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Post by csc on Sept 12, 2011 20:08:32 GMT -5
No, he is dead allright.
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Post by Dante on Dec 1, 2011 12:42:38 GMT -5
This seems as good a place as any to share my thoughts on Mockingjay, the final book in the series - and indeed the series as a whole. Heavy spoilers to follow, obviously.
I was baffled by this book at first. I'd assumed that, with the breaking out of the confines of the Hunger Games, Katniss would now be free to act in a more independent way, be herself, and be a hero. In fact, her actions are more closely-controlled and stage-managed than ever, and she participates in meaningful action only very rarely; her presence in strategy meetings is almost redundant, and she serves no purpose on the battlefield, if she ever gets there, except to be the star of a few photoshoots. I couldn't understand why she wasn't doing anything important.
And then I realised that it had always been this way.
Mockingjay explodes the myth of Katniss Everdeen. All of her starring acts in the previous two books were entirely manufactured by others through highly artificial contexts - her personality was directed, costumes were made for her, she could only react to the circumstances of the Games, in which she became popular due to a completely false personality and love interest and successful largely due to luck. She wasn't let in on any rebel plans, she was just a pawn being used by both sides. The final book exemplifies this; even when she and her small group invade the Capitol, it's by accident and they never actually get to the presidential mansion. The only meaningful act she ever commits, that nobody else would have had the opportunity or will to, is assassinating President Coin, which finally destroys the last of her persecuting controllers, in an act which simultaneously destroys her public image as hero of the revolution and darling of the rebels. Her banishment to District 12 as a broken, immensely psychologically-damaged victim is the only possible conclusion to the series as it confirms what was always true: Katniss was never a great hero. She was nobody. Her image was the hero, and that was something which never belonged to her; it wasn't her. I'm a little bit astonished by how brave Suzanne Collins was in this conclusion - good and evil are shown to be hollow illusions and the protagonist is defeated utterly. I really wish I could've seen how the fans reacted to it when it was released.
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Post by csc on Dec 1, 2011 15:14:38 GMT -5
Nice insights, Dante. I had not thought of it from this perspective.
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