tell me what you thought about the donner family in SOTR! anything surprising? anything you wanted to see that wasn't there? etc etc
Hahaha so a little Mollywog lore drop for those who don’t already know - I have 6 year old twins (I’m not the only one in the fandom either!) so I, like Haymitch, had an eye on the Donners 👀
Anyways
Let me start with: Merrilee is the most identical twin name she could have given Maysilee’s sister.
Both Ms
Both three syllables
Both ending in lee
Mom and Pop Donner were really leaning into the twin thing from day one. However you feel about the name itself, it really fits the matchy/matchy twin thing their mother is going for.
Next: I found this interesting with Merrilee eventually becoming the Mayor’s wife
The crowd’s reacting again, but more in surprise than anger, because Maysilee is a purebred town girl and about as highfalutin as they come, what with the Donners being merchants and the general consensus being that her pa will be tapped to succeed Mayor Allister. Town kids are rarely tributes because they don’t generally have tesserae like those in the Seam.
It makes me wonder how Mayors are ‘elected’ and highlights again that no one is safe from the reaping…
Also: do I believe her reaping was rigged - NO, but it does tickle something in my brain about it being a test of Capitol loyalty if her father was really the potentialnext Mayor (it’s probably a reach, but Abraham and Isaac come to mind…)
Next up: Loved this moment
“Do we have to go around dressed like triplets?” asks Maysilee. “It was bad enough being a twin.”
The Donner girls have a wide selection of matching outfits. “Thought you liked that,” I say.
“My mother likes that,” she corrects me. Huh. Maybe she loads up on the jewelry because it’s the only way she can be herself.
How it reminds me of Katniss referring to her and Peeta being dressed alike as ‘the twin act’
How it reminds us that Haymitch had always been paying attention to the Donner twins
How it’s Mrs. Donner who continues to present (and likely treat) Merrilee and Maysilee as a novelty. (We see Maysilee have strong opinions on style and fashion and meanwhile, she seemingly has little say in her own wardrobe.)
And how Haymitch begins to see Maysilee in a different light - it’s very much Katniss’s stale apple tarts moment with Peeta
And my last thought for the moment- what’s up with Maysilee’s Grandmother? She got an awful lot of page time and it feels deeper than just a girl talking about her Grandma…
"Oh, I love anything silk." She rubs the threads between her fingers. "Soft as silk, like my grandmother's skin." She pops open a locket at her neck and shows me the photo inside. "Here she is, just a year before she died. Isn't she beautiful?"
I take in the smiling eyes, full of mischief, peering out of their own spiderweb of wrinkles. "She is. She was a kind lady. Used to sneak me candies sometimes."
Maysilee laughs. "You weren't the only one. She got chewed out for that." She cups the locket in her hands and examines her. "No one ever loved me more. I always hoped I'd look like her one day. Never going to see myself grow old, I guess."
"Maybe."
"Oh, no. Not after today." She bites her lip. "She used to say, if I was afraid, 'It's okay, Maysilee, nothing they can take from you was ever worth keeping."
Seriously- what’s this woman’s deal? She’s also the previous owner of the Mockingjay pin…
on walking backwards by anne carson / resurrection: the art & craft by hilary mantel / dora maar, 1936 by man ray / the dress lamp tree by tim walker / double portrait with hat by dora maar / the hunger games / canary resuscitator by siebe gorman & co. / embalming syringe set by laundy / night poem by leila chatti / mutable earth by louise glück / but i am safe in here by glen martin taylor / cockatoo mask by rebecca horn / picnic at hanging rock / geneva by safia elhillo / a girl ago by lucie brock-broido
