SotR is a realisation. A realisation that the rebellion didnât start with Katniss. That all the people we see supporting her or helping her have all been wanting to fight but theyâve been failing. That there werenât merely ârumoursâ of a revolution but there were many active plans playing out and failing.
Itâs a reminder that the perfect Hunger Games we saw in the first hg book was an illusion because we had Katniss as our narrator. We didnât have Haymitch, hell, we didnât even have someone like Peeta because these people played the games. Katniss didnât.
Katniss was introduced to us as a mad, simple, naive girl who literally only survived because of others. She didnât know how much her taking Primâs place mattered because she didnât realise what it meant to everyone who came before her. To everyone who had heard rumours of how the last District 12 victor actually fought his games. No, Katniss had just kept her head down, hunting and providing for her family.
See, she grew up way before the Games got to her. Sheâd already lived through her dadâs death and watched it destroy her once lively mom. Haymitch didnât have to go through that. Lucy Gray didnât have to go through that. They were both angry, yes, but at the Capitol. Katniss? She was first and foremost angry at her mom. At her dad. She knew who was to blame but she had too much to do and deal with to think about that. She was already jaded in a way that the Games couldnât touch.
Peeta? He was Haymitch. He knew what he was getting into and realised he was just on a chess board with no control. So, he adapted. He played the knight, the rook, the king, the pawn. Katniss? She just⌠did. Changing directions, not playing the piece she was assigned because she didnât realise thatâs what was going on. Remember her surprise at the crown twisting into two after the Games?? She was so oblivious. Until Catching Fire where everything caught up to her. Where everything so many other people had been waiting and working for caught up to her.
SotR is a history book. Rewritten and edited and published as a piece of fact. SotR is a mirror and itâs a reflection of what actually happens vs what ends up being shown. SotR is the playbook of those in control of any and every kind of media that we come in touch with. SotR is a wake up call and I truly donât know how many will see it as such.