Could you share your thoughts on Madge?
The screenwriters/director apparently felt she was irrelevant, but she must have a deeper meaning to the series, right?
Oh wow, thank you for the question!!!
So yes, Madge's character sure does have a deeper meaning!
On the most surface level of the story Madge acts, in part, as a characterization for Katniss. As we all know, Katniss is a pretty unreliable narrator. She seems to be under the impression that she's just like Gale but here's a prime example of why she's not. Madge is Katniss's only friend, other than Gale. And she's not just a merchant kid, she's the daughter of the mayor. While Gale has a narrow viewpoint and see things much more in black and white(she claims he understands the socioeconomic differences are just the Capitols way to divide 12, but he has a really tough time extending empathy to people he doesn’t relate to, unlike Katniss who is incredibly empathetic when she takes time to put herself in the shoes of others), Katniss actually has a more nuanced understanding about the Seam/Merchant dynamic which later extends to deeper understanding to the other tributes and even Capitol citizens all really just being victims to their circumstances. With the director ditching (mostly, Gale still has a few choice words about merchants) the whole Seam/Merchant narrative her role is vastly diminished.
The pin that Madge gives to Katniss as a district token (and later the symbol of rebellion) is so much more important in the books because of who it used to belong to, Maysilee Donner, who was Madge's aunt (her mom's twin), Katniss's mothers best friend, and partnered with Haymitch in his games. It's most likely Haymitch's own experience in surviving the arena with Maysilee as a team that gives him the idea to partner Peeta and Katniss. Without Madge most of these connections are lost.
In the metanarrative Madge represents a lot more. She, through the symbolism of her name, offers salvation through sacrifice. She gives Katniss the pin:
"His eyes land on a small, circular pin that adorns her dress. Real gold. Beautifully crafted. It could keep a family in bread for months."
And then she basically risks her life to bring pain medicine for Gale, who hasn't been particularly nice to her:
When she opens it, there’s not a squad of Peacekeepers but a single, snow-caked figure. Madge. She holds out a small, damp cardboard box to me. “Use these for your friend,” she says. I take off the lid of the box, revealing half a dozen vials of clear liquid. “They’re my mother’s. She said I could take them. Use them, please.” She runs back into the storm before we can stop her.
Madge (and Mags) is short for Margaret, which is derived from the Greek word for Pearl (pearl is derived from the Sanskrit word for Pure). Peeta and Katniss are Pearls as well, so I'll expand on the pearl theme beyond just Madge.
Pearls themselves are created through sacrifice, traditionally the life of the oyster is forfeit for the gem. In some asian cultures the pearl represented the journey of the soul or spirit along the path to perfection (The Hunger Games trilogy is a retelling of Dante's Comedies- which represents the souls journey towards Paradise- the pearl symbolically represents Katniss’s inner arc). In ancient burials, mourners placed pearls in the mouths of the deceased. Since pearls apparently contained the principles of life, they hoped they could assist the dead on their journeys beyond. Mourners also decorated burial gifts and clothes with pearls.
Pearls are mentioned a LOT in the books. Here's a few quotes:
‘Well, if you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls!’” Effie beams at us so brilliantly that we have no choice but to respond enthusiastically to her cleverness even though it’s wrong.
He unzips the bag, revealing one of the wedding dresses I wore for the photo shoot. Heavy white silk with a low neckline and tight waist and sleeves that fall from my wrists to the floor. And pearls. Everywhere pearls. Stitched into the dress and in ropes at my throat and forming the crown for the veil.
As coal pressured into pearls by our weighty existence. Beauty that arose out of pain. Peeta rinses the pearl off in the water and hands it to me. “For you.” I hold it out on my palm and examine its iridescent surface in the sunlight.
I sit back on my bed cross-legged and find myself rubbing the smooth iridescent surface of the pearl back and forth against my lips. For some reason, it’s soothing. A cool kiss from the giver himself.
Katniss putting the pearl to her lips as both the mourner and the dead. We can actually infer that the pearl is a placeholder for Peeta.
But what exactly does the pearl represent beyond the obvious? There's the biblical symbolism and then there's literary symbolism.
There's a ton of Christian symbolism in these books, probably the most obvious being the Christ-like sacrifices that Peeta makes, he sacrifices his body to provide the life saving bread, and again in the arena which after spends three days in a cave, followed by his resurrection. The trilogy follows the Divine Comedies, Katniss as the heart and caught between Gale (the body) and Peeta (the spirit).
You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.
Above from the Bible, below from The Hunger Games
It was the boy. In his arms, he carried two large loaves of bread that must have fallen into the fire because the crusts were scorched black.
Below is a quote from the Bible (Revelations) describing the 12 gates of Jerusalem. It could be written off as a coincidence, 12 gates, 12 districts, except that the 8th gate is the Cotton Merchants' Gate, which correlates to District 8, which is the district that manufactures textiles and uniforms.
And the twelve gates of the city were twelve pearls; each single gate was made from one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
In literary symbolism Pearl, (the daughter of Hester Prynne in the Scarlet Letter), represents several things. Pearl was the physical manifestation of Hester's sin (adultery), the pregnancy therefore making it apparent she had sinned. At the same time Pearl was a blessing, as without her she would have most likely committed suicide.
“… Had they taken her away from me (Pearl), I would have willingly gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man’s book too, and that with mine own blood!”
This is similar to Katniss's thinking at the beginning of Mockingjay
Peeta. If I knew for sure that he was dead, I could just disappear into the woods and never look back.
Below is a quote from the end of The Scarlet Letter:
"Pearl kissed his lips. A spell was broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her father’s cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor forever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it. Towards her mother, too, Pearl’s errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled."
And another quote from the near end of Mockingjay:
I lean in and kiss Peeta full on the mouth. His whole body starts shuddering, but I keep my lips pressed to his until I have to come up for air. My hands slide up his wrists to clasp his. “Don’t let him take you from me.” Peeta’s panting hard as he fights the nightmares raging in his head. “No. I don’t want to . . .” I clench his hands to the point of pain. “Stay with me.” His pupils contract to pinpoints, dilate again rapidly, and then return to something resembling normalcy. “Always,” he murmurs.
I delve a bit into the Divine Comedies in this post.
