Mockingjay Theme Of Rebellion

Everyone has been in a situation where they’ve felt it necessary to defy something. Whether it was against what a parent or teacher told you, or against some sort of government law, we have all rebelled; all because we felt a change needed to occur. In both Catching Fire and Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins displays rebellion through her main character, Katniss, as she sets on a mission to destroy the government and rid it of its dictator, President Snow.

Catching Fire portrays the theme that rebellion--or when we connect it to the real world, change--begins with one action. This theme is shown all throughout the book. One of the most significant places this theme is shown is at Katniss’ interview with Caesar Flickerman, where she attempts to stop

the recurrence of the Quarter Quell--a war fought among some of the tributes of previous Hunger Games. “...I’m not naked. I’m in a dress of the exact design of my wedding dress, only it’s the color of coal and made of tiny feathers...and that’s when I see myself on the television screen. Clothed in black except for the white patches on my sleeves. Or should I say my wings. Because Cinna has turned me into a mockingjay.” (Catching Fire 252) Throughout the series, the mockingjay has developed to become a symbol of rebellion and a symbol of hope for the districts of Panem. So, when Katniss is transformed into a mockingjay, many people in the audience were well aware of what this meant - the rebellion is starting. Cinna, her dress designer, came up with the mockingjay idea and was later killed by the Capitol for implementing it. The Capitol killing Cinna clearly meant that they were afraid of him. Afraid of how the mockingjay dress may have affected the minds of the audiences watching that night. Afraid that Cinna’s actions may have inspired other people to rise up against the Capitol. Through one action, Cinna and Katniss were able to start a spark; one that would eventually become a fire.

In this same interview with Caesar Flickerman, something else occurs; the other tributes who are a part of the Quarter Quell call out the Capitol in an attempt to stop the games. “Cashmere starts the ball rolling with a speech about how she just can’t stop crying when she thinks of how the people in the Capitol must be suffering because they will lose us. Gloss recalls the kindness shown here to him and his sister. Beetee questions the legality of the Quell in his nervous, twitchy way, wondering if it’s been fully examined by the experts of late...By the time I’m introduced, the audience is an absolute wreck. People have been weeping and collapsing and even calling for change.” (Catching Fire 250-251) By using the audience’s love and empathy for the tributes, the tributes themselves were able to convince many of the audience members that the games should not go on. Whether those audience members realized it or not, they were the beginning of a change in the districts. Many of their actions were minor, and some may argue that they were not rebellious actions. If rebellion, in this case, is defined as going against the beliefs of the Capitol, then some of these audience members were rebelling. “Calling for change” is a

rebellious action, as it means these audience members don’t want the games to go on. Most laws and beliefs of the Capitol are based on the Hunger Games. Therefore, some parts of the audience were starting a rebellion--or a change--all because the tributes took action and convinced some of them that maybe the games aren’t such a good thing after all. To summarize, these scenes from the book all show that rebellion (or change) starts with just one action.
On the other hand, the book Mockingjay displays the theme that both loss and fear fuel rebellion (or change). One example of this is shown while Katniss and some of her squadmates from District 13, the district rebelling against the Capitol, are on their mission to end President Snow’s reign over Panem. Katniss lies to her squadmates and tells them that she’s on a secret mission from President Coin, rather than telling them she has plans to murder President Snow. Her guilt overwhelms her after eight of her squadmates die because of this ‘secret mission’. “Eight dead in twenty-four hours...To believe them dead is to accept I killed them…[they] lost their lives defending me on a mission I fabricated...When everyone finally awakens, I confess.” (Mockingjay 324) This confession was crucial to what happened next. By confessing that she was lying about President Coin’s secret mission in order to cover up her plan to murder President Snow, she allowed her squad to trust her once more and they grew even stronger together. Eventually, they were able to conjure up a plan together to get Katniss into the Capitol undetected and kill President Snow. If she hadn’t felt guilt due to the loss of her fellow squadmates, Katniss may have never confessed her lies to the rest of her squad; most likely leading her to go off alone and causing her to possibly get killed. Another example of this is shown earlier in the book, as Katniss is getting ready to shoot a “propo”, or propaganda shot, to air on television for all of Panem to see. As she gets dressed in her mockingjay outfit, she sees Gale looking at her with jealousy, after watching her seek Finnick’s company instead of his own in a time of distress. “Well, fine. I’ve got rope burn on my fingers, I can barely hold my eyes open, and a camera crew’s waiting for me to do something brilliant. And Snow’s got Peeta. Gale can think whatever he wants.” (Mockingjay 158) While in this scene she believed that Peeta was still alive, the thought of Peeta dying by the hand of President Snow put Katniss on edge. It gave her motivation to fight her fatigue and pain so that she could shoot this “propo”, in hopes that her doing so would help District 13 save Peeta. Overall, both the deaths of Katniss’ allies and the fear of losing someone she loved lead her to think more cautiously, and fueled her passion to save the lives of those of her friends and allies who were left; therefore proving the theme that our losses and fears fuel rebellion (or change).
The thing these two books have in common are the ways rebellion is displayed throughout each of them.

One common way these books show rebellion is through unity among characters. In Catching Fire, this is displayed at the end of the interviews between the tributes and Caesar Flickerman, a TV personality in Panem. After being directed to line up on stage, Peeta grabs Katniss’ hand, starting a chain reaction. “Up and down the row, the victors begin to join hands. Some right away...Others unsure but caught up in the demands of those around them...all twenty-four of us stand in one unbroken line in what must be the first public show of unity among the districts since the Dark Days.” (Catching Fire 258) In this case, the cause for their unity was the one thing they all wanted--to stop the Hunger Games from occurring. Even though many of the tributes were not allies, none of them wanted to experience the Hunger Games again, especially since their chances of dying were much higher than they had been before. So instead of focusing on their differences, at this moment, they focused on the one thing they had in common. Something similar to this occurs in Mockingjay when Katniss and her squad realize that President Snow sent “muttations” to come and kill her. “‘It might be a good time to split up.’ ‘But we’re your guard,’ says Jackson. ‘And your crew,’ adds Cressida...We [all] leave the room free of everything but our scent.“ (Mockingjay 305) Instead of splitting up as Katniss

suggests, the squad stays together, knowing what it means for each of them. Staying together means fighting together. Fighting together could mean dying together, too. But they stick together anyway. They stick together because they are all fighting for the same cause--to end President Snow’s reign over all of Panem. In both Catching Fire and Mockingjay, the people unite in their rebellion due to a common cause. While the cause itself, along with the people, differ in each book, all of their actions are taken in hopes that they will make a change. Another common way these books show rebellion is through the main character’s actions. In Catching Fire, this occurs towards the end of the book, when Katniss attempts to end the Quarter Quell without killing any more of the other tributes. “My bow tilts up at the wavering square, the flaw, the… what did [Beetee] call it that day? The chink in the armor. I let the arrow fly, see it hit its mark and vanish, pulling the thread of gold behind it.” (Catching Fire 378) Out of context, shooting an arrow may not seem like an act of rebellion; but in fact, it is. This action is what led President Snow to bomb District 12--where Katniss lives--and kill the many residents living there. He risked rebellion in other districts by doing so, but he felt it was necessary in order to prevent the people of 12 from following suit and to distract Katniss from making a new plan of rebellion. Similar to Catching Fire, Katniss rebels in Mockingjay, but this time during President Snow’s execution. Instead of shooting an arrow through President Snow like she had wanted to all along, she makes a last minute decision to aim at the person who was to blame for the death of her sister, Prim. “The point of my arrow shifts upward. I release the string. And President Coin collapses over the side of the balcony and plunges to the ground. Dead.” (Mockingjay 372) In this example, Katniss displays rebellion through murder; unlike the previous situation in which she displays rebellion through destruction. But in both situations, Katniss’ displays rebellion. Whether against President Snow or President Coin, her cause remained the same--to end the imbalance of power between the Capitol and the districts. So, not only did both books display rebellion through action, but Katniss’ intentions and reasons for rebellion were constant throughout the plot of both books. Therefore, while different, these books are alike in the way they display rebellion.
In both books, Collins teaches the reader about rebellion, or change. In Catching Fire, she teaches the reader that rebellion--or in order to connect with the reader, change--begins with one action. In Mockingjay, she teaches us that our losses and fears are what fuel rebellion and encourage change within our lives. Although both texts display rebellion in similar ways, one book encourages us to make changes within our lives, while the other book encourages us to use our previous experiences to motivate ourselves to make changes. I suppose in the end it’s up to us; we either need to make a changes or allow ourselves to be motivated to make changes.