MJ Philosopher Queen, Moderator, & Lexicographer

Characters

• the countdown to the beginning of an old film sort of flickers - but it introduces the movie
• likewise, Caesar Flickerman introduces the Tributes

• nourishing because she has kept District 13 alive
• "Coin" refers to money; money is accompanied by a lust for power
• Therefore, although Coin has taken care of District 13, it is for her own selfish intentions of ruling over Panem

• camera man from the Capitol who runs away from the Capitol

• Peat is used as a fuel or fertilizer
• Moments before he dies, Boggs gives Katniss the Holo to help her accomplish what she set out to do
  • fertilizer helps plants grow, Boggs helps Katniss grow

Words

• slightly ironic because Katniss is represented as the "girl on fire", and Peeta calls for a cease-FIRE
• in other words, Peeta is attempting to douse the blazing fire that Katniss has begun

• ashes - "ruins, especially the residue of something destroyed" (Dictionary.com) the past?burning - it's happening now: Katniss is being consumed by the image of the mockingjay blaze - Katniss is the trailblazer that leads the way: she lights the path to freedom
  • District 12 scattered, now only alive in memories
  • life as she knew it
  • Embers are like memories of her past - still war
• fire - Katniss' determination, her will (especially when Prim is sentenced to aid the front-line medical care team)
• damage - Everyone has been damaged by one person or another
  • Peeta has been hijacked
    • hijacked = play on words (tracker jackers - he's high on the venom in the sense that his brain isn't functioning in its usual way
  • Haymitch
    • scarred by the loss of his fellow tributes, the dead tributes he was forced to mentor, and the horrifically gruesome memories of the Quarter Quell he fought in
  • Prim
    • sees all the destruction caused by the power struggle between everyone
  • Gale
    • traumatized by his father's death, and his beating which only adds to his hatred for the Capitol; Prim's death weighs heavily on his conscious
  • Pollux
    • has been made into an avox; has lost his voice forever
  • Katniss
    • has been scarred by her father's death, Peeta's abandonment, Gale's forceful anger (which is careless and relentless until he gets what he wants), and the loss of Prim

Panem is in political and social turmoil as it struggles to find liberty with the hopeful downfall of the Capitol and more importantly, President Snow.
Mockingjay revolves around war. But how far will the rebels be willing to go? What price are they willing to pay? Already too much innocent blood has been shed, too many flames of life extinguished, too much death creeping amongst the living.

What's the big idea?

• Was it right to start the war? Do the benefits of the war outweigh the lives lost in fighting for a war they might not win?
  • The wars in Iraq are controversial - do we risk the lives of those who have dedicated their lives to protecting our country? Are we better off letting Iraq fight its own battles?
    • But isn't it important to do the right thing? To turn your head because you don't like what you see is cowardly - why not make things better? We invaded Iraq in 2003 because George W. Bush stated we were going to , " end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people" because innocent people were being killed and oppressed
    
    
    • But should we really get involved in a dispute that isn't ours to wedge ourselves between? Sometimes inserting yourself into an argument that isn't yours makes things worse instead of better.
• Death: the aftermath
  • The idea of gathering up the Capitol's children and holding a symbolic Hunger Games to express the pain and suffering of not only those who were in the Games, but the families who had to sit by and watch their children be slaughtered - is it right? Will vengeance grant the peace of mind that victors, families, and citizens so desperately desire? It's interesting that the idea sprouts from Coin because it shows her cold, calculating side where emotions and morals have no room.
    • Peeta, Beetee, and Annie say no and represent a more forgiving, kinder humanity. If they hold another Hunger Games, it makes them no better than President Snow and those people who decided to begin the Hunger Games seventy-five years ago. Didn't they rebel to stop the cruel, inhumane Hunger Games?

• Coin, Enobaria, Johanna, Katniss, and Haymitch say yes and represent a bitter, unforgiving humanity. They cannot forgive the past because the memories will forever burn in their thoughts and dreams. Incapable of moving on, they are stuck living in the past, and bitterness eats away at them. They wish only for vengeance, for a "just desserts" to make the Capitol experience the horrible tragedies they did

• But even if they did hold another Hunger Games, would it really quell the thirst for blood, for revenge? Chances are, it wouldn't be enough. Nothing would be, which makes the whole idea of "getting even" with the Capitol an utter waste of precious life.

• Connecting with today's world, the last Hunger Games can be compared to the death penalty. Is it right to kill someone because of the crimes they have committed? But if you kill them, aren't you too a murderer? What gives you the right to decide whether they live or die? What happens if they want to repent, to turn over a new leaf and start over? You have denied them that chance to redeem themselves. And if they kill someone, and then you kill them "to get even", someone who cared about him or her will kill you, and then someone who cared about you will kill him or her. The point being that the chain of revenge would never stop, things would never be "fair".

• What does the war strip them of?
  • their humanity
    • Gale loses himself and becomes caught up in the war. It consumes him to the point where he is really no longer himself. What Katniss sees is merely an empty shell of what was once the boy she knew who helped her survive.
• What toll does the war take on them?

• PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is "a lasting consequence caused by traumatic ordeals that cause intense fear, helplessness, or horror" (WebMD.com)
  • Haymitch is a prime example as a victim of PTSD. In attempt to drown his fears and nightmares, Haymitch drinks excessively to numb the bitter pain.
  • After Katniss kills Coin, she exhibits signs of PTSD as she withdraws from the world, sitting "on the bloodstained mattress, not cold but feeling so naked with just the paper to cover my tender flesh". She feels helpless because "Taking my life is the Capitol's privilege. Again" (375).