#i just think we need to examine SOTR in the context of things she's already written instead of trying too hard to separate it

[sherwood-scribblings]

HUNGER GAMES (SUNRISE ON THE REAPING) THEORIES: the "sunrise" over the reaping is maysilee

I have been going so absolutely bats off the wall ever since the SOTR announcement that I spent a whole day formulating my theories into in-depth essays and backing them up with canon... here ya go.

So, after some analysis of everything we know about the saga, chapter 14 of Catching Fire, and how Collins writes so far...

I present my theory on the new hunger games book: that the "sunrise" over the reaping is symbolic of Maysilee Donner, the former owner of the mockingjay pin.

I think Maysilee is going to be a symbol of the goodness, kindness, light, etc, of humanity, in the face of the reaping, in the face of violence and war. Aka the theme of the entire series. Aka a symbol of defiance just like Lucy Gray and her kindness. I mean, losing all his metaphorical light is what causes Haymitch to become a drunk... And likely to become so protective over Katniss and Peeta.

I also think the cover is going to have a mockingjay and a sunrise. Cause, Suzanne Collins is VERY intentional about her titles. The themes she uses. The imagery. The covers. It's all part of the story.

HOW COLLINS HAS USED THEME BEFORE

TBOSAS was called "songbird and snakes" which was symbolic of the nature of good vs. evil.

There's essays everywhere about how the songbird represents good (in Lucy Gray) and how the snake represents evil (in Coriolanus Snow), how they are symbolically shown to have both natures by using both snakes and songbirds as weapons, but one nature ultimately prevails. TBOSAS is about the struggle between humanity's two natures, and how we can ultimately prevail in one or the other. The crest of the mockingjay and the snake, is symbolic of said theme. 

Songbirds represent everything Lucy Gray is—free, wild, untamed, kind, colorful, a singer, a performer, honest and moral and true and good.

Snakes represent everything Coriolanus Snow is—deceptive, cunning, ruthless, adaptable, charming, determined to survive, everything sly and wicked and game playing.

And yet, they are shown to have the inverse as well. Lucy Gray is also cunning, and deceptive, and determined to survive. Coryo is also caring (about certain people), honest (he's bad at lying, and in THG he agrees to never lie to Katniss), and enjoys the idea of freedom.

They wield both natures and this struggle is portrayed throughout the story. Hence: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Hence: a snake and a bird on the cover.

Suzanne Collins is also no stranger to complimentary characters.

Lucy Gray and Snow are inverses of each other, both similar and wildly different. They work well... Until the difference in their nature tears them apart. 

She makes use of complimentary characters to emphasize theme throughout her books, constantly. We see with Katniss and Peeta, how Katniss is war-torn, distrusting, afraid, how easily she could become like Snow, how her motivations for security could become corrupted into a ruthlessness to survive just like Snow was driven by his fear. She is difficult, jaded, and tormented, but underneath that she does have a heart of gold and wants goodness to prevail.

Peeta is her dandelion in the spring, her hope, representative of the goodness left in humanity, he seems soft but he is a lot stronger than his peers would think or give him credit for. She clings to him because in a world of darkness he serves as light, as a reminder that not everyone is selfish, that kindness and morality do exist even if she's inclined to think people just are out for themselves.

He is full of light and her darkness falls for that because she needs light and goodness to heal, to believe, to fight for.

He is her compliment, where she is afraid, a survivor and a fighter, and sometimes rude or selfish seeming, and struggles to show her emotions and how much she cares, more like Haymitch—

Peeta is kind, brave, soft, and charming, has a way with people's hearts, and yet also strong in his own ways and in his morals, determined not to let the capitol force him to lose his humanity. 

This nature of humanity, of goodness, of light, is reflected in other characters.

Prim is that role to Katniss as well. She is a soft girl, innocent, sensitive, tender hearted, kind, a healer, which is part of why Katniss loves her so much.

Prim is a reminder of humanity, which Katniss needs, and it's why Katniss chooses Peeta over Gale. Prim is also contrasted against Katniss. Rue likewise, is similar, she's a symbol of hope and kindness set against Katniss.

We see this utilization of complimentary characters all over— Haymitch and Effie, one being a crude yet intelligent and snarky arrogant tormented and drunken victor from District 12, the other being a prim and proper rich Capitol girl, airheaded, brainwashed, sheltered, yet endearing and caring all the same. They're polar opposites, but they work so well together, both as teammates and as friends. There's a reason the fandom ships them and sees them as the beer uncle and wine aunt of THG, as parental roles to Katniss and Peeta.

Suzanne Collins knows what she's doing. She knows how to write characters that compliment or parallel each other and how to weaponize symbolism and imagery for a powerful theme. (Katniss and Peeta, Lucy Gray and Snow, Haymitch and Effie, Katniss and Prim, Prim and Rue, Katniss and Snow, Rue and the mockingjay, Snow and Coin)

HOW THIS APPLIES TO SUNRISE ON THE REAPING

If she describes young Haymitch as arrogant, snarky, nonchalant, dangerous, smart, capable, etc... Maysilee is likely gonna be his compliment: kind, moral, gentle, soft, willing to call his more selfish means out.

She's the one who saves him and had the idea for the alliance. She's the one who split because she didn't want it to come down to killing each other.

I am convinced the reason Haymitch sets up Peeta and Katniss to work together as teammates from district 12, is because he did that with Maysilee.

He's doing what him and Maysilee failed to do. They agreed to break off the alliance, and look what happened. She died. Why do you think he's so insistent on Katniss and Peeta working together? That Peeta is keeping her alive, that she doesn't deserve him, that she should be more grateful?

Because he sees Maysilee in Peeta, and himself in Katniss. Haysilee (regardless of if they're a ship or platonic) is a gender reversed parallel to Everlark. Perhaps he's harder on Katniss because he sees himself in her, and kinder to Peeta because he sees Maysilee in him. For all we know, Haysilee could have even incited their own rebellion that the capitol snuffed out (suzanne said the main theme of SOTR was essentially propaganda and lies, covering up the truth for the masses).

MAYSILEE IS SOFT LIKE MADGE & PRIM

Further on why I think Maysilee will be a soft sunshine girl—because her niece, MADGE, is exactly that. Golden haired, kind, softened. Selfless. Everything the capitol tries to destroy. Everything the capitol sees as rebellion.

Madge likely got her soft nature from her mom or her aunt (Maysilee), who are twins. They also all have sunshine golden hair.

It's essentially implied Madge is like her aunt.

And guess what? Prim is a blond soft girl and it's implied she's like HER mom, who was close friends with Maysilee.

Katniss' mom was also a soft girl before the trauma shut her down. Clearly Prim gets her own sunshine healer nature from her mother, because Katniss is more is rugged and protective like her father. She fills in for protecting them when he dies, and even notes her mom is too soft and fragile to deal with certain hardships the way Katniss does.

If Katniss' mother is friends with Maysilee, not to mention their daughter and niece are both soft healer kind sunshine girls who seem to take after the rest of their family.... It's likely that Maysilee is like Prim and Madge. Birds of a feather flock together and all. Of course they would bond.

MAYSILEE IS A SYMBOL OF LIGHT

Here's more on why I think the sunrise is Maysilee. 

Madge gave the mockingjay pin to Katniss, from Maysilee. SHE WAS THE FORMER OWNER OF THE MOCKINGJAY PIN. THE WHOLE REASON THE REVOLUTION STARTED.

Maysilee is another form the mockingjay takes. Just like Lucy Gray, just like Rue—a symbol of hope and resistance. A tribute from District 12, so determined not to let the capitol change her true nature, to take her humanity and morals, that it lights the spark to create a fire.

Do you think Haymitch looks at Katniss, and sees Maysilee's pin? Do you think he sees the mockingjay prevail in the face of the reapings, and all he can see is her?

"Sunrise on the reaping" is a symbolic title. This is Suzanne Collins. This is how she writes. 

"A ballad of songbirds and snakes" summarizes the themes of that book, the nature of good vs evil. Lucy Gray is the songbird, Snow the snake.

"Sunrise on the reaping" translates to light, hope, new beginnings, in the middle of war and violence. 

Collins said this book was going to focus on propaganda, how the media LIES to people, puts them in the dark for easy submission, to not see the truth.

You know what you need to illuminate the darkness of a lie? To see anything at all, including the truth?

Light. You need the sun. A sunrise.

Real or not real? How do you see what's real if you don't have the light to see it by?

Sunrise ON the reaping. Not over. ON. 

A sunrise casts light ON the reaping. On the violence of the capitol.

Kindness and hope casts light on the bleak violence and darkness of the capitol. Our humanity is the one true form of resistance. It's the main theme of the series.

This book is going to be about casting light on lies and darkness. On the capitol. The book will be about light prevailing over darkness.

About kindness and hope being the truth that acts as defiance against violent propaganda. Against Snow's beliefs that "there is no hope for humanity, we are all dark and twisted."

This book will be the inverse of Snow and Gaul, of TBOSAS. If Ballad is about how humanity can fall into darkness and evil, Reaping is its compliment, it's about how humanity can be light and good.

All darkness -> light exists -> fire sparks

(Ballad)              (Reaping)        (Catching Fire)

(@ aurynauthor on Instagram summarized that for me<3)

Maysilee is the sun, the warmth to start a FIRE... Her niece gives Katniss, the girl on fire... Her mockingjay pin. 

Maysilee, perhaps, is the true mockingjay.

Katniss compares her death to Rue's, when she watches Haymitch's games. We thought Rue was the mockingjay, but... What if the mockingjay isn't just one person? What if the mockingjay is a symbol, something larger than life, something anyone with the kindness and heart and resistance to stand against evil can be? Like how Katniss and Peeta publicly honor and mourn their fallen tributes when they ought to be entertained alongside the capitol, who is aghast by such displays of emotion.

Maybe that light is some of what the capitol is covering up with propaganda in this book, but it escaped in the form of the pin and Haymitch's survival.

The mockingjay is everyone. Lucy Gray, Rue, Katniss... Maysilee.

Perhaps when Haymitch sees that pin on Katniss, he remembers. When the mockingjay becomes a symbol of resistance, when Maysilee's sunlight sparks the heat for a flame... Perhaps then Haymitch can understand why Maysilee saved him. Why he was the one to survive, and she was the martyr.

How her legacy and her pin lived on even after she faded from history, just like the mockingjay bird itself—small and insignificant, survived against all odds, becoming something stronger.

Maybe, even after her death, even when he forgets the good she taught him and he gets drunk to block out the memories of what happened afterwards, when he has to train up a girl with a mouth of fire and a mockingjay pin, and a boy with a heart of gold and the wits to survive, District 12 tributes, teammates, children he sees someone else in...

Even after the truth of what really happened on the 50th Hunger Games is lost to history and propaganda. Even after all the death and violence.

After all the darkness, the lies Snow preaches, that humanity will always fall into selfishness and survival and cruelty, that nothing and no one can prevail or be different.

Maybe Maysilee and her kindness was the sunrise on his reaping.