#silka sharp

That scene where Silka is all alone, finds the tree Haymitch and Wellie are in, and just sits there and cries. That moment of solidarity when Haymitch drops the chocolate down to her. That reminder that they are all just kids who are either brainwashed or forced to be violent.

I saw many people point out how Haymitch was definitely purposely placed In between silka and panache most likely snow and the gamemakers wanted them to get rid of him as quickly as possible but you know what this also reminded me of?

Katniss too was placed in between cashmere and Brutus In the beginning of the 75th games also highly likely intentionally hoping that she'd be immediately be taken out

Haymitch must have absolutely tried not to lose his mind at seeing this

Now we could talk about how the gamemakers and especially snow is purposely screwing over D12 and wants to get rid of them as soon as possible but other people already pointed that out so I'll see if I can add something to this and how the careers are essentially the capitol personal janitors for tributes they want taken out , like they brainwash districts 1 and 2 and 4 and indoctrinate them into training their children to sacrifice themselves for the games lying to them through propaganda that they " honor and appreciate their brave sacrifices" but in reality these districts are as insignificant to them as the outer districts they are still lesser then the capitol and in no way their equals they just lie to them so that tensions don't reach a boiling point and they can keep demanding large quotas and also have them do their dirty work in pitying the districts against each other by the career districts children thinking their whole lives that they have to dedicate it to serve the capitol and bring honor to their districts but In reality the capitol still doesn't Care about them they are just their personal tools they can manipulate to do their dirty work and if they survive that they treat them like objects not human beings and we all know how far their dehumanizing can go with what Finnick and cashmere had to go through

It's also something that to me shows snow's entitlement and narcissism with how he basically fully expects the careers to attomatically prioritize doing what HE wants to happen even though it's at best a gamble like yeah Brutus was most likely capable of taking out katniss but it was a gamble for him to assume that he'd immediately be able to take out katniss when the road to the cornaccoopia was already so difficult and it was a gamble to assume he'd instantly take her out when he's an older victor and district 2 is surrounded by mountains so swimming is most likely not a constant thing like yes Brutus still made it to the same spot katniss swam to and is in a better health compared to other victors but it was still a gamble on snow's end when he was fixating on katniss and the thrid quarter quell twist was a last minute decision on his end that he didn't think In the long term effects it'd have

( I'm a firm believer that reaping the victors was never going to work in stopping the rebellion no matter how it went, it was going to add gasoline to the fire the outer districts would get even more furious and it was a massive slap in the face for the career districts there was no way this was going to work)

And it was an even bigger gamble to assume that cashmere especially would take on katniss when there are even more factors for her to not be prioritizing it since it's extremely likely that just like katniss main priority was to find peeta as soon as she saw the arena cashmere 's biggest priority was to find her brother who it CAN'T BE A COINCIDENCE THAT WAS REAPED ALONGSIDE HER but hey for him it's easy for everyone to discard a sibling for personal survival after all he discarded sejanus and Tigris just as easily despite everything Tigris did to him and sejanus considering him his closest friend

There is also the simple fact that they all would still have to run to the cornaccoopia to grab a weapon and the road to both was difficult with one being placed on top of a hill and the other needing to swim then run on a rocky road to reach so again massive gamble

I hope any of my ramblings make sense

There has been a lot of debate in the fandom concerning the degree to which District 4 is a Career district, right? Well, what this book is suggesting is that yes, District 4 is a Career district. But the people at the other extreme end of the argument who were insisting that there were absolutely no differences between Four and the other two Career districts were also wrong. District 4 is a Career district. But while Districts 1 and 2 are Career districts that are also largely loyal to the Capitol, this isn’t the case for District 4.

Maritte is willing to team up with One and Two to hunt down the other tributes. She’s literally chasing down Haymitch and Maysilee in the earlier part of this scene. But when the group encounters some Gamemakers inside the arena then things change very quickly. And Maritte doesn’t even need any convincing. In a snap, in an instant, she puts her trident through a Gamemaker. Because Maritte knows who the real enemy is.

The contrast with Silka, who is from District 1, is striking. Silka isn’t even portrayed as a monster and is given a bit more depth than a lot of the Careers in the series. But Silka’s response to Maritte killing a Gamemaker is a stunned: “What’d you do? Did you kill Gamemakers? They’ll never let us win now!” Silka is focused on winning. Silka is as traumatized by the Games as anyone (she cries under the tree), but she cannot conceive of rebellion. Before she fights Haymitch at the very end of the Games she says: “I will be the one to honor the Capitol.” I think these are her last words. I don’t think that you have to believe that Silka even likes the Capitol deep in her heart, but for whatever reason she isn’t willing to defy them.

There are actually several references scattered throughout the series to Districts 1 and 2 being close to the Capitol while District 4 is more rebellious. But this scene with Maritte killing the Gamemaker puts it in really sharp relief. Maysilee scolds Haymitch for not being quicker to attack the Gamemakers because Haymitch and not District 4 is meant to be her ally. She scolds him because his inaction allows District 4 to very briefly ally with District 12. Meaning that for about thirty seconds, District 12 and District 4 were in alliance in the Second Quarter Quell. Just as they will be in alliance in the Third Quarter Quell. In alliance against the Gamemakers. In alliance against the Hunger Games. In alliance against the Capitol.

…All this while everyone involved in the book knew that a girl from One was in the final 2 for 10+ years. For a final girl she should have gotten way more attention and writing, but for some reason Panache got all the buildup that didn’t pay off in any way (him dying in the middle of the games right after disappearing and reappearing again, dying not even from Haymitch’s hand so don’t know the point of their set up rivalry)