Sumner C Period discussion
Mocking Jay- Susan Collins
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Shelby
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Feb 12, 2014 06:29AM
From the very beginning of the novel, you can see that Mocking Jay is a novel centered around war and destruction. I see a main theme evolving about how just because the fight of the war is over, it’s never really over. The affects are life long. Peeta is being interviewed about the Hunger Games and Caesar states that fulfilling your wishes in the arena costs you your life but Peeta responds by saying ‘”Oh, no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people?’ says Peeta. ‘It costs everything you are.’” (23). It haunts you in dreams and the terrors manage to creep its way into every aspect of your life. I know this is true because I have seen it first hand with a soldier I know, who fell into a deep depression post-war. We cannot even begin to act like we know how they feel because it’s something that has to be experienced to be able to truly sympathize with someone. No amount of words can do justice to how real the torture really is. This horror is played out in Katniss’s life and she thinks “the Games are still on…images flash through my mind: the spear piercing Rue’s body in the arena, Gale hanging senseless from the whipping post” (30). These images will never leave her mind and have even driven her to insanity.
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Katniss is laying awake at night bothered, when her sister prim notices and tells her that she’s good at keeping secrets, even from their naïve mother. Katniss thinks to herself, “she’s really gone, then. The little girl…who needed help reaching the dishes. Time and tragedy have forced her to grow too quickly” (33). Katniss’s little sister means the world to her and when Katniss really sees what the corrupt government has done to her, she is appauled. Prim was once this innocent little girl who tried to see the good in everyone, but now the bad that surrounds them has become to powerful to go unnoticed. Therefore, another strong motif in this novel is innocence. Readers see that it can be taken away in a flash without the slightest notice until it is too late to stop in its tracks. Once it’s taken it can’t be returned and that is what Katniss suddenly realized in Prim. She kept trying to believe that Prim is still that innocent twelve year old girl who only cared about her pets, but suddenly Katniss saw that she too understood the horrors of the world they live in. The death, torture, and cruelty that became a part of their everyday life will force anyone to grow up whether they are willing or not.
Katniss is visiting the wounded from the capital’s bombing in district 8 and their hospital is repulsive. She says that there are, “row upon row of wounded, in cots, on pallets, on the floor because there is so many people to claim the space. The drone of black flies, the moaning of people in pain, and the sobs of their attending loved ones have combined into a wrenching chorus” (88). This descriptive imagery helps to portray the horror that these people deal with. Their human life is seems to be irrelevant because they’re not an aristocrat or someone who has power. No one cares about keeping them alive, they just throw them in the hospital because it is what they’re suppose to do. This is why it is important that Katniss vistited them because she is their symbol for hope. While everyone has betrayed them, she shows them that they are wounded for a cause and hopefully from this their freedom will arise. At the sound of Katniss’s voice, “it brightens, erases the suffering momentarily” (89). They realize they are not alone anyone. She belongs to them. She is their spokesperson and because of this she realizes her duty and roles and how they need to be filled. It gives her a since of responsibility that is frightening yet reassuring that every hardship she will go through concerning this cause will have a reward.
The rebel leaders tell Katniss that they want her and Gale to return to their demolished homes of district 13 to capture their reactions for some videos to rally people up. It becomes very clear that these rebel people do not actually care about Katniss, they just want to pretend like they do because of the power she has to change things. Katniss stands there looking at everything destroyed and she “finds [herself] focusing at the sky – the only roof left – because too many memories are drowning [her]” (120). They have put her in this awful situation, not caring about the well being of her. They only care that they get good footage. She begins to realize again she can trust no one. Not even the one’s who saved her from death in the first place because they were just again using her for their own good. There is this reoccurring action of trust being broken over and over again. As soon as Katniss trusts someone, she is shown clearly why she never should have in the first place. In the kind of society she lives in, everyone does everything for the benefit of themselves. It is a lot like America today. Their world is centered around money and unjustified actions and Panem and the districts are said to be an exaggerated version of the government Americans have right now. Throughout the novel and especially since Katniss got rescued from the games, readers can see how everyone acts depending on a deeper reason than what it appears on the surface. Katniss thought it was a sincere gesture being rescued from the games but she soon realized she is being used in an even bigger scheme that is just going to eventually hurt the people she cares about and no one seems to even care.
Peeta is captured by the capital and they are torturing him as a way to get Katniss to stop the rebellion. Katniss sees authorities beating him because he warned them of a bombing and she cannot get the image out her mind. All she can imagine is Peeta. Blood like raindrops on the window. Like wet mud on boots” (145). This shows that she really cares about Peeta as much as she tries not to. But on the other hand, she also cares about Gale because he is her best friend. This is where the novel starts to portray not only government issues but the problems in a teenagers life. Not only does Katniss have to deal with her every move being controlled and watched, but she also has to deal with being torn between two guys. She does everything in her control to protect Peeta, but she is afraid it is hurting Gale so she tries to hide it. Furthermore, this imagery where the blood is like raindrops really paints a picture of the torture Peeta is faced with. He is so strong but even the capital makes him weak and scream in agonizing pain. The capital is so evil and corrupt it will even torture someone who is on their side, just to get what they want.
