The Hunger Games may not be about music, but its heroin, KatnissEverdeen, is identified as the Mockingjay, a song bird. From singing to her determination to survive, Katniss is very much like the bird the capitol never meant to exist. Mockingjays are the offspring of jabberjays,birds the Capitol created as a weapon in that they would repeat conversations of rebels, granting the Capitol information, and mockingbirds. Because jabberjays bred before dying like the Capital planned, mockingjays became somewhat of slap in the face for the Capital (The Hunger Games, 42-43). In an essay Mary Borsellino writes, “Suzanne Collins has explained that Katniss is ‘a girl who should have never existed,’ an unexpected outcome of a security glitch in the Capitol’s regime, just like the mockingjays. She is ‘this girl who slips under the fence . . . and along with that goesa degree of independent thinking that is unusual in the districts” (Wilson, 31). For Katniss, her voice is personal; singing is something she never wants to do for the Capitol (Catching Fire, 39) and does not intentionally do it for the Rebels (Mockingjay, 127). However, music is a major factor in some of Katniss’ relationships.
Katniss is very connected to her dead father through hunting, taking care of the family, and singing. After her father's death, Katniss stopped singing. Katniss is connected to mockingjays, but she associates her father with them first because he would sing to them. Her father had a wonderful singing voice, which was part of the reason her mother left her wealthy family to marry him. This is similar to Peeta and Katniss’ love story.
Peeta tells Katniss that he fell in love with her the first time he heard her sing, and after his hijacking, it is her singing on a video that is the first time he sees her and does not go into a rage. Peeta tells Katniss about her mother falling in love with her father because of his voice. He goes on to tell her that on the first day of school when she sang all the birds went quiet like they did for her father, and “. . . right when your song ended, I knew—just like your mother—I was a goner” (The Hunger Games, 301). If what Sarah Rees Brennan suggests is true, that “[s]he won his love from afar by doing nothing but being herself. . .” (Wilson, 5), than singing is at the heart of who Katniss is and itreveals who she is. After Peeta is hijacked by the Capitol, making him think that Katniss is a mutation, anything that reminds him of her causes him to become furious. When the doctors working on Peeta’s recovery play video of Katniss singing “The Hanging Tree”, Peeta remembers her father singing it in the bakery and listening for the birds to stop singing. Haymitch gives Katniss hope by telling her, “. . . it’s the first connection to you that hasn’t triggered some mental meltdown” (Mockingjay, 211). Peeta does eventually recover to a functional level and falls in love with Katniss again.
Music is also why Rue becomes an ally to Katniss during their first Hunger Game. Katniss’ mockingjay pin reminded Rue of the mockingjays at home. She said, “I like to see [the mockingjay pin] on you. That’s how I decided I could trust you” (The Hunger Games, 212). Katniss chooses to trust Rue because she reminds her of Prim, her younger sister. Whatever the reason for coming together, Katniss and Rue become friends more than just allies, as the other tributes in the Games do. Rue is the only person besides Prim that Katniss says she loves, and Katniss says it with the lullaby she sings as Rue dies. In both the action of singing and in the lyrics of the song Katniss tells Rue she loves her.
The act of singing to Rue as she dies has a much larger affect than easing Rue in her pain. Borsellino explains how this act begins to unify the Districts of Panem: “The affect of this tiny, humanizing act—singing to a dying child—has immediate and far reaching consequences. Rue’s district sends Katniss bread. Rue’s fellow tribute spares her life. . . Boggs offers Katniss’ singing as a moment when he was touched by her” (Wilson, 34-35). The districts have no communication with each other, but the song that showed love for a friend when friendships cannot be afforded shows the districts that the Capitol does not control everybody.
Again, yoy can listen to the music I composed inspired by the Hunger Games on my youtube channel:http://www.youtube.com/user/LynneKlet/videos?view=0. Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment