Last days of spring
It’s time for a new blog post! A month has passed by since I first created my website. After my obsession started slowing down with coding, I took more time to enjoy other hobbies too. I finished the Hunger Games prequel books I got for my nameday and I have so many thoughts (beware of some spoilers here and there). I read the original trilogy at the ripe age of 13, when I wanted to be so different from anyone else and have my own very original thoughts that I ended up hating them. Yes, very silly of me. All the deeper topics of the book flew right above my head at the time, so I was very curious how they would read now, 14 years later. I read the first two again, before the prequels, like two months ago. I am not going to surprise anyone that I enjoyed them way more this time. I was entertained by Katniss’s snarky monologue more than I can admit, now that they reminded me of how it was to be a teenager. Peeta was such a lovely character, I wish they wouldn’t push for the love triangle with Gale in the movies as much. I had no care for him, really. And dear Prim. I was choking holding back my tears when we got to the scene in the last movie where Katniss goes back to the empty house and finds Buttercup.
The world of Hunger Games mirrors our society’s thirst for drama, how we find enjoyment in other people’s suffering, just think about how many of us are guilty of watching true crime documentaries, or dating shows where some unlucky contestants will be painted as real devils, while others will be cherished and forgiven for their behaviour (yes Love is blind I am talking about you), and how we choose to turn our heads away when war, oppression and discrimination happens.
The first prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which was written from the POV of President Snow itself, has to be my favourite in the series. We can really delve deep into the mind of the main antagonist in his earlier years. To be honest I wasn’t convinced at first when we found out he’s only 18 at the time and he’s in his last year of high school (called the Academy in the book). When the story begins, we learn about his struggles with never having enough to eat and how he tries to maintain his image of wealth around other people, when in fact his family is poor, due to losing everything during the war. He’s chosen to mentor one of the tributes of the 10th Hunger Games, if he does well, he can win a prize that is his only way of getting into University. The stakes are high and as the games start we learn how much he is willing to sacrifice. The book focuses on the topic of nature and nurture, the question on what happens to humans when the constraints of society are stripped away, do they become ruthless killers or remain good at heart? Snow is surrounded by many characters that represent these ideologies. He’s constantly having conflicting thoughts about what is going around him, he knows the games are inhuman, he also experiences it first hand, and he starts to build a bond with his tribute, Lucy Gray Baird. But no matter how many times he sees acts of kindness, like when Lucy Gray, instead of running away when she get the chance, saves his life, or when one of the tributes pays respect to the dead ones in the arena by rearranging and covering up their bodies, he slowly turns to the idea of humans from the districts are horrible creatures who only can be contained by the Capitol ruling over them. Snow’s story is not the typical villain backstory, where we learn how good he was at heart in the beginning, but we see how easily he is influenced by authority, how he manipulates people, by putting up the act of a respectable, noble man saying what others want to hear, while we can read his true feelings, how repelled he is by others around him and how he is unable to be empathetic towards anyone, but to his own struggles. The twistedness of his mind, and the third person mode, which allows for more detailed descriptions, makes this book outstanding in the series.
The second and newest prequel is about the 50th Hunger Games, called Sunrise on the Reaping, and follows the story of Haymitch Abernathy, who later mentors Katniss and Peeta in the main trilogy. Haymitch is a beloved character and I know many fans were asking for his games for a long time before this book came out. I read many arguments on if these prequels are even necessary or not, and while I have to admit reading about the games for the 4th time at this point was more dreadful than before, I do think the topic and the events of this book complements the main three so well, showing how rebellions are being built over time, where luck is needed more than anything. It paints a realistic picture, by emphasizing how Katniss isn’t some kind of “Chosen One” hero, just a teenage girl who was luckier than anyone before her and could start the fire that then ended the rule of the Capitol.
To sum it up, I had a good time reading these books, including the re-reads and watching the movies. I do want to revisit it in the future and I am curious how the movie adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping will turn out.
