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A review by hanhantap
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I remember first reading Mockingjay when I was 14 and being utterly disappointed. The Hunger Games with no games, just political discourse, resistance, and trauma? How boring. Especially as a follow-up to one of the best sequels of all time.
However, now my frontal cortex is fully developed and I have witnessed and participated in multiple resistance movements in the past 13 years — not to mention the past 60 days 🍉 — I feel like I can appreciate what Suzanne Collins was saying in and doing with this novel. When a symbol of a resistance movement (Katniss as the Mockingjay) becomes expendable or co-opted to repeat the evils of the past, there are moral obligations to rise against them.
Imagine explaining that to a young Hannah and expect her to understand them at a deeper level than "Why did Katniss have to start a family at the end?"
Not understanding her survival, her trauma, and her hard fought ending to even remind herself to be happy in moments of great despair. For Katniss, starting a family was not a priority. Her only priority was to survive and now she had two — three counting Peeta — reasons to keep surviving even in the hardest of days. A life without choices became a life with one choice: the choice of companionship and finding the peace she never had.
Her children, the other children of the districts, and the children of the Capitol will never experience the horrors that generations past will. The suffering of the present to provide for the future. It's a bittersweet ending that I finally understand.
However, now my frontal cortex is fully developed and I have witnessed and participated in multiple resistance movements in the past 13 years — not to mention the past 60 days 🍉 — I feel like I can appreciate what Suzanne Collins was saying in and doing with this novel. When a symbol of a resistance movement (Katniss as the Mockingjay) becomes expendable or co-opted to repeat the evils of the past, there are moral obligations to rise against them.
Imagine explaining that to a young Hannah and expect her to understand them at a deeper level than "Why did Katniss have to start a family at the end?"
Not understanding her survival, her trauma, and her hard fought ending to even remind herself to be happy in moments of great despair. For Katniss, starting a family was not a priority. Her only priority was to survive and now she had two — three counting Peeta — reasons to keep surviving even in the hardest of days. A life without choices became a life with one choice: the choice of companionship and finding the peace she never had.
Her children, the other children of the districts, and the children of the Capitol will never experience the horrors that generations past will. The suffering of the present to provide for the future. It's a bittersweet ending that I finally understand.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, and Alcohol