gold rush.

Primarily, this comment is his way of lashing out at the entire quell situation, insulting Katniss in the process. Haymitch and Katniss are so similar in their upbringings, way of thinking, and relationship with Peeta. By insulting Katniss, he insults himself. Like Katniss, he feels so guilty and shameful that his initial reaction to the quell announcement was that of anger and self pity when Peeta was thinking of a plan to save everyone.

When Peeta begs to go back into the arena, Haymitch is reminded that he also does not deserve Peeta. This is someone who showed him kindness when he did not deserve it. Peeta took care of him on the train after the reaping after Haymitch had already been no help as a mentor. He even baked him bread and checked up on him after he decided to prioritize Katniss over him in the arena. Now he is selfless again in his mission to save everyone.

But that’s a minor detail and I’m in total agreement with everything else. Especially Haymitch seeing himself in Katniss. This!!! Haymitch doesn’t like himself at ALL, so seeing some of his own personality traits in Katniss makes him harder on her. It’s more his own self-loathing talking than Haymitch being objective, though.

When they first reach the Capitol, Peeta and Katniss are doing everything together. That changes when Peeta requests to have separate strategy sessions with Haymitch, not joint sessions. Katniss assumes this means Peeta is threatened by her, and wants to devise a strategy to take her out in the Arena. She becomes suspicious of Peeta again.

In fact, it’s after those private strategy sessions with Haymitch that Peeta declares his love for Katniss on live TV. Katniss is furious, but Haymitch tells her, “He made you desirable!” Or something like that. It’s not an exact quote because, as I said, I don’t have my copy handy. But clearly Haymitch was in on that declaration. It may have been his idea.

It’s also implied that Peeta cozied up to the Careers upon advice from Haymitch. Peeta used his knowledge of why Katniss got that 10 out of 10 from the gamemakers to cut a deal with the Careers. They’ll let him tag along with them in the Arena in exchange for him eventually revealing to them how Katniss got 10 out of 10.

In fact it’s her archery skills, but the Careers don’t know that. The only time Katniss used a bow and arrow in training was in her individual evaluation session with the gamemakers, shooting the apple in the roast hog’s mouth. Because she was pissed off they were ignoring her in favour of the food. Peeta, who’s grown up in District 12 and whose father buys the game Katniss shoots with her longbow, knows about it. And uses his knowledge as bait for the Careers.

I don’t think it’s ever stated explicitly, but presumably Haymitch and Peeta also came up with Peeta banding together with the Careers. The plan was presumably for Peeta to stay with them until they tracked Katniss down (knowing they would be targeting her due to her 10 out of 10). And when they tracked Katniss down, for Peeta to sacrifice himself to save her from the Careers. Which is exactly what happened, except they didn’t manage to finish him off at that point.

Presumably in their first individual strategy session, Peeta told Haymitch,”I know I’m going to die. How do I make it more likely Katniss will live?” And presumably revealed to Haymitch that he was in love with Katniss as an explanation for why he was being so self-sacrificing.

Haymitch, who may be a drunk but is far from stupid, must have thought, “The Capitol will eat up a star-crossed lovers story. I can use this!” And he and Peeta came up with the strategy of Peeta declaring his love to the whole country.

And then they came up with the sneakier strategy of Peeta ingratiating himself with the Careers. Peeta had to survive the Arena long enough to be useful to Katniss, which meant convincing the Careers his declaration of love for Katniss had been a fake. Right up until he could be of use to her.

From Haymitch’s point of view in Catching Fire, Peeta is a bit of a selfless miracle. In the first book, he took his first opportunity of being alone with Haymitch to ask how he could most cunningly sacrifice his own life to help Katniss survive. I’m sure none of Haymitch’s previous tributes had ever come up with anything like that. And then Peeta, once in the Arena, followed through on his grand declaration to Haymitch.

By pure good luck (and with the help of some poisoned berries), both Katniss and Peeta survive the Hunger Games. As of the start of Catching Fire, they’ve both already moved into the District Twelve Victors Village. Haymitch is still a drunk in this book, but he’s also a nervous drunk, because he’s neck deep in a conspiracy to take down the Capitol.

He’s kept Katniss and Peeta out of it, so Katniss, our narrator, doesn’t know about it. But it’s probably affecting Haymitch’s state of mind. And that makes Catching Fire a very interesting book to read again. Because there’s more going on with Haymitch than Katniss realizes.

Then comes the announcement of the Quarter Quell. Not only is Haymitch facing the possibility of going back into the Arena in middle age, so are many of his fellow Victor co-conspirators. The news profoundly affects the conspiracy, and Haymitch must be reeling at the implications.

Then immediately after the TV announcement, Peeta is at Haymitch’S door, begging him yet again to help him (Peeta) save Katniss. Begging Haymitch to let Peeta take his place in the Arena if Haymitch’s name is called, and begging Haymitch not to volunteer to take Peeta’s place if Peeta’s name is called.

Peeta already tried to sacrifice himself to save Katniss once, and here he is, immediately ready to do it again with no doubt in his mind it’s the right thing to do. Saving Katniss has never stopped being Peeta’s mission in life. Even though Haymitch surely knows Peeta and Katniss haven’t really been getting along since their Games. For Haymitch, with his healthy sense of self-preservation, Peeta must seem ridiculously selfless.

Now, Haymitch isn’t entirely fair with Katniss when she comes to find him. For Haymitch and Peeta, the news one of them would be going back into the Arena was a horrible shock, but there was still a faint element of choice. Peeta knew his own name might not be called, so he had to get to Haymitch to ensure Haymitch would let him (Peeta) be the one to go in the Arena.

Since District Twelve has only one female Victor, that means Katniss is definitely going back in the Arena, with no choice at all. So it’s hardly surprising Katniss’s initial reaction was to break down fearing for herself. She has undiagnosed PTSD from her first Games, a second is her worst nightmare. There’s no choice to be made.

Eventually Katniss calms down enough to think about the danger to Peeta. And then she decides it’s her turn to be selfless, since Peeta was so willing to sacrifice himself to save her last year. But when Katniss goes to Haymitch, she is way behind Peeta. And Haymitch is hard on her for not immediately prioritizing saving Peeta the way Peeta immediately prioritized saving her.

But Haymitch is also experiencing self-loathing here. He knows if Peeta’s name is called, he should volunteer in his place. Peeta is a young man with his whole life ahead of him, not a middle-aged drunk with no family left. But Haymitch is also neck-deep in the anti-Capitol conspiracy I mentioned above. So maybe he’s not just saving his own skin by not wanting to go back. Maybe Haymitch is more useful being conniving in the Capitol during the Quarter Quell.

But Haymitch being Haymitch, he’s conflicted. His self-loathing kicks in because he may wonder if he’s making excuses for himself to avoid the Arena. Here’s Peeta, so determined Katniss has to live, even though Peeta lost a leg (and nearly his life) the last time he prioritized Katniss’s survival. And then, eventually, along comes Katniss, begging Haymitch to save Peeta instead of her. And Haymitch actually wants to save everybody, but he daren’t tell Katniss or Peeta about the planned coup. It would put them in even more danger than they’re already in.

President Snow obviously knows nothing about the conspiracy. He views Peeta (symbol of the star-crossed lovers who defied him) as a much bigger threat than some middle-aged drunk. Therefore Peeta must go back into the Arena and die. The citizens of the Capitol will be sad for a while, but eventually they’ll get over it.

Snow knows Peeta’s the selfless type. Haymitch seems reasonably close to him since the Games last year, and more importantly, Katniss would be on Haymitch’s case. If Peeta’s name is reaped, Haymitch might succumb to an unusual impulse of self-sacrifice and volunteer in Peeta’s stead. Nudged along by Katniss.

" It was a wonderful night, such a night as is only possible when we are young, dear reader. "

“Don't you ever feel that way Percy? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world?” “Um...no. Me running the world would be kind of a nightmare.”