#mockingjay reread

[heavensbeehall]

Haymitch in District 13

So the biggest thing I have learned so far from rereading Mockingjay with an eye towards Haymitch’s arc is that he is not in that book a lot. He disappears for the beginning and then at all the action in the Capitol. I have to imagine him sitting in District 13–not liking anyone—just being miserable and sober.

We know he knows that Coin deployed Peeta but we don’t get his thoughts on it beyond, “Deep sigh, Katniss, can you stop making it worse?” But he must know that Coin has sent him, as a weapon, to kill Katniss just as Snow did. They both use Peeta as a thing and not a person. And they both fear Katniss even though she is smol and might have just gone away if they left her alone (like how Rue says mockingjays are only dangerous if you disturb their nests).

But I would like to know more about how Haymitch feels about Coin’s betrayal. In the first two books, he is the one who “chooses” Katniss. It’s not that he wants Peeta to die in one, or wants him to get captured and tortured at the end of CF He just always sees Katniss as the best chance both times. The choosing analogy gets mixed up with the playing—using people as pieces. Katniss believes he went too far in CF, had his own agenda.

I don’t know if I entirely agree with her. I understand her feelings of betrayal as valid. But he was also trying to keep them alive and he didn’t have a lot of options. We also never really learn how he feels about working with Plutarch again. In SOTR, Plutarch is the only one who pays no price for the acts of defiance and I think though Haymitch did come to uneasily trust Plutarch, he also resents him for that. His mother and little brother who weren’t even there or even noted by Snow initially, get burned in front of him. Plutarch is fine. He even gets promoted since he says he is coming back to being head Gamemaker.

In CF it is also his friends who pay the price. Wiress, Mags and Chaff, all of whom we know to be explicitly linked to Haymitch, all sacrifice themselves for his two kids. So he again watches almost everyone he cares about die—knowing it didn’t work out well last time—hoping these two can be saved. (In that way Katniss and Peeta are a bit like Lenore Dove, the one he is trying the hardest to save.) I guess you can say his second roll of the dice with Plutarch goes “better” in that Finnick, Beetee and particularly Katniss are rescued.

But one of the cruelest parts of the Hunger Games is the Districts being required to send two tributes. So even if one “wins”, the district as a whole still loses just as much as they won. And that is where is ends up at the end of CF, at net zero pretty much.

He still hopes Peeta can be saved though. That is mostly what he is about in Mockingjay, and I wonder how much his similarities to Lenore Dove drive that. So much so that Haymitch is the more nurturing one that is involved with Peeta’s rehabilitation, which is not really his brand. You know? He is really trying to help Peeta, only for Peeta to be sent away as a weapon once again.

I wonder if he looks at Plutarch that day and thinks, “you fucking screwed me over again.” And BOTH Katniss and Peeta are reported DEAD. Gotten by Snow despite everything he tried to do for the last two years. Again, I don’t think Haymitch is fool enough to trust the Capitol’s word on whether Katniss is dead or not. They just aren’t a reliable source.

But there has to be a time, in about chapter 23-24, where things are pretty dark for Haymitch.

And the person he must be sitting and watching the “76th games” with is Beetee, who has watched at least one child (possibly two) die on screen. (I say this because Katniss says it must be Beetee who is breaking into the broadcasts.) Are they two sitting there as Coin does her fake crying and says this girl’s death won’t be in vain? Is Haymitch wondering why he thought he could do better than watch them die, as Beetee did? (Who is he, some dumb kid from 12 trying to make these big plays and standing up to Snow? All the same self loathing we see at the end of SOTR?)

I wonder how he gets word that they are both in the burn unit, gravely injured but alive. I wonder if Beetee is able to feel happy for him.

[farfromhome87]

"My breakfast is disappointingly small. Just a few cubes of bread soaking in warm milk."

-Mockinghjay, Ch. 8

What the hell, D13. You hired Snow Catering Inc. or something? Has Haymitch not suffered enough?

[heavensbeehall]

Mockingjay the Peeta and Katniss scene

The meeting happens at midnight. I thought that was odd when I first read it because the doctors are there and it’s not really business hours? but I just realized it’s a Hanging Tree reference. I feel dumb.

She wears an earpiece when she goes in, like she’s on a mission instead of… talking to a person. Haymitch is in the other side, of course.

Katniss mentions his voice has changed; it has an edge of suspicion in it. And Peeta used to be very open and thought—not that everyone was good—but that most could be reasoned with, like Haymitch in the train in the first games, Chaff after he kisses Katniss (which some men would be weird about). And if I thought Katniss had lied to me all the first games I might have become a suspicious person then. Snow probably expected him to start fighting with her in the woods like he did with Lucy Gray. Not really sure where I am going with this except to say a lot of people would have had suspicion in their voice way earlier.

Can I just say that even when they are sniping at each other, Katniss is making Peeta laugh. It’s kind of cute. He says she’s not pretty and it hurts her feelings so she says he’s looked better and he laughs and says it’s not nice for her to say that. Idk. They are still those two lil shits who called out the Gamemakers except now they are insecure and traumatized. They should just kiss.

And he remembers she picked a dandelion the day after the bread, which to her is hope. I am surprised he’d remember that detail if he had no emotional attachment to it. But maybe he did.

When she says, “Sometimes” in response to him asking if she liked kissing him, this is her being honest. She was also honest when she said people said she loved him. Because she had no idea. I wonder if past Peeta would’ve been thrilled with a “sometimes.” Or at least not angry. Because now I think he replies out of hurt. He asks about Gale.

He says she isn’t pretty. She says everyone said she loved him. They both just want the other to love them for real.

She snaps that Gale isn’t a bad kisser either. I would note she didn’t say Gale was a better kisser or she liked his kisses more. She liked kissing Peeta "sometimes" and Gale "isn't bad." It sounds like describing food. Sometimes I like a Peeta burger but a Gale burger isn't bad, if that's all there is.

Peeta asks if that was okay with the two of them that she was kissing them both. And this is the one I think that’s Snow twisted things a bit. He must have always been insecure about his place with Katniss, but he was willing to just be her friend. Now the doubt had seeped in the way Snow came to slowly think Billy Taupe was right about Lucy Gray using men. Katniss is just playing them both, it’s how she gets what she wants, not that she is a teen who is confused about her feelings.

Violent, mistrustful, manipulative, deadly. Those are words Katniss uses to describe herself. But I think they are also words Snow would use to describe Lucy Gray, particularly manipulative which isn’t really Katniss imo. These are all the things Katniss hates about herself, but they are not her totally self. She is also brave, honest, resourceful and understanding.

She doesn’t want Peeta to think of her like that because… you can’t really love someone like that (again see Snow and Lucy Gray when they stop trusting each other in the woods). But even here, when Peeta is the most contemptuous of Katniss that he is in the series, I don’t that he has forgotten those other good things about her, you know? Like there is a difference to feeling mistrustful in a moment (when he’s being vulnerable) and totally not trusting someone at all.

All this could have been solved by having an open bar at the wedding, btw. Get Katniss tipsy enough to admit she liked kissing him on the beach when he asks, and things are back on track (mostly, he still has flashbacks and mental issues). Fucking 13 not allowing alcohol. They ruin everything. [This is only kind of a joke. It’s just they both have their guards up… and Peeta is usually the mature one when Katniss is flustered, except he can’t in this moment because of the torture so we need to figure out a way to soften Katniss up is all I’m saying…]

[heavensbeehall]

Katniss and Peeta ending up together is something of a foregone conclusion in the final chapter of Mockingjay. I think it always was to Collins; she says it would have happened anyway. But even though I never truly thought she’d end up with Gale, I still would’ve liked to see a whole chapter of Katniss and Peeta just figuring it out. Maybe just a transcript of all their real or not real games.

Because there are two—almost three—years of missed and miscommunication between them, and I would like to know they finally clear that up. Maybe it is because I don’t trust Katniss fully, though I love her dearly. “This would have happened anyway.” Yeah, I knew that in book one when you still thought he’d eat people.

Peeta literally can’t trust his memories and she’s always got a lot going on so I could stand a bit more “growing back together.” I would like to feel certain all is well before I leave them both.

[heavensbeehall]

Haymitch at the end of “Catching Fire”

Re: the possible, now probable, Mockingjay reread.

I don’t know at what point Haymitch knew about the rebel plot. In my mind, he isn’t let in on it until they arrive in the Capitol for the 75th Games. I think this because I sense real emotion in the conversation he has with Katniss after the card is read. (So I don’t think Plutarch let him in on that.) And my impression of the Reaping is that he is genuinely frustrated that his name is drawn and Peeta volunteers. I think even if he had known about the plan then he would still want to go in, just because he would then save one of them even if the plan fails.

I do believe Haymitch’s reaping was rigged, but I am not sure by whom. For example, I think Plutarch must have rigged it so Beetee would be reaped, while some like Finnick and Annie, Cashmere and Gloss, I think were rigged by Snow to cause the most pain. We know Snow doesn’t like Haymitch and earlier in the book he called Peeta a “lovely boy” (unclear if that was truthful or if the opinion has changed) so I think Snow is the most likely culprit, thinking (again) that Peeta would save himself— because that is what he would do.

But it is also possible Plutarch wanted Haymitch to be the point person and go-between since he knew Katniss didn’t trust him, while Haymitch and Plutarch have a long history. Who knows how the plan works if it is Peeta keeping the secrets? Plus Peeta and Katniss going in together causes the most drama and angst in the Capitol.

Regardless, Haymitch takes part in Plutarch’s plot at some point. And he knows he is betraying Katniss and Peeta by doing so. Katniss’ inner monologue at the end of CF is full of anger at him for using them like pieces in HIS game. I believe Haymitch justifies this to himself because he loves them and wants to keep them alive.

My impression from SOTR is that he thinks Katniss and Peeta will be okay so long as they have each other. Because clearly losing Lenore Dove is the thing that hits him the hardest (which is not to say Sid and Ma’s death were nothing, I just get the sense he could have gone on like a somewhat functional human being after mourning them if Lenore Dove survived).

Except the plan doesn’t go how he wants it to (it doesn’t go how Coin wanted it to either, it goes how Plutarch wants it to). Even though, he made it clear to the other victors that Katniss wouldn’t stay in the alliance without PeetaThat is interesting to me. The conversation he has with Katniss when he is brought out of detox is about how he didn’t expect her to leave Peeta’s side. Which tells me that a) he had a sense Peeta wasn’t as important to Plutarch as Katniss, and b) he feels she let him down.

Knowing what we know now about how Haymitch left Wellie’s side to get firewood and that led to her death (left the real treasure unguarded), we can only assume he sees her as continuing to make the same mistakes he did. So much of his anger at her is misdirected anger at himself.

I imagine the time he is forced into detox at the beginning of Mockingjay is quite a dark period for him. He has to at least consider that Peeta is dead. Katniss is furious with him. And once again, Plutarch gets out unscathed. Plus detox is hard physically even if you are not in a dark place mentally.

[heavensbeehall]

Mockingjay Haymitch Reread, Chapter 11

Buttercup becomes a celebrity. Just like Katniss. Great entertainment, both of them.

This is when Katniss realizes Peeta is being tortured because of her. Previously she thought they would be trying to get rebel information out of him. He doesn’t have any information, Haymitch made sure of that. I am not quite sure how she squared this in her mind. It’s more than a little bit frustrating that EVERYONE (even Prim) knew this but no one told Katniss. Maybe they thought she already knew, but I know some of them could have. Haymitch, for one. Gale is another. He seems SO aware of what the Capitol will do, like when he predicted the strike on the hospital in 8. And even though I am annoyed with Katniss for being a bit slow here, I am glad that she is not someone who would think of torturing someone for “no reason.” She’s very utilitarian. She’d only ever torture someone to get important information. She doesn’t see torture as something that could be just for fun or mind games or even just cruelty.

I guess that is another thing I don’t like about shipping her with Gale, because I don’t want her to be introduced to the Capitol way of thinking. She has been through a lot but Peeta is right that she is still “pure”. Like pure of spirit. I don’t want yuckiness to get on her. Frankly, I am sorry it got on Gale. I am not sure this is making any sense.

Finnick time! I am happy to see him even though he is another person who could have told Katniss the above earlier. (He’s like, “duh, Katniss, Annie doesn’t have any rebel information either.”) At least he apologizes and explains that he thought the romance was an act. Finnick is unwell with Annie in Snow’s clutches. And it occurs to me that they say Annie is the “mad” one, but she seems to do better on her own (after the war) than he is at this moment.

Have I talked about my “Finnick has a dissociative disorder” theory here? I must have. Katniss says he says something in his “real voice” after asking her if she wants a sugar cube in his Capitol voice. As far as I can tell, he has the seductive Capitol voice, the deeper arena voice mentioned in CF and his regular manner of speaking. I also wonder if he’d have a younger, more vulnerable side that might only come out around Mags and Annie, since he had to grow up so quickly, but that’s just an idea. Not sure if they are full “alters” like someone with DID, or just a coping mechanism developed when he was older, since DID almost always starts when a kid is very young before their sense of self is established—though if he is an orphan like Haymitch saying Mags “basically raised him” suggests, it’s possible other bad stuff happened before the Hunger Games even came into his life.

TLDR, Finnick has just as many if not more or more mental problems than Annie (she “only” seems to have auditory hallucinations) and Gale still thinks this is him flirting with Katniss. Like a weirdo. She thinks he is mad she didn’t go to him instead of Finnick. But Finnick is the one with the similar situation, so it feels weirdly possessive? Like if you love someone and another person can help them better than you can, don’t you want them to seek that person out? Or maybe he thinks they were fucking. I don’t get Gale.

Haymitch first speaks to has how much of an “edge the boy’s warning” gave them? I smile at him because I think he knows the answer already and just wants everyone else to know. Boggs says ten minutes and Katniss puts it together that Gale and Prim would not have made it. She thinks she “owes” Peeta for that which makes me roll my eyes because Peeta said to stop with the owing him shit in the first book. But I think this feeling of owing, particularly in regards to Prim, contributes to her breakdown, though I would point out she did become the Mockingjay to get him immunity so it’s not like she hasn’t been thinking about protecting him. She just didn’t know what Snow does until recently, and now feels like she should’ve never gone on camera.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, Plutarch, the soldiers and the crew all sigh when Finnick tells them she figured it out. I’m just so mad at them. They didn’t warn her or even hint. They took advantage of her naïveté pure and simple.

The line “the only person I want to comfort me is Haymitch because he loves Peeta too” always makes me tear up. It’s sweet but it’s also a reversal of how mad she has been at him. Perhaps because she realizes now that Snow was using her and Peeta against him too and there just is no good way to navigate it. After reading SOTR I can’t help but notice he calls her sweetheart when he tries to comfort her, and he’s not being sarcastic.

Haymitch is with her when she wakes up from sedation and his eyes are bloodshot, so he has probably been awake, watching her, the whole time. The last thing she said was “it’s my fault” and we know that is how he’s been feeling for years. I wonder if he can see that it is not her fault, and therefore it is not his either, but I doubt it.

They are going to rescue Peeta but it is the “same” as the arena, according to Haymitch. People will have to die to keep her going. Except now she knows.

What do we think about Haymitch trying to volunteer for Boggs’ team? Somehow I don’t think this is JUST a joke, but he hasn’t gone into any of the combat situations thus far (like 8). He stayed above it all. It makes me wonder if now he feels like he needs to DO more but he is not equipped to do so.

Gale, at the very least, is good at doing things.

[heavensbeehall]

Mockingjay Haymitch Reread, Chapter 2

Haymitch is still not here, but we at least get a mention this time. He is "in seclusion until he's dried out, as he's not deemed fit for public display." And I wonder if this is punishment for more than being an alcoholic. Perhaps Coin doesn't want him to influence Katniss in the wrong way?

What would Haymitch advise at this point? For her to become the Mockingjay or not? Because his goal has always been to keep her alive and sticking her neck out again will put her in the line of fire. But he does also want to stop the sunrise on the reaping. So those are two conflicting desires.

I don't hate Gale in this chapter. He acknowledges Buttercup (he thinks that is why she went back to 12 which is wrong but not a bad idea) and doesn't tell the District 13 people. They hold hands and Katniss thinks of it as a piece of 12 Snow hasn't been able to destroy and I like that. That's nice. And later they joke about how the communicuff makes him look like a douche. (Well the word he uses is jerk but I think both are applicable.) He sees 13 as "us with nukes". He is able to empathize with them in a way Katniss initially cannot. And he is the one who points out Peeta is trying to save Katniss after the interview, whereas they made him look more angry about it in the movie.

Interestingly Gale says District 13 had to build up an underground resistence in the Capitol, when we have been told Plutarch is the leader of the underground. And from SOTR where he talks to Haymitch about how they need someone exactly like him but luckier, perhaps with an army, that made me think he was the one who reached out to them. So which is it? How did this alliance come about?

COLOR THEORY time. I almost mentioned in the last post that Katniss mentions seeing a page with "yellow flowers" in the plant book but she closes it because she knows Peeta drew it. I figured we have all heard enough about the yellow flowers.

But here she describes how the schedule is printed on their arms (in a system that makes as much sense as the electric current parting people's hair) in "sickly" purple. The only prominent references to purple that I remember are the color of the Gamemakers' robes. And purple was the royal color in Rome. I think it symbolizes control here. A clue that 13 isn't much better than the Capitol.

Tech thoughts re: CommiCuffs. I forgot they issue print messages. That's a waste of paper, District 13. It's a weird detail that it's print people had cellphones at this point. The Apple Watch came out a mere five years after this book was released, and I remember shows where characters had communicator bracelets (like Star Trek and Power Rangers) in the 90s. They also have communicuffs in TBOSAS, which makes me think 13 hasn't updated its tech much in 75 years.

They are so lucky Beetee is there. No wonder Katniss says he barely comes to meals. We know that man can put data in a chip the size of glitter. He must feel like he is living in the past. Imagine how he looks at those watches?

Peeta is on TV. Katniss gasps like she has been "submerged in water" (as if he is the air she breathes?) and notes that he looks "healthy to the point of robustness" and "His skin is glowing, flawless, in that full-body-polish way"Am I the only one who feels like she is oogling him a bit here? I know she's looking for signs of torture but it's also like she's talking about how hot her man is?

Peeta understands what Haymitch did. He says he shouldn't have trusted Haymitch. (I wonder if Haymitch sees this? Does he know both his kids are mad at him?)

This is also where we meet my beloved Boggs. After Coin says Katniss has not been dismissed (she's not allowed to have emotions about her supposed baby daddy?), Boggs in the unknown soldier who puts his hand on Katniss. She is specific that it is "not an aggressive move."

[heavensbeehall]

Mockingjay Haymitch Reread, Chapter 9

Finnick and Katniss in the woods! Still no one has mentioned Peeta’s propo. Finnick asks specifically about Gale. I’d love to know what Finnick thinks of this love triangle. I think he would get all the tea, not just because he is good at secrets but because he is a good friend to Katniss here, and later he really helps Peeta a lot. He also at least tolerates Gale when they are on the same squad.

I’d also like to talk about how Katniss says a buck simply wanders by when they are talking and Finnick carries it back. I was thinking about the two times Katniss mentions taking down deer in previous books. The first time when it got all chopped up, and the second time where they waited until nightfall. This seems a lot easier. Very little work and then Finnick does the heavy letting. Bucks are like 150 pounds on average? I am not sure how far he is carrying it and I thought, “wow that is really impressive” and then I remembered he must have trained to carry Mags.

The next day, Gale has his communicuff back. He says it’s for when they are “in the field” but I think Coin is rewarding him for keeping things from Katniss. Maybe she didn’t say it so pointedly. But she is trying to keep him loyal to her above his friend. The rift between Gale and Katniss has been growing since the first games and she is only making it worse, on purpose.

The rebels have taken District 3 and 11.

They head back to District 12. Haymitch does NOT come, and initially Katniss scoffs at this. But I think it’s very real. Katniss felt guilty and she didn’t know the plan. Haymitch knew the plan AND had previously said Snow would wipe out another district to end the rebellion. Of course Snow had a choice in the matter and it’s ultimately his fault. But we also know now that Haymitch’s family died in fire too. So it’d be like the whole district was his house that awful morning he returned.

Cressida makes Gale reenact what he did that night which sounds awful. Then we get the scene where Katniss sings “The Hanging Tree. I think it’s symbolic that she does it to block out the memories of Rue’s death after she whistles the simpler tune. And then the mockingjays pick it up. I wonder if this is the first time they have sung it since Lucy Gray fled, or if Burdock or Lenore Dove ever sang it in these woods. Symbolically, I think it was Lucy Gray. That was how she hid from Snow. There will be no more hiding from him. Lucy Gray’s music is back and he can’t do shit about it. So really… who outlasted whom?

Katniss and Gale kind of make up at their rock. She gives him a berry to catch in his mouth. I know that there is some kind of meaning here. That the berries are just food and jokes for these two, it berries with Peeta are… something else. Something more. Love, rebellion, refusal to submit. All that crap.

But it is sad to see their friendship ending. I had a friendship breakup in middle school that was intense. It’s hard to admit that a person who has been very present in your life, doesn’t need or want to be there anymore. I thought she was mean and/or I had done something wrong, but I think she just wanted to hang out with different people because we weren’t into the same things anymore. I actually dreamed about her the other day. Katniss and Gale were “into” hunting together, but when they no longer need to hunt to survive, what is left?

Gale says, “Long overdue,” when asked how it felt to use his hunting skills in D8. I don’t remember that. That’s fucking weird. Maybe you can pretend people in hovercrafts aren’t real. You don’t have to see them die. But… it’s kind of blood thirsty. He reminds me of a Career tribute before the games really get going, excited about things they shouldn’t be.

And then we have the kissing scene. Katniss literally says since Gale has tears in his eyes she kisses him “to keep them from spilling over.” It’s a kind of love but not really the “hunger” from the beach people write romance novels about.

Boggs comes to get Katniss and he gently ribs her about how she doesn’t follow her schedule in a way that reminds me of Cinna for some reason that I can’t put my finger on.

Peeta and Snow on TV. Finnick holds K’s hand. Then Beetee breaks in with footage of the bakery. I wonder if he recognized it. Everyone cheers, while Katniss and Haymitch are miserable and fear for Peeta. And they have reason because this ends with him being beaten. I think they must have started the hijacking by this point. She mentions anger in his face and him reacting to her name. But I think he is fighting through it. Like that POW soldier in Vietnam that blinked out “torture” in Morse code or something.