and that drives me fucking nuts.
But I'm kind of sensitive to boys trying to manipulate girls' feelings, I think. God, I used to have to beat them off with a stick in high school and college.
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But Mockingjay really endeared him to me. I got to see just how earnest he was. I guess it's like what Johanna said about Katniss, how all that "I protect the people, I've got a big heart" angle is grating, and then you realize it's true and it made her more unbearable. That was Peeta for me. Mr Nobility. And the biggest Damsel in Distress ever. I mean can the boy really ever take care of himself? He has his moments but I think we all agree that without Katniss he would have been wormfood on day 1. But that I blame more on Suzanne Collins constantly putting him in that role, as Mockingjay made so very clear.
But yeah, his earnestness and honesty really got to me by book 3. And then not only could I tolerate him, I actually enjoyed him.
But I agree, Katniss is not worthy of him. But he's so blinded by her that he could care less.
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I thought his fixation on Katniss was a little irritating, but I never felt he FORCED it on her, the way I felt with Gale. I was actually pretty indifferent to both Gale and Peeta at the end of Book 1, but by the end of Book 2, I was all TEAM PEETA, HATERS TO THE LEFT and really starting to be ticked off by Gale.
I liked that he was the Damsel in Distress instead of Katniss. I loved their gender reversal. She is, quite literally, the Man! She brings home the bacon with her phallic weapons and keeps her emotions under control. He's the baker, the breadmaker, the sensitive nurturer who keeps home and hearth alight. Gale has a lot of male energy, which makes him good for someone like Madge, or even Prim, but not Katniss.
The scene in Book 2 where Madge brings Gale the morphling after he's been whipped. Peeta and Haymitch give each other looks and Katniss doesn't like what they're implying.
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Why did he tick you off? I mean he got a little irritating in that I wanted him to let Katniss come to him first (which she eventually did), but for the most part I thought he was just fine. I wasn't positively glowing about him but I wasn't hating on him either.
I liked the gender reversal for sure, don't get me wrong. I thought that was great. But really there were times when I really wanted Peeta to just DO SOMETHING. When you think about it, everyone in the Quarter Quell contributed something but him. They all just had to waste time and effort keeping him alive, and he donated nothing. He drew a picture on a leaf. That was it. There was no reason he couldn't have done more. I don't like the one-person-always-rescues-the-other no matter which one is the girl. I wanted Peeta to be more self-reliant. But I did really like their personality traits being flipped. I thought that worked splendidly. And you just know Peeta is the mom to their kids, and Katniss is the "when is daddy coming home?" parent. Ugh. Why did she have to have kids?
Oh I remember that. But if I remember correctly (and I might not) Peeta and Haymitch were responding to Katniss' jealousy, not necessarily that Gale and Madge had ever been an item.
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Gale was manipulating Katniss's feelings for selfish ends, which is probably why it galls me so. I had a lot of boys I considered friends in college pull the same moves on me several times. It's pretty awful. Eventually I had to stop being friends with them because it's that bad.
I'm not defending Peeta's uselessness. Many people have the same complaints and they're perfectly valid. :) I love them, but I think I'm forgiving of it when it's a boy, possibly BECAUSE of the gender reversal. I felt Peeta's strengths lie in his passivity: his drawing pictures (Rue in the Gamemaker room), his ability to charm the Capitol with his words, giving the families of District 11 some of his earnings, etc. Just because he doesn't kill people doesn't mean he doesn't "do" things. But I understand your complaint. He doesn't go out and blow shit up.
The reason I forgive Peeta's emotional manipulation in Book 2 is because it's not selfish. He wants Katniss to live for herself. Gale wants Katniss FOR himself and that made the biggest difference to me.
Two instances in Book 2 pissed me off about Gale:
1. The sneak attack kiss. (Again, that's personal experience coming out and feeling violated.)
2. KATNISS: Let's run away!
GALE: FINALLY.
KATNISS: Okay, gotta get everyone: My mother, Prim, Peeta, Haymitch...
GALE: What the what? You're bringing your boyfriend?
KATNISS: Um...yes? And he's not my boyfriend.
GALE: (pouting) What if he doesn't come?
KATNISS: Then he doesn't come.
GALE: (frowning) What if I don't come?
KATNISS: THEN YOU DON'T COME--I mean...
GALE: (sulks) FINE. I DON'T WANT TO COME EITHER.
That second scene irritated me for a few reasons. First, how petty is he to not want Peeta or Haymitch to come? Second, just because Katniss doesn't love you back doesn't mean you have to get all huffy about it! You wanted to leave the district in the first place.
I actually loved that scene because it's so very real, but it was the first pingings of "Ugh, Gale, stop whining/acting like a tool about Katniss" that only got worse in MOCKINGJAY.
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