𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒏

We know from the Ballad of Song Birds and Snakes that many of the features of the modern Hunger Games are Snow's invention, including those that motivate the districts, like prizes. It's fair to assume he likely came up with the idea for tesserae, it's an easy way to keep the districts well fed while encouraging/forcing participation and general involvement in the games. It's a great reminder, even the food you eat is linked to the games themselves. Tesserae is a type of tile work commonly associated with Romans which Collins draws a lot of inspiration from in her depiction of the Capital. It has also in the past been used as a token. In this case, you take the token of food in exchange for extra names in the bowl. Now that's fucking excellent on it's own, real neat bit of linguistic worldbuilding.

BUT what really gets me, what truly fucks me up is that Snow didn't name it that because he's like a language nerd. Tigris had to use tile buttons, tesserae buttons on his shirt during songbirds because they couldn't afford anything else. Snow inherently associates that material with poverty, specifically with the lack of food he had during that time. As a result tesserae represents poverty starvation and desperation to everyone in the districts. Snow is so god dam self obsessed he imbedded ,intentionally or not , personal fucking references to himself within the districts.

And Peeta’s favorite color is “orange like the sunset.”

Haymitch is the beginning of the end. The dawning of change. Without him going first Katniss (and Peeta) wouldn’t have made it out.

Lucy Gray was forgotten, like a dream.

Peeta and Katniss are the sunset of the Games. And afterwards they are safe and can close their eyes. And when again they open, their children will grow up in a safe and warm world.

In reality, however, Katniss is still just a good and brave oppressed young woman who said “enough” — what is “fated” comes from the folkloric, interconnected nature of Appalachian culture, a culture rich with music, story, and supernatural goings on, a place that stands as the antithesis of elite society. Once Lucy Gray’s music and memory were in the wind and water, they weren’t going away, no matter who picked them up.

Also, I think we sometimes forget that these books have a lot of very subtly supernatural elements: off the top of my head, we have the birds stopping singing to listen to little Katniss, the fact that OF ALL PEOPLE the boy who loves her is reaped alongside her (I mean, that’s the plot, but still, and it kind of proves my point), all the eerily prescient connections to The Hanging Tree (“midnight”), Katniss inhabiting Finnick’s mind in his last moments, kissing Peeta to break the “spell” Snow has on him, Prim’s spirit seemingly trying to stop Katniss dying after the parachute bombs go off, not to mention the parade of “ghosts” Katniss sees in her rehab. That’s not all realism. No, the reaping wasn’t rigged. No, no one planned for Katniss to lead the rebellion because she maybe possibly was related to the Covey. It’s just one of those strange things that did happen here.

like watching reaper make a mass grave of the children, covering them with the symbol of a government whose job it was to protect them. or lamina giving a mercy blow to marcus, putting him out of his misery.

and then thinking about haymitch and maysilee. the way he ran when he heard her screaming. and stayed with her until she died.

memorializing the other children in the games might have been less common, but it was not new. because, as it turns out, children do not like to see their friends, their peers die in front of them.

and so, it makes me feel a little more dubious when people say that katniss's memorialization of rue in the first book was *the* catalyst for the revolution. and that is not to say that it was not part of the reason, but it just wasn't the most revolutionary thing that happened.

because while the movie directly connects that incident with the first protest in district eleven, that is not what we get in the book. in the book, all we get is a little gift of gratitude from district eleven to the girl who protected a child.

so, what was so revolutionary?

i think it all revolves around katniss's actions that put aside her will to survive to protect the people she loves. because when push comes to shove, she will not become the monster that is set solely on self-preservation. one that is only focused on her survival.

and for some reason, in my head, katniss's actions with peeta are a little more important than her volunteering for prim.

because while she did volunteer to enter an arena that almost guaranteed her death, it was for her sister. a perfectly healthy girl with a future ahead of her.

but when peeta was dying, it was a little different. she didn't need to do anything and she would be guaranteed safety. he would just die and she would be crowned victor.

even if she could save him, who knows if he would even survive when the capitol picked him up. (i mean... he almost didn't). so, it literally does not make any practical sense why she would sacrifice her life for a dying boy.

but she couldn't let him die. so if that meant that if she had to gamble her life to possibly get him to safety, she would do it. because she had no choice. because she loved him, she gambled her life to call the capitol's bluff.

(The Hunger Games: Ch. 19)