#also all of this applies to asterid too

[evermarch]

“like the geese, we really did mate for life.”

an interesting thing about the sotr epilogue is that, despite its placement in the early years post-war, where haymitch would be in his mid-40s, it feels like it’s set at the end of his life. his tone is reflective. he speaks often in past tense. he talks about lenore dove coming to him, and he uses her language, saying that he’s not sure he’ll be in the “old therebefore” much longer. how his liver’s destroyed and he’s not sobering up, even if he’s not drinking for the same reasons.

but this is the same book where we saw one poor little girl transformed into another. the same series where skin grafts grow easily in a lab. where “genetic manipulation” class is part of the core curriculum before university. where mutts with practically supernatural abilities are designed at will. where the capitol populace has a notable substance abuse problem. in my mind, there’s no way transplanting a liver, a regenerating organ, particularly in a district whose new industry is medicine, isn’t possible.

so, to me, haymitch isn’t near the end of his life unless he chooses not to pursue a future. which he very well could. as he says, “when my time comes, it comes, but i’ve no idea when that will be.” but i think there’s a lot of evidence that he would choose to stick around. or at least, to try. namely, his lenore dove telling him he can’t go to her yet. because he needs to look after his family. and geese, for one thing, have an average life span of 10, 15, 20 years.

whether haymitch is or is not at the end of his life, i think it’s clear that he has not and does not intend to marry or have children beyond katniss and peeta. but i think the wording of the line which best establishes that is notable. “lenore dove likes it best [in the meadow], and I’m content where she’s content. like the geese, we really did mate for life.”

when he reflects on the life he’s already lived, he uses past tense. when he talks about his life now, on his reasons for sticking around with katniss and peeta, haymitch uses present tense. lenore dove exists in both places. throughout the epilogue, she exists in the present. she grows older with him. so i think it’s interesting that haymitch uses past tense tense for this one line. “we really did mate for life.”

that’s not to say that haymitch ever “moves on,” because that’s a false characterization of people who lose their loves in the first place. however, i think this line is past tense because it makes this question, like the rest of haymitch’s life, ambiguous. it also opens up discussion on what “mating for life” means. it’s a statement which implies exclusivity, but i don’t think necessitates it. because it’s not true that geese mate for life. they mate until one dies, after which the surviving goose mourns and then finds a new partner.

there’s room for a version of haymitch, who lives many years past the epilogue, who finds romantic attachment again.

if he does, he would not be replacing lenore dove. he would not be disgracing their romance or defiling their love. and 16 year old haymitch, believing he’s about to die, caught in the throes of the exploding tank and grief over ampert’s death, knew it, too. he was “furious” with himself that he didn’t tell lenore dove to “move on” from his death, because he was terrified of her living out her life haunted by his death. even while he desperately clung to her as he faced his imminent end, he was hoping she’d go on without him.

to love someone like all-fire is to love them enough to let them be free to go on after death. and that’s how haymitch loves lenore dove. and that’s how lenore dove loves him, too, because she is his goose. except haymitch has never been free to go on. the life haymitch was terrified for lenore dove to live is exactly the life he does live. from the end of the book, we know that he is doomed to repeat the 16th year of his life over and over again for 25 years. there’s no reprieve until katniss and peeta come into the picture.

yet, the epilogue’s tone is entirely different. it’s melancholy, but hopeful. he is no longer the 16 year old boy living in a repeating cycle of his own tragedy. when he next revisits it, it’s on his own terms. from that point on haymitch is finally allowed to grow up. to live a life in the “after.” to truly enter his mourning period. for someone new to join him in this new life would not mean he leaves behind lenore dove, or that she’s no longer his mate. because we know lenore dove stays with him, and will continue to stay with him, always.

and it’s likely that anyone with whom he finds comfort in his remaining years would carry someone with them, too. there’s no shortage of people who lost their loves in panem, whether from the war or before. there’s no shortage of people who would understand that his love likes it in the meadow. because maybe theirs tells stories around the fireplace in a creaky house in the seam. or fashions snares in the woods around district 12.

maybe 5, 10, 15 years in the future, when his geese are all grown up and two new goslings hatch, he’ll be an example of a different kind of love. of how new love is not a dilution of the love that was lost. of how lost love never dies, even as life goes on. of how love is not finite.

regardless of whether haymitch finds something resembling romantic love again, i am at least comforted by the thought that his end is much more peaceful than we dreamed it could be. because he has a family again. and because lenore dove is with him, too. and, no matter how long it takes for him to leave the old therebefore, she’s waiting for him in the next world.

[venusacrossthestars]

Here is a more put together post of my thought on Sunrise on the Reaping

SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

I want to start this off by saying these are my opinions, and overall thoughts on the book. I do not want to argue in the comments or reblogs.

I've seen many say that SotR is a fan service; of course it is. People have been begging for Haymitch's games for years. HOWEVER- that is not a bad thing!!!

You can clearly tell the fan service elements with the inclusion of Mags, Wiress, Beete, Effie, Katniss's Parents, and even the Lucy Gray mentions. However they all play a part in Haymitch's story now and later on in Catching Fire and even The Mockingjay.

Mags and Wiress were added as the Mentors for 12 because we as readers already know about them. We see Mags first in Catching Fire when she volunteers for Anne, how she interacts lovingly with Katniss and ultimately sacrifices herself. We as an audience already trust her. So we don't find it strange when Haymitch seeks comfort in her. And it's at this point it's be 39 years since Mags won her games, and what is a good way to keep her spirit broken-not only training kids from your district to fail, but kids from other districts too.

The same applies to Wiress, we see her in CF, as someone who is already a little off their rocker. A victor who won her games in a not so significant, non-rememberable way. Exactly why she was chosen to mentor 12- the forgettable district.

Beete and his son Ampert were added heart-breaking inclusion and answers Katniss's question "do the victor's kids get reaped?" This is essential to the early seed of the rebellion. I was heartbroken at his inclusion in the story, but I see how it was necessary.

Overall, the addition of the past victors make it much more meaningful to us as an audience in CF when Katniss picks them as allies. We know what they mean to Haymitch, the narrative, and the overall rebellion development. And in the deleted scenes Plutarch switches the 75th Quarter Quell card. But it makes you wonder, was the 75th tributes rigged to ensure the rebellion? The fire was buring with Katniss and Peetas win, they had to strike while the iron was still hot.

The addition of Katniss's parents- Burdock and Asterid- is a welcomed one, especially seeing how it ties into the Lucy Gray to Katniss Everdeen related theory pipeline. Each of their bestfriends getting reaped, something Asterid then relives with her own daughter.

I've seen some backlash on this addition, the biggest complaint being "why didn't we know this in the original trilogy?"... Katniss was the textbook definition of an unreliable narrator. It's also entirely plausible that Haymitch distant himself from everyone- fearing their fates would turn out the same as his loved ones.

Haymitch also being the one to give Lorane Dove the poison is heartbreaking. Snow could've done numerous things to her, but in the end made Haymitch be the one to kill his love.

Suzanne Collins message is clear. You don't have to read between the lines to understand what she is saying in SotR. It's a warning, and one that is in your face.

It's a callout to leaders; past, present and future and a warning to leaders now and to come. Rebellions happen, they take time and failure, but they happen. And when they do no one is left unscathed.

Propaganda and Censorship are very heavy themes in this book and at times (IN MY OPINION) are overly done. I understand the importance of not censoring the truth and we see how easily the Capitol manipulates the truth of the games, something that all current governments are capable of. But it felt like every page I read had the words propaganda and censorship in it. But it got the message across.

All in all, I throughly enjoyed the book. I found it fansicating that Haymitch was the "original mockingjay" in a sense. It makes you wonder how many other tributes and their games were botched Rebellion attempts. Were Anne's or Johanna's also failed attempts? But we know that it took 25 years after Haymitch's games for the cycle to be broken. Victory is not won in a single day, it may take years but it will happen