Book Review: "Mockingjay"

The Hunger Games first introduced us to a dystopian society set many years after our current society destroyed ourselves. Run by the corrupt President Snow in the Capitol, most of the country of Panem was kept suppressed. A key factor in maintaining the districts' submission was the Hunger Games, which pitted children from each of the twelve districts in a fight to the death. The victor was granted riches, the losers given an often gruesome death. Katniss Everdeen, a strong-willed, independent, bread-earning young woman, enters the games to relieve her sister, Prim, and eventually wins, saving her co-district mate Peeta Mellark as well. As Catching Fire begins, we learn their success will be short-lived, as the Quarter Quell, a Hunger Games with a twist held every 25 years, puts them both back in the arena. But it was all a guise for the rebellion against the Capitol, and as Katniss escapes the arena, she's scooped up by a hovercraft from the long-thought-destroyed District 13. Unfortunately, Peeta was picked up by the Capitol.


And this is where Mockingjay begins. Katniss is underground in District 13, which is run by President Coin. Everything is run with calculated precision, from daily activities to food portions. The grand plan by Coin and the rebels is to use Katniss, already a symbol feared by Snow and adored by the masses for the berry incident after her first Hunger Games, as the symbol for their rebellion. As a mockinjay. She agrees, so long as Peeta and the other captured victors are pardoned, among some smaller requests. She is granted her wishes, and starts entering battles to film good propaganda footage, which former victor Beetee intercepts onto national airwaves. All is good, until it seems Peeta is being tortured badly, especially after warning District 13 of a pending attack. Needing their mockinjay intact, Coin orders the rescue of Peeta and the other victors. But Peeta's mind has been hijacked, and he's so deluded he wants to kill Katniss. Katniss, meanwhile, helps the rebels in various areas, and slowly the districts fall to the rebellion until only the Capitol is left. During a strike at the Capitol, former victor Finnick loses his life. Right when Katniss is near President Snow's mansion, she sees her sister Prim destroyed in a bomb, an attack very similar to one devised by her oldest friend and occasional love interest, Gale. She's given the chance to kill Snow, but before that, she has a private audience with him. Snow says he had no role in the death of Prim; it was a ploy by Coin to make it seem as if Snow did it, so he would lose support. Later, in a meeting among surviving victors, Coin makes them vote on what the public wants: either the execution of all Capitol citizens, or one last Hunger Games with tributes only from the Capitol. The majority, Katniss included, decide on another Hunger Games, but right when she's going to shoot Snow publicly, she shoots Coin. A military leader from District 8 is named president, and Katniss is eventually set free after a trial, on psychiatric terms. She goes back home to 12, alone, and eventually admits her love for Peeta, and they have children.


My synopsis above doesn't give justice to the darkness of the book. There's a lot of talk, from myself as well, about how dark the Harry Potter series became as it neared its end. The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and others have some serious dark moments as well. But aside from Watchmen, I can't think of a mainstream story as dark as this. It's reality, plain and simple. Even after the Capitol loses, the new government is no different, reinstating the Hunger Games. It showcased over and over the psychological trauma experiences by former victors: Annie Cresta, Finnick Odair, Peeta Mellark, and Katniss. And not to mentioned Haymitch, who escapes into alcohol to ease his psychological issues. People die left and right, and the death of Prim was particularly jarring and sad. Collins held nothing back, it seems, with her final installment. We don't get a happy ending. Sure, Katniss and Peeta have a family, but at what cost? Her children play on the ground under which her town, her friends, her entire life perished. She may never be the same psychologically again.


People critique Mockinjay for making Katniss a weaker character. But she went through so much, it's almost inevitable that she would succumb to the stress, and the realization of the horrors she's lived through and committed just to stay alive. It's really a strong ending and a strong book, I think, but not if you just focus on Katniss being a strong character. It's not a story about love, either, although that's present in the book. It's the story of rebellion, but unlike Star Wars, the rebels aren't really the good guys. They're just more of the same; they killed Prim along with dozens of other children, just to expedite the war's end. Absolute power corrupts, and human nature is inherently bad, at least that's what we get in this book. There are good people, but in the end, our nature makes life miserable. We kill each other, steal, torture, sometimes for no good reason. And the innocent suffer, like the tribues, or die, like Prim and the members of District 12.


I think this was a courageous way to end her series, not on a high note, but on an out-of-tune neutral note. Did things get better? Maybe in the short-term. It's no Harry Potter, where everything seems so happy at the end. It's a world I wouldn't want to live in, but a refreshingly realistic ending to a well-done, if rather simple story.