The Hunger Games trilogy is published by Scholastic Books which company, of course, is the publisher of the American editions of Joanne Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. When Suzanne Collins was asked recently about her favorite books, she listed a few books her readers would have expected, a few that were real surprises (the influence of which titles was more obvious in Mockingjay), and not a single Harry Potter novel.

I think it’s fair to assume, nonetheless, that she has read the best selling novels of our time and that the imaginative experience she had inside the Hogwarts Saga and especially Deathly Hallows shaped specific turns in Hunger Games. The Shared Text of our times will be evident in most everything for at least a decade or two. Here are a few of the more obvious echoes in Mockingjay: [Read more…]

From Hogwarts Professor Louise Freeman in Virginia, thoughts on ‘Mockingjay,’ media, books, and truth, not to mention a contrast with Harry Potter:

“Beauty is truth and truth, beauty–that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.”  John Keats.

The Hunger Games trilogy gave us the harshest skewering of the media since Rita Skeeter, and with much less comic relief.  The first two books show the broadcast Games, “reality” TV twisted into a weapon of oppression and packaged as entertainment. Mockingjay shift gears into “informational” broadcasts twisted into weapons of war; they don’t even bother calling them “news broadcasts” but “propos,” a nickname for propaganda. In the end, there’s little difference between the two formats. [Read more…]

There are two songs that Katniss Everdeen sings for us in Mockingjay. The first, ‘The Hanging Tree,’ is new to us but is the heart and focus of the series finale. If you wondered why Finnick, then Katniss, and finally Peeta spent a good part of the book tying nooses with remnant pieces of rope, the answer is in the haunting call of the hanged man that they are heeding.

I wrote about ‘The Hanging Tree’ at some length yesterday and I hope you will read that post before this one on the other song in Mockingjay. That song isn’t named but we have heard it in each of the series’ three books and always at a critical juncture. For lack of a proper name, I’ll call it ‘The Meadow Song.’ Let’s review its appearances in each Hunger Games novel before attempting to explain why it is the theme of the series and how it relates to Mockingjays’ ‘Hanging Tree.’ [Read more…]

‘Unlocking Mockingjay: The Spiritual Allegory’ On Katniss as a Soul Seeking Perfection and Iconological Reading

‘Unlocking Mockingjay: ‘The Literary Alchemy’ On Literary Alchemy and Peeta as Postmodern Christ

‘Unlocking Mockingjay: Katniss’ Apotheosis’ On the Alchemical Arena and Katniss’ Perfection in the Inner Sanctuary

The first 30 Hunger Games discussion threads from the three weeks after Morningjay’s publication are here in one convenient location.  Every one of the threads has Mockingjay information in it and assumes you have read the book. This is your only SPOILER warning! (nota Bene: The first ten threads were started the first morning post-publication and reflect a hurried first reading.)

Mockingjay Discussion 1: Team Peeta?

Mockingjay Discussion 2: District 13

Mockingjay Discussion 3: War and Television

Mockingjay Discussion 4: The Pearl Plot?

Mockingjay Discussion 5: The Three Sure Things

Mockingjay Discussion 6: Series Continuity

Mockingjay Discussion 7: Gale Hawthorne

Mockingjay Discussion 8: Blood and Roses

Mockingjay Discussion 9: The Assassin

Mockingjay Discussion 10: Predictions Scorecard

Mockingjay Discussion 11: Review Revue

Mockingjay Discussion 12: Real or Not Real?

Mockingjay Discussion 13: President Hillary Coin?

Mockingjay Discussion 14: The Hunger Games Formula

Mockingjay Discussion 15: The Hanging Tree

Mockingjay Discussion 16: Katniss’ Meadow Song

Mockingjay Discussion 17: Books vs. Broadcast

Mockingjay Discussion 18: Harry Potter’s Shadow

Mockingjay Discussion 19: Shadows of Twilight

Mockingjay Discussion 20: A Children’s Book?

Mockingjay Discussion 21: What the Votes Tell Us

Mockingjay Discussion 22: Ring and Mirror Composition

Mockingjay Discussion 23: What Have I Unleashed on My Students?

Mockingjay Discussion 24: So Whatever Happened to…?

Mockingjay Discussion 25: A Week Later

Mockingjay Discussion 26: Getting to the Ballad Roots of ‘Hanging Tree’

Mockingjay Discussion 27: The Meaning of Prim’s Cat and Kat-niss

Mockingjay Discussion 28: Was Peeta Right about the Revolution?

Mockingjay Discussion 29: Is Mockingjay an NRA Advertisement?

Mockingjay Discussion 30: Hunger Games and the Lord of the Rings

‘Unlocking Mockingjay: The Spiritual Allegory’ On Katniss as a Soul Seeking Perfection and Iconological Reading

‘Unlocking Mockingjay: ‘The Literary Alchemy’ On Literary Alchemy and Peeta as Postmodern Christ

‘Unlocking Mockingjay: Katniss’ Apotheosis’ On the Alchemical Arena and Katniss’ Perfection in the Inner Sanctuary

I’ll argue tomorrow that Katniss’ ‘Meadow Song’ is the theme of the Hunger Games trilogy and that the reference to it in the epilogue ties the finale into the series, but today I want to open a thread here about ‘The Hanging Tree’ and its multiple occurrences in Mockingjay. It is the heart of the finale and a key to its most profound and challenging meaning. Let’s look at the song, where it shows up, and what it means to Katniss  before beginning that discussion.

[Read more…]