i think weirdly, a part of coriolanus's arc in tbosas is unlearning prejudice against the districts, obviously not in the sense he thinks better of them but in the sense he is forced to confront with the fact that they are people like him and not simply the 'bestial, unevolved' creatures that he was propagandized to believe. moments when he is thrown into the arena and kills bobbin, he has to deal with the fact he is just like one of the tributes in the arena, and he's terrified of it. the superiority of being capitol and a snow no longer comforts him. he recognizes his own animal capacity for violence through the story and comes to believe 'the whole world is an arena'. by the end he accepts simply what the social contract is, a 'might equals right' ideology where the capitol are better than the districts solely by the virtue is that they are winners and the districts are the losers, through his presidency he takes measures to push the distinguishment between capitol and district even further until there is no sort of questioning of humanity further down the line.
Oh absolutely. Its honestly why I think his story is so well done. He’s given ample opportunity to confront his beliefs, recognize they’re wrong, and become a better person by acknowledging the enemy is not them but the system put in place by the capitol, the system that has failed him as well!
And yet he doesnt! He has every opportunity to change, to realize that he and them are both struggling under the capitol but in the end, when he realizes he can profit from the system he choses to uphold.
Its not that Snow doesnt empathize with the district or those around him, he does! He expresses shame for helping in the games when speaking to Lucy Gray! He just chooses to double down on the beliefs from his upbringing.
The whole book is just a fascinating case of nature vs nurture in which both elements are incorporated into Coriolanus Snow’s descent journey into true villainy.
