Hunger Games Question - For Fans

[goldberry]

For those who have read the books...SPOILERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the last book, toward the end, President Coin suggests one last Hunger Games with capital children as tributes.  Katniss agrees to it "for Prim".

 

I was totally freaked out by that, but DD says she was obviously just doing that to pretend she was going along with things, otherwise, why else would she have killed Coin in the end.

 

Is that what you got from it?  And why?  I was re-reading the books in prep for Catching Fire... :)

[JessReplanted]

Yes, I think that she planned to kill Coin and was making a point to show that Coin was really not much different from Snow.

I also think that Haymitch knew that Katniss had something up her sleeve because the two of them were so in tune with each other.

[reign]

I agree with your daughter. I also think Haymitch knew. I can't wait for the movie!

[Jen in NY]

You guys might enjoy reading this guy's (many) posts about the Hunger Games Trilogy.....

 

LOTS of great stuff here:)

 

http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/unlocking-the-hunger-games-four-layers-of-meaning/

[ocelotmom]

Given that this incident didn't register with me at all, I lean towards pretending. If I'd thought she meant it, I'm sure it would have stuck out more.

[Laurie4b]

Well, I think another possible interpretation is that she DID mean it. I think one of the points of the trilogy is not to build a heroine, but to point out how damaging war is. Heroes and heroines alike are damaged in the book. There are no real "winners." Dreary and sad as that is, I think that's what the author was trying to portray. Coin and Snow WERE alike. One power replaces another, and so it goes.

[Cinder]

It's been awhile since I've read these but the way I understood it she meant it. I don't think she'd planned all along to kill Coin. I think once she was in the position to kill Snow she realized Coin was no better. Snow had already been taken prisoner; the only hope for true change was to get rid of Coin also.

[goldberry]

Argh, if she meant it, I think it would spoil the whole book for me.    Unless it was just despair...I guess I could see that...it was so deep in her soul how things were going to be just the same, she was basically giving up at that point.  Then she was going to kill Snow (and or Coin) and exit the scene.

[Rhonda in TX]

If we as readers had known exactly what she was thinking, the ending would not have been the surprise that it was. I think she planned to kill Coin at that moment, so she played along so she would have the opportunity.

[MollyAnn]

I think she meant it. She was angry and wanted payback. There was no reason for her to pretend to go along with putting the Capitol children into the games, she was set to execute Snow in a matter of minutes when the meeting was called.

 

I don't think she thought to kill Coin until she was out on the balcony and started thinking about her conversation with Snow; up till that point she was in denial about what he had said to her.

 

The only motives in Katniss's life are to keep herself, Prim, Peeta, and Gale alive and revenge against Snow. Katniss is not a hero, she never intended to be, never wanted to be, and only went along with portraying herself that way to serve her own ends. Katniss is not one to think ahead to much. She is reactionary to the situation she is in.

 

One of the things I really liked about this series is how realistic Katniss is.

[Desert Strawberry]

She was pretending. She blamed Coin for prim's death. Only coin could have approved her being there. Gale's double impact bomb killed prim. The children were staged in an odd way, specifically designed to give the bombing the most impact. The only planes available were Coin's. Everything pointed to coin. Katniss had to assassinate her. To avoid suspicion, she had to agree.

[idnib]

I think she meant it and that the assassination of Coin was the Hunger Game Katniss was thinking of when she agreed "for Prim."

[songsparrow]

Yes, my take on it is that this was a deception.  When she heard President Coin propose a new round of hunger games, it was absolutely confirmed for her that a new regime under Coin would be no better than the previous regime under Snow - both were willing to kill innocent children for their political purposes.  (Coin is literally figuratively the flip side of the coin - an opposite political regime (communist vs. fascist) but the same underlying control and repression.)  Any remaining doubts that it was District 13, rather than the Capitol, who dropped the bomb packages that killed Prim and the others were dispelled.  And Katniss' resolve to kill Coin was set.

 

Katniss knew that the question was also a test of her on Coin's part.  If Katniss opposed the idea, Coin would not trust her and she would not let Katniss near her with a weapon.  (Remember how closely weapons were guarded in District 13 - as closely as in District 12 under the Capitol, where people were not allowed to have weapons).  Katniss had one hope to have a weapon in the presence of Coin.  The only way Katniss had to gain Coin's trust was to vote in favor of the new games.

 

Using the words "for Prim" was her clue for Haymitch, who held the deciding vote.  Prim would have been appalled at another round of Hunger Games with innocent children as tributes - supporting such a thing in Prim's memory would be a total mockery of her life and death.  Instead, I think it carried at least two meanings for Katniss.  One is that killing President Coin would be her revenge for Prim's death by District 13's bombs.  The other is that she is sacrificing herself to protect all of the innocent children (of the Capitol, now), who Prim symbolizes, just as Katniss sacrificed herself for Prim in the 74th Hunger Games.

 

And if you note, Haymitch doesn't say that he votes in agreement with Katniss, but that he votes "with the Mockingjay."  This vote is when Katniss truly becomes the Mockingjay.  For the first time, she is no longer being manipulated as somebody else's symbol; she is no longer a piece in somebody else's games.  She is standing, alone, against Coin's government.  She is willing to sacrifice herself for the people, who will probably never understand why she has chosen to kill Coin.  The people of the districts see Coin as their heroic leader; only Katniss has the unique perspective to understand the danger that Coin really presents.  Katniss has to assume that her choice will probably result in her execution (and it does lead to her effective banishment and labeling as a crazy person), yet she sacrifices herself anyway - "for Prim."

 

 

 

[Kim in Appalachia]

Your dd is right.  It's when Coin makes that suggestion that Katniss realizes that Coin is just as bad, if not worse than Snow.  She knows some of the things Snow said is true.