"Mute and radiating implicit submission"

Rambling thoughts on "Sunrise on the Reaping" by Suzanne Collins

It’s here, it’s here! Haymitch Abernathy’s time in the arena, the long-coveted story amongst Hunger Games fans, has been penned and published and I devoured the whole thing in a day. Slipping back into the world Suzanne Collins created is easy and transportive. I was in middle school when I read “The Hunger Games” for the first time almost sixteen years ago (???? wow). Another read completed within the span of a day, my curious skimming of the synopsis on the back of the book almost immediately transforming into a youthful greediness that consumed for years to come. I love these books! I mostly love the movies, although our relationship is occasionally more strained and complicated.

Where “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” had a wide berth of in-world years to stretch its wings and take creative liberties, Collins is working within a more confined space for “Sunrise on the Reaping”. Sandwiched between the first prequel and the original trilogy places the story in a precarious place that demands a meticulous retread of past mentions and a thoughtful attempt at finding a middle ground between the messy chaos of Lucy Gray’s Games and the careful refinement of Katniss’s. Luckily, Collins is an author who is neat and thorough about ensuring consistency between her books. The limited sentences from the previous books that allude to the events occurring now are each addressed and fleshed out fully rather than retconned, widening the web of intricacies that link events and characters together. Dramatic irony is our best friend here and while at first I found that a bit… cheap?, the knitting together of past and future grew on me considerably.

One of the details that I initially found a little on the cheaper side was the reveal of a direct lineage between Katniss Everdeen and Lucy Gray Baird. The Covey’s forced integration into District life by the Capitol was a particularly striking detail in “Ballad”. Seeing the gradually erasure of their presence in the District is significant given President Snow’s history with the clan and the wider determination of the Capitol to flatten Districts into homogeneous bubbles. It’s a pleasant surprised to see that the Covey not only still exists but permeates through many of Haymitch’s internal thoughts despite Snow’s efforts to erase Lucy Gray from history. It would seem the lifestyle of the Covey, wandering and freedom of expression through art and escaping from the authoritarian Capitol, is like an ear worm, transferring from a tangible community into the very DNA of the series’s most significant hero. The songs of liberation are nestled down in the deepest depths of Katniss, a game of telephone that somehow maintained its original message through decades of loss and forced forgetting.

My reservations with a detail like this lies in how it changes the perspective surrounding Katniss’s own games. This newfound link between Snow and Katniss is one that I think unfortunately fans the flames of a fandom conspiracy that I find limited in thought and counterintuitive to the wider themes at play within the series. Reddit has posts spanning at least a decade about the possibility that Prim’s name being drawn in the 74th Hunger Games was a rigged occurrence, an intentional way of punishing Katniss before Panem even knew her name. The more expanded explanation of this idea relates to Prim only having one slip of paper with her name on it, making it unlikely for her to be picked, and Katniss’s illegal hunting activities, which some argue is worth punishing despite its minimal impact. Then after “Ballad”, her similarities with Lucy Gray and Serjanus added to the idea. Now her confirmed blood relation to Lucy Gray Baird broadens the target on her back for those who dabble in the conspiracy. Snow’s blatantly expressed disgust for the Covey in “Sunrise” makes it clear he hasn’t forgiven or forgotten Lucy Gray’s actions in “Ballad”, even after 40 years, and it’s easy to imagine some assuming that Snow is still out for blood when it comes to Lucy Gray during the 74th Hunger Games.

While there’s a poetic beauty in Katniss’s father passing on “The Hanging Tree” song to her, her singing it working in the same manner as the mockingjays that torment Snow in some of his final moments in District 12, part of what makes Katniss’s position within the wider story so impactful and crucial, I think, is found in the randomness of it all. This isn’t Harry Potter. Katniss Everdeen is not the Chosen One, a prophecy foretelling of her coming before she’s even born. No one is expecting her to take down the Capitol. She’s a girl from the Seam who wants to save her sister and is ultimately taken advantage of by various bodies of power in her pursuit of achieving that goal. She’s a rebel, not a revolutionary and that difference is an important one to make. The “Prim was reaped on purpose” angle rips that reality apart and casts it aside in favor of the appeal of conspiracy, which honestly feels like one of plenty of similarities that can be found when comparing real world societal habits to that of the Capitol citizens.

So that’s one little detail that sometimes feels more like a coy name drop to me. I carry a lot of respect for Suzanne Collins as an author though and none of her work has ever alluded to that sort of tendency so I’m choosing to believe there’s more genuine intention behind intimately tying all her characters together the way she chooses to here. The easy, and perhaps most obvious, reason for these sorts of revelations falls into showcasing that revolution takes time to succeed. The overthrowing of an authoritarian government needs room to take root and build up in order to succeed, it can’t be done overnight often because of the existence of implicit submission within a people and in “Sunrise” that truth is made especially clear throughout Haymitch’s Games.

Beetee, Wiress, Plutarch, and Mags’ involvement in Haymitch’s experiences helps illuminate that reality further. The seeds of revolution have been planted within the depths of Panem for decades and it’s interesting to find out at least one attempt at destroying the Games was made before the success of the 75th Hunger Games by the same group of individuals. The network necessary for a successful disruption is not fully in effect in “Sunrise” though, making the attempts both more valiant and tragically ineffective.

I really like the inclusion of most of our previous characters, with the exception of Mags. I love that little old lady but she feels a bit more like a nothingburger here than the others. Naturally, part of this comes from Haymitch’s perspective of her as a person. Collins has such a distinct way of presenting each of her protagonists’ perspectives and how, to an extent, each of them is an unreliable narrator. Katniss’s perspective is often shaped by her strong opinions and inability to see beyond her personal frame of understanding. Snow’s perspective is built on a calculative manipulation that is working to outsmart even the reader wherever possible. Haymitch’s perspective is frequently influenced by those around him, whether they be individuals he loves or hates, and his genuine opinions are often at odds with his submission to the Capitol.

For Haymitch, Mags is “someone you cry around” and while she provides some beneficial advice as one of his mentors, I find there to be almost no depth to her presence. Plutarch’s role as an instigator and infiltrator speaks for itself. Beetee’s guidance is essential to Haymitch’s direct involvement in the attempts at breaking the Games and is a clear link to how he operates in “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay”. Wiress’s presence as an able-bodied, quick-thinking mentor here is a striking difference compared to the Wiress we meet in “Catching Fire”. But for Mags, who is unable to verbally communicate with Katniss in “Catching Fire”, “Sunrise on the Reaping” was the only possible time to see her as a more fully realized individual and I don’t feel like the book ever offers that opportunity. She cares, she provides comfort, and that’s about it. Does Mags mentoring Haymitch make Katniss’s adamant assertion that they ally with her in “Catching Fire” more emotionally profound? Of course. But I think this is the one moment of dramatic irony that still feels a little on the cheaper side to me after finishing the book.

On the flip side, the expansion of Maysilee Donner as a character is one of the greatest surprises and her actualization is certainly one of the most satisfying to come from the book. Her steadfast fight for dignity, her snarky cruelty, her intelligence, her compassion, it all bleeds together into a wonderfully realized presence without which I don’t think the book would be half as good as it turns out to be.

But the greatest emotional payoff of “Sunrise” might come in all the ways Haymitch and Katniss are now further linked. The original trilogy does an excellent job of developing their relationship over time and exploring the similarities present in their characters and how they grapple with their roles within the fight to take down the Capitol. “Sunrise” succeeds in furthering those similarities in abundance and makes certain exchanges between the two painfully poignant. For example, after winning his Games, Haymitch is kept in a literal birdcage during the afterparty whereas Katniss becomes the Mockingjay in the wake of her own victory. A lot of other moments to point out in that regard but one that really struck me came in the demise of Haymitch’s Ma and brother, Sid. Burned to death in an intentional house fire, the two were found cradling one another, and that image brought a moment in Mockingjay Chapter 9 to my mind. Katniss and a team return to District 12 after the District has been firebombed to shoot a propo (propaganda spot) and that’s when we get the following quote:

It's not until we land in the Meadow that I realize Haymitch isn't among our company. When I ask Plutarch about his absence, he just shakes his head and says, “He couldn't face it.”

Katniss acknowledges a paragraph later as she takes in the scattered, charred bodies that she understands what he means given the devastation of the District, but the similarities now drawn between the fate of his family and the fate of the District as a whole paint a more emotional image that adds additional depth to his unwillingness to return. It’s not just anguish over the present circumstances, it’s the ghosts of the past still haunting him.

One of the things you hear the most about Suzanne Collins is that she only writes a new Hunger Games book when she feels like there’s something worth saying. The buzz of that was practically ringing in my ears while reading “Sunrise”, which comes in an especially volatile time politically. In an interview with Scholastic, Collins says that if the David Hume’s quote,

Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers. When we enquire by what means this wonder is effected, we shall find, that, as Force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular.

is all readers take from the book, it will have been a success. This quote works as the starting point for much of Haymitch’s arc and for understanding the position of Panem citizens as a whole, while also providing a bridge to viewing these experiences outside of their fictional setting. The release of the latest Hunger Games book coinciding with the second Trump term, over a year of the Israeli government committing a genocide funded by the US, and a worldwide rise in fascism, all supported by rampant propaganda, feels painfully apt.

Many moments within “Sunrise” draw real world comparisons. Plutarch makes a reference to the manipulative and deeply dangerous realities of generative AI. Haymitch marvels at the internal anguish of having the numbers to fight back but the lack of willingness to breakout of submission that reads now as a fair nod to the experience of many US citizens as Trump and Elon Musk butcher the federal government and its social programs. Near the end of the book, Haymitch imagines a list of things that could be done to Lenore Dove while she’s imprisoned by peacekeepers that reads, “Confined. Starved. Tortured. Raped. Murdered.” It is, to my knowledge, the first time the word “rape” has been explicitly used in one of the Hunger Games books, which feels especially pointed given the current trend on social media and now, unfortunately, the real world where people self-censor themselves when using words like “rape” (grape), or “suicide” (unalive) due to a perceived threat of censorship, implicit submission in action in an self-proclaimed democracy.

With an uptick in the violence the US government is enacting against its citizens, it’s also notable how much more explicitly violent “Sunrise” reads in comparison to the other books. This series is no stranger to describing its blood and gore, but in previous stories, that violence is mostly fast-paced, or often occurring elsewhere to be recounted rather than directly witnessed. Haymitch’s games involve a more frequent, prolonged, and detailed account of violence. His allies are all brutalized in a more aggressive manner than many of Katniss’s, at least within her Games. Louella, Lou Lou, Ampert, Maysilee, Wellie, Ma, Sid, Lenore Dove, each play a vital role in further exploring the brutality of the violence committed against citizens and in how their deaths are manipulated by the Capitol to perpetuate their propaganda surrounding the Games and their control over the Districts.

One other aspect of the book that stuck out to me and has me wary is how some of the earliest chapters read almost as though the order the books should be read in is changing. Before the Games begin, a fair deal of Haymitch’s narration incorporates details that read as though they’re meant to be an initial introduction to what the experience of the Reaping and the Games are. Terms and concepts are explained as though we’ve never heard about them before. An odd sensation given the fact we’re presented with all of these same explanations in “The Hunger Games”. After the epilogue concludes, my copy of the book also included the first chapter of “The Hunger Games” with a teasing sort of hook that read, “The story continues in…” that certainly perpetuates this sense that the order of the books is changing to where “Sunrise” should be read before the original trilogy. It makes sense if we’re looking at the books in timeline order, but reworking the book enough to ensure it becomes a new starting feels at odds with many other aspects of the book that rely on previous knowledge of the original trilogy. The epilogue especially reads poorly if this is the intended change, undercutting the emotional weight of the final paragraphs. Maybe I’m imagining all of that, or maybe I’m just old and resistant to the idea the way the series is experienced is being changed for a younger audience, but either way it was notable enough to be a bit distracting at times.

I’ve rattled off a lot and I simultaneously find myself feeling as though I’ve covered the most important bases and like I could write a thousand more words on the book. I had my early moments of incredulity, but to be fair, I had a similar experience with “Ballad”. With that and with “Sunrise”, the more I’ve sat with the story and how it perpetuates a larger conversation about the necessity of fighting against government authority, the more I love the work. It’s also just nice to fully understand Haymitch as an individual outside of Katniss’s biased perspective. His selfishness is given layers, often used in a manner of self-preservation. His insights about the Capitol fueled by a far better understanding than we could have previously anticipated. The sewn together pieces of the Hunger Games books has created something satisfying and worthy of inspecting on both a macro and micro-level and I appreciate just how much Collins offers to us as readers to explore.

One final, final thought. Some of the last lines of “Sunrise’s” epilogue read as follows:

Lenore Dove likes it best there, and I’m content where she’s content. Like the geese, we really did mate for life.

RIP to all the Haymitch x Effie shippers. We had a solid run thanks to the films, but Collins has seemingly lain that one to rest for good with this.

Thanks for reading!!! Desperately needed to get these thoughts out of my head and onto some semblance of a page. Might have more to add later on, might not. Who knows. Please share your thoughts about the book too if you so please, I would love to gab about it.