I just reread the Hunger Games trilogy and there is one scene I don’t think I’ve ever truly understood. Towards the end, when Coin suggests another hunger games but using capital children Katniss votes yes. But why? By her internal thoughts of something like ‘if Haymitch votes with me I’ll know how deeply we understand each other’ so it seems like she did have some kind of plan, but to me, I don’t think she herself knew she’d shoot Coin instead of Snow until the last minute. So what was the thought process of saying yes to the games?
by forthethr0ne
9 Comments
To me I’ve always thought she voted yes so that Coin would believe she is still in line with the new government Coin is putting into place and that Haymitch agrees it isn’t the time to start toeing the line of “rebelling” against Coin
Within the context of the books? I think the assassination was a last minute gut choice. So her vote should not be viewed in the light of her choice to shoot the new leader. They’re separate decisions.
In reality? I just don’t think it was a very well thought out ending. They’re teen-ya dystopia novels built on the spindliest of foundations.
One might just as easily ask how Peta’s baking skills meant that he could transform himself into a rock.
Squint too hard and you’ll find all kinds of issues with the books. They’re not really built to be analyzed.
I took that as the moment she decided to shoot Coin. Voting yes was her way to make the opportunity happen. She’s still a hunter and a hunter know how to make an opportunity happen.
From what I remember we, the reader, didn’t know what Katniss was planning. But I think it was always her plan to shoot Coin instead. This plan was a way to get her bow anywhere near Coin and being able to shoot her without being stopped.
The Hunger Games books are beyond terrible I only just finished them … Mockingjay was by far the best book in the series
I mean, it’s been a while since I read it but I’m pretty sure it’s when Coin suggests they continue the hunger games. She realizes what’s been made pretty explicitly clear throughout the third book that district 13 is no better than the capitol.
Coin does NOT like Katniss, so by Katniss agreeing to the hunger games in conjunction with getting to publicly execute Snow she knows that she will have an opportunity to kill Coin.
I know you say she can’t have known that she was going to do that, but there’s literally no other reason she would. And there’s also no reason Haymitch would also vote yes for the Games if he didn’t also realize that 13 was no better and Katniss had an idea to keep things from getting worse.
She knew in that moment that Coin was just going to be another Snow, so I always read it as her setting up her assassination of Coin by making Coin trust her. Katniss only agrees under the condition that she gets to be the one who kills Snow, and I think you can read it right there that she truly intends on killing Coin during the assassination because Snow is already a dead man anyway (whether his illness kills him or someone else does). Haymitch knows Katniss well enough to know she would NEVER agree to Coin’s idea of a new Hunger Games, so Katniss agreeing with Coin signals to Haymitch that she has a plan in place and that is why he agreed with her, he knew she was going to prevent Coin from actually doing another Hunger Games.
The way I understood that scene: Katniss had just come from meeting with Snow, who revealed that 13/Gale/Beetee had been behind the parachute bombs that killed Prim, rather than the Capitol. She realized that Coin was just as dangerous as Snow and had to be stopped, or Panem would never be safe. When Coin suggested another Hunger Games, this merely confirmed her fears. Katniss needed to vote yes in order to convince Coin she was allied with her (Coin did not trust Katniss through the book and wanted to eliminate her and control her because she was more popular than her) and get outside with her bow and arrow where she could shoot Coin and end the war for good.
One theme running through all three books is how Katniss and Haymitch are very similar and understand each other without words.
It was usually Katniss who had to figure out what Haymitch “told” her by doing or not doing certain things. This last incident flips it. Katniss is trying to tell Haymitch something by voting “yes” and now it’s his turn to draw the correct conclusions.
Both are deeply traumatized by their time in the games and both are eaten up by the fact that they couldn’t save their loved ones. Both would never agree to another hunger games and Katniss banks on Haymitch knowing that. So Katniss voting yes is Haymitch’s clue that she has a plan.
She needs to stay on Coin’s good side to be able to get close enough to her. Haymitch may or may not know that, but he indeed knows her well enough that she would never vote “yes” out of revenge.
There’s a little clue earlier in the book (this is Boggs talking to Katniss) how Katniss knows that she is on shaky grounds with Coin.
“Sometime in the near future, this war will be resolved. A new leader will be chosen,” says Boggs. I roll my eyes.
“Boggs, no one thinks I’m going to be the leader.” “No. They don’t,” he agrees. “But you’ll throw support to someone. Would it be President Coin? Or someone else?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it,” I say.
**“If your immediate answer isn’t Coin, then you’re a threat. You’re the face of the rebellion. You may have more influence than any other single person,”**
Katniss has outlived her usefulness at this point. Boggs even points out that her dying and becoming a martyr would be the most useful thing for Coin. So by the time the victors vote, Katniss influence over others is not outweighed by her usefulness to Coin. Voting “no” would be a vote against Coin and would very likely end in an unfortunate “accident” claiming Katniss’ life.