Plants on the Reaping: Botanical Symbols on a Sunrise First Read

With Sunrise on the Reaping being told from Haymitch Abernathy’s perspective, I had high hopes for more insights from District 12, Appalachia, my very own stomping ground.

Those hopes have not been disappointed. In the coming weeks, with re-reads, I’ll be posting more thoughts from my scrappy district, home of rascals and jackasses alike. For my thoughts after a first read, I thought we’d focus on one of my favorite motifs from the original trilogy: plants, particularly those native to Appalachia, both now and in the distant dark future of Panem. Botanicals, both literal and symbolic, crop up all over the novel, and they are a particular favorite of mine, as I research and present historical programs on medicinal plants in particular. So let’s take a tiptoe through the garden. Beware: spoilers abound, so, if you haven’t finished your own first read, wait outside the gate.

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Why Leia Matters, Part 2: Literary Impact

Image result for princess leia

Last week, we were treated to Emily Strand’s outstanding post on the origins of the character of Princess Leia, whose cultural value we have never doubted, though the recent death of the woman who embodied Leia, the one-of-a-kind Carrie Fisher, has certainly prompted more serious thought on this remarkable character who is so much more than a distinctive hairdo.  As we saw last week, Leia has complex roots woven throughout literature, film, and history. As we’ll see this week, Leia herself has had a profound influence on a variety of arts in the last 40 years, most notably, literature, especially the literature we study and enjoy here. So, join me for that chat after the jump (to the next page, not to hyperspace; this is much safer, with no need for precise calculations to avoid flying right through a star or landing too close to a supernova).

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