So you’re telling me he’s outside weeping for his wife every night and she’s inside trying to find a way back to him. Okay. Cool. Haha yeah that’s fine. I’m gonna go ballistic
Thinking about Maysilee Donner. A girl who refused to let the Capitol dehumanize her. A girl who wanted to die with dignity, without begging for her life, because that mattered to her. Who set up a place setting with napkins and forks in the middle of the arena because she is a human being. Who loved jewelry and fashion and believed that her appearance sends a message about who she is, and who wanted that message to be respectable, dignified, worth something.
Thinking about Maysilee Donner who was unafraid to slap the woman who pulled her name in the reaping and who threw clever insults towards anyone who provoked her, no matter who they were. Maysilee Donner who believed human dignity is inherent but respect is earned and who refused to give respect to those who did not deserve it.
Maysilee Donner whose father threw money at the reaping stage as if that could save her, and the money floated to the ground just like the confetti, meaningless paper that signified nothing when placed against the power of the Capitol. Whose privilege could not save her. Who recognized that reality and faced it with more fortitude than any person should ever have to display. Maysilee Donner.
so you’re telling me that after what happened to louella/lou lou haymitch had to watch peeta come back from the capitol as a “mutt version of himself” and question whether the shell of a human with peeta’s face was even peeta at all
(not exactly the scenario, but it got me thinking)
How many times will he do this dance? This oscillating, bedside to bedside.
Which is worse? The thick, bracing collar around the girl’s neck, her face swollen and blood vessels broken around her eyes, or the bite restraint muzzle over the boy’s mouth, even in his sleep? Is this place so different from the Capitol after all?
He makes his pilgrimage between hospital rooms, and the dull, orange lights wash through the ghost woman beside him (always a step or so behind).
Does this count, my love? We cannot see the sunrise here.
Now, he sits with his head in his hands and absorbs the energy of the agitated crowd: doctors and military personnel that come and go, all for a glimpse of Snow’s latest medical spectacle. Oh, they’ll say it’s a professional interest, of course.
Sure.
Professional like Wyatt’s father, maybe.
He doesn’t know enough medicine to tell them to stop, as they take blood samples, and saliva swabs, as they rearrange the emaciated limbs, always locking the wrists and ankle back into place when they’re finished puncturing and procuring. He’s only knows he’s going to be sick.
“Fascinating,” someone says.
“Useful too,” comes another voice. “When we remove it, we ought to test for hallucinogens.”
Haymitch lifts his head. “Remove what?” His voice sounds like he’s the one that’s been strangled.
“Drug pump,” says a doctor, tapping her pen against it, the innocuous, delicate device screwed into Peeta’s chest, as if it’s a clipboard. The metallic clinking sound sets Haymitch’s teeth on edge. “Shouldn’t be too much trouble to remove.”
Haymitch feels his world narrowing, a throbbing sensation rattling his brain in his skull, making him dizzy.
“Take that thing off him,” he whispers. But no one is listening. They compare notes and exchange test tubes, gloved hand to gloved hand, and Haymitch’s ears are ringing.
“Take that thing off him,” he says, louder. The ringing is taking shape, a high, soft voice.
Lou Lou, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry — !
“I said,” he snaps, on his feet, shaking, “take that shit off him!”
Stunned silence.
“Soldier — ”
“Now!” Haymitch shouts. “What’s the hold up?”
“Protocol, Solider Abernathy. We want to run some tests with the pump still secured to the subject — ”
“He’s not their plaything — and he’s not your damn experiment. He’s a kid!”
The ghost woman gives him a sad smile, and nods.
“Fine,” someone says at last.
Haymitch doesn’t even thank them. Why should he? It’s the least they can do. Disgusting people.
He gets up.
How many times will he do this dance? This oscillating, bedside to bedside. At least once more, he tells himself, and pushes out the door.
haymitch sending katniss the bread from 11 in the aftermath of rue’s death hits so much harder with the knowledge that mags sent him the coffee and strawberry ice cream after maysilee died
he was inviting her to cry to him the same way that mags had for him, the same way katniss does in mockingjay
he turned out to be so much more emotionally cognizant with katniss than we gave him credit for
“and while lenore dove will forever be my true love, louella is my one and only sweetheart.”
that line hits so hard when you realize how quickly he was calling katniss sweetheart. through katniss’ eyes, it seemed insincere at first, almost like haymitch was mocking her. but now we truly know haymitch wouldn’t just throw that around. he truly cared for her from the start.
the way haymitch must have seen it as all his ghosts coming back to haunt him at once when katniss walked onto the train with the face of burdock and asterid, the pin of maysilee, the voice of lenore dove, and a background so devastatingly similar to his own. of course sweetheart slipped out. and of course he did everything he could to keep her alive
i fear the stunt with the milk is what made plutarch really believe that haymitch could pull off the explosion in the arena
he watched this 16yo down half a jug of milk because he knows the milk might save the president of the country's life. & he's like "oh! that's the one"
so you’re telling me that lucy gray’s reaping was rigged, haymitch’s reaping was illegal, and katniss volunteered to save her sister? that they’re only tributes because the capitol forced the covey to remain in district twelve, punished haymitch for trying to protect his girl, and tried to send a little girl to her death? only for it to backfire when the capitol suddenly found themselves with three kids who refused to play by their rules? the three mockingjays of district twelve? you’re telling me that the systems of violence cannot sustain themselves and will always breed rebellion? huh.
Peeta Mellark is an integral member of the four D12 victors. He is literally the sunset on the reaping! How is this not clear? I’ve never wanted to report people for bad literary analysis more and I’m only half joking. It has forced me to commit a cardinal sin: analyze in anger!
1. Him being chosen by absolute accident is the point. Not only does he represent every single other tribute who simply gets chosen because they live in a messed up country but he represents how even with some odds being in your favor (older siblings, merchant family, being white, being popular, etc.) you are still very likely to be victimized by the oppressive structure of Panem.
2. When Haymitch says, “But she was smarter than me, or luckier” - the luck is all the people around Katniss who created the circumstances for her to lead a successful revolution (her father teaching her to hunt, the arena having woods, Rue healing her with leaves, Thresh not killing her, Haymitch consistently giving her support, her mother teaching her aspects of medicine, on and on and on) and Peeta is the number one, most important part of her luck in the first book. She has someone in the games actively putting her life before his… are you kidding? There is legitimately no better luck than that.
3. Even if we take Katniss out of it, Peeta is so impactful as a victor because most of his scenes would not be cut/doctored. What’s there to edit out? Instead, the viewers get a full view of him loving a girl so selflessly, using trickery and strategy instead of violence, keeping himself alive through art, joking on literal death’s door, and sharing so much of himself with the audience it becomes harder for them not to see him as a real human boy. How rare do you think that is for the games? Haymitch and LGB are caricatures of themselves in the games, playing roles that flatten them down. Even Katniss becomes one dimensional on screen without Peeta (and Rue, of course). It is also heavily implied that he does not kill anyone during the games (in a straightforward way) and even if you count Cato or the girl from 8 or even foxface, it’s never him hunting them or seeking out a kill - again how rare do you think that is to see on screen for Games viewers?
4. I didn’t think this needed to be said but: Katniss dies without Peeta in the first games. a) she goes for the bow and dies in the bloodbath; b) she is hunted and killed by Careers; c) she is killed by game makers because there’s no love story angle to keep them from just burning her entirely; d) she dies from tracker jacker stings or Cato because Peeta doesn’t defend her or tell her to run… I could go on…
5. But even if she does win and wins alone - the victory means as much (I would argue less than) any other rebellious victor winning, certainly less than Haymitch’s win. The biggest rebellion for their games is that two of them win! This is legit the only thing that distinguishes them from any other sympathetic, kind child who would have won the games. Like if Haymitch or Finnick or Wiress winning isn’t jarring enough for the Games to end… why do you think Katniss killing Peeta and winning solo would be? It would not.
6. And finally, I cannot stress this enough: There is no peaceful end to the rebellion or the trilogy without Peeta. “Peeta’s a whiz with fires” (HG) for a reason! Collins, over and over, shows us how fire can get out of control and destroy even those who are innocent and who you love (Gale, Beete, Peeta’s family, Haymitch’s family). If everyone really burns, there’s no one to clean the ashes. The reason not everyone burns is because of people like Peeta who can coax the flames in a way that is nurturing and consistent. I mean…. “Peeta fashioned some kind of incubator” is such an obvious detail. Those goslings don’t hatch without Peeta, life does not go on in peace and joy without Peeta.
It is no coincidence that when Maysilee says Lenore Dove got the “jump on us all” (in being a rebel), she is referring to LD using orange paint to make protest art!
We must stop pushing Peeta Mellark out of the narrative! He is literally the sunset on the reaping!
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