Ivy answers “I can't stand that we don't know what...”

Rachel Dean asked this question about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0):

I can't stand that we don't know what happens to Lucy Gray. We don't even know if she figured out his treachery. What do you think? Did she die somewhere in the woods? I felt like he went off the deep end fairly quick at the end. I didn't want him to be so evil and heartless. Do we think there is a chance she survived? Climbed a tree and waited for him to leave? :(

Ivy

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[As Emma said, it's a reflection of the Lucy Grey Ballad that Snow never finds out Lucy Grey's fate. This takes place 64 years before Katniss's story, so maybe Lucy Grey lived (since there was no body we know of), went on to have a son who inherited her singing voice, and she took him to the lake to dig up water potatoes and taught him her songs, and told him if he'd been a girl she'd have named him Katniss because she liked the name so much. And after she died and he had a daughter, he named her Katniss in his mother's memory, and she inherited the singing talent, too.

I don't think Snow's fall from grace at the end was as quick as some are saying. It starts pretty early, actually, when he first breaks a rule to bring her food. He justifies breaking rules to do the right thing. Over the course of the book, his idea of what is right is changed by Dr. Gaul and her lessons, but he always does what he thinks must be done. To cope with his guilt, he justifies his actions to himself, as we see after Bobbin (the whole "kill or be killed" mentality, or even blaming his actions on the "chaos" in the arena as a result of no Capitol "control" as a way of further distancing himself from his deed). In the end he manages to twist himself a good justification before the attempted murder instead of after it, because as soon as he realizes he can't be connected to the murders, he's looking for a way to get out of running and go back to what he now knows is a safe bet at a life of comfort and luxury.

From the beginning we know he cares about appearances and every move he makes is calculated in order to be in control and get what he wants. I think if it weren't for his caring about appearances, his desire to get what he wants would be unchecked, and it's when no one is really looking that this desire takes over. For example, when he kills Bobbin, he takes solace in the fact that the screens were blacked out, but is bothered by the idea that the footage still exists somewhere. He thinks about it even more than he thinks about the actual killing. And when they're at the lake in the end with no one around to see, he's still thinking of how Lucy Grey sees him, and it's partially the idea that she doesn't think well of him anymore that gives him the allowance to kill her. (hide spoiler)]

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View all 6 comments

Gayle You're the first person I found who also think Katniss is descended from Maude Ivory! ...more
Dec 05, 2021 06:59PM · flag

Kelsey Did she go off the deep end or were we just getting Snows perspective? But personally I would of liked a bread crumb that she like made it to 13. Roun ...more
Dec 29, 2022 07:35PM · flag

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The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

by Suzanne Collins

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