Post Hunger Games Syndrome

It’s still a hard read compared to the first two, but re-reading it now makes me understand the themes and the characters a lot better. I will probably go back to writing essays on them, since this is what this blog was initially intended for. 

I’ve been dying to write a character analysis on Gale, but I didn’t want to unfairly write about him until i finished re-reading Mockingjay. A little preview: re-reading the entire trilogy has not changed my initial opinion on him, but now I actually feel sorry for him more than just disliking him. Poor bastard. 

Re-reading it also makes me realize even more how much Haymitch cares about, and to the extent he is capable of, love Peeta. I’m halfway through Mockingjay, and I feel like, at least up to this point (i’m in the middle of chapter 16), Haymitch has suffered as much, if not more, than Katniss with what happened to Peeta. I know people can point out many instances in the book wherein Haymitch chose Katniss over Peeta, but there are many more other instances, though very subtle, wherein Haymitch sincerely cared about the boy, and without any strings attached. Anytime he has chosen Katniss over him is because Peeta left him with no choice but to do so.

And of course, the overall theme of war and children during wartime. We get to see and experience it through Katniss, and there were some moments in there that makes me think hard about our own reality, how what we do and the choices we make today doesn’t only affect us but the future generations as well. I think this book does this in a very powerful way. Especially since the core audience of this book are children who are growing up in a post-9/11 world - and with or without experiencing it themselves first hand -they lived most of their lives in a country at war for the past 10 years, so I am really hoping this book convey or at least make them contemplate what it really means to be at war and not be desensitized by it. That we need to aspire to be more like Peeta, and a lot less like Gale. I think that’s a more appropriate way of comparing Team Peeta v Team Gale, than focusing on that from a love-triangle point of view, which IMO is non-existent. 

Hopefully I get to write these three essays and more as soon as I finish re-reading the rest of Mockingjay. Ugh, such a great book.