{"id":225,"date":"2011-03-03T07:00:11","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T15:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=225"},"modified":"2011-03-02T22:48:36","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T06:48:36","slug":"mark-reads-mockingjay-chapter-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/03\/mark-reads-mockingjay-chapter-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Mockingjay’: Chapter 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twenty-fifth chapter of Mockingjay<\/em>, we learn of the terrifying ramifications of the Capitol bombing of the City Circle. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Mockingjay<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taken me nearly a day to write this review. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d assumed that those nowhere near the Capitol would be safe. But the pieces were set up chapters ago, with Prim stating that she was in training to be a medic. And now she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gone, dead by a trap designed by Gale and somehow stolen by the Capitol to be used against them.<\/p>\n

This chapter completely fucked with my expectations. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still waiting to see how the final chapters after this unfold before judging Collins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s endgame, but my preliminary feelings are that, so far, THIS IS REALLY STRANGE. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not necessarily a bad thing, for the record, but chapter twenty-five opens with Katniss being physically and mentally removed from what ends chapter twenty-four. Katniss is burning from the bomb blast and her consciousness takes her to a place where all of the places she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been assimilate into a mish-mash of images, people, events. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bird, her wings burning, and she falls into Finnick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ocean. Collins weaves in the hallucinatory images through Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s narration, and, at first, I believed that Katniss had died, that what we were witnessing was a narrative sleight of hand, that all along, Collins had planned for this to happen. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more horrifying to me is that had Katniss died that day during the Capitol attack and had this opening section been her recollection of that, it would have been much easier to handle and much less frustrating to read.<\/p>\n

Instead, we witness, through Collins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words, Katniss realizing just how painful the past two years of her life has been, how many people she has lost, and how she has to say goodbye to her lonely, loving sister.<\/p>\n

The small white bird tinged in pink dives down, buries her claws in my chest, and tries to keep me afloat. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, Katniss! No! You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n
But the ones I hated are winning, and if she clings to me, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be lost as well. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prim, let go!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> And finally she does.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I guess I had a small hope that Prim would be alive after all of this, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not Collins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s style. In the greatest irony, one of the people Katniss trusts the most seems to have inadvertently created the very weapon that has harmed Katniss so badly, and has taken her sister away from her. So many people lost over the course of this series.<\/p>\n
But Katniss survives. The girl on fire (how ironic is that name now?) survives.<\/p>\n
In the dazzling white Capitol hospital, the doctors work their magic on me. Draping my rawness in new sheets of skin. Coaxing the cells into thinking they are my own. Manipulating my body parts, bending and stretching the limbs to assure a good fit. I hear over and over how lucky I am. My eyes were spared. Most of my face was spared. My lungs are responding to treatment. I will be good as new.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
She won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. She won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever be fine, will she?<\/p>\n
When my tender skin has toughened enough to withstand the pressure of sheets, more visitors arrive. The morphling opens the door to the dead and alive alike. Haymitch, yellow and unsmiling. Cinna, stitching a new wedding dress. Delly, pratting on about the niceness of people. My father sings all four stanzas of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Hanging Tree\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and reminds me that my mother\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwho sleeps in a chair between shifts\u00e2\u20ac\u201disn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to know about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God, Cinna. Poor Cinna. I miss his fierceness already. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sad he also didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get a goodbye, but it seems Collins moves her books along at a frantic pace and sometimes, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no time to grieve.<\/p>\n
One day I awake to expectations and know I will not be allowed to live in my dreamland. I must take food by mouth. Move my own muscles. Make my way to the bathroom. A brief appearance by President Coin clinches it.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve saved him for you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Holy shit, the rebels won???? What?<\/em><\/p>\n
The doctors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 puzzlement grows over why I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m unable to speak. Many tests are done, and while there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s damage to my vocal cords, it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t account for it. Finally, Dr. Aurelius, a head doctor, comes up with the theory that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve become a mental, rather than the physical, Avox. That my silence has been brought on by emotional trauma. Although he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presented with a hundred proposed remedies, he tells them to leave me alone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If anything, most of what chapter twenty-five deals with is trauma: the physical trauma of the war against the Capitol, and the mental anguish and terror it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brought everyone. For Katniss, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experienced so much that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not at all surprised that her mind has reacted to it like this.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sort of Collins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trademark in this series to rush through summaries of what happened recently, and I was reminded of the summary Haymitch gave Katniss at the end of Catching Fire<\/em> here. We finally learn what happened after the Capitol bombed their own children.<\/p>\n
On the war: The Capitol fell the day the parachutes went off, President Coin leads Panem now, and troops have been sent out to put down the small remaining pockets of Capitol resistance. On President Snow: He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being held prisoner, awaiting trial and most certain execution. On my assassination team: Cressida and Pollux have been sent out into the districts to cover the wreckage of the war. Gale, who took two bullets in an escape attempt, is mopping up Peacekeepers in 2. Peeta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still in the burn unit. He made it to the City Circle after all. On my family: My mother buries her grief in her work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So much information all at once! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m surprised that none of the other main characters died, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m surprised that Katniss did not succeed in her mission to reach Snow. I expected the end of this book to be one giant showdown between them. But Collins has a thing about taking my expectations and punching them right in the face.<\/em><\/p>\n
As someone who has suffered from abuse, from post-traumatic stress disorder, from many years of depression, and from some fairly life-stopping moments of tragedy, I want to give Collins credit where credit is due. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to insinuate that my experience with tragedy or pain is universal, or that it applies to anyone else. For me, though, I felt a strange and growing sense of respect for the way in which she portrays Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mental state in the many days after the end of the war against the Capitol. For example:<\/p>\n
I take to my old habits from District 13. Wandering unauthorized through the mansion. Into bedrooms and offices, ballrooms and baths. Seeking strange little hiding spaces. A closet of furs. A cabinet in the library. A long-forgotten bathtub in a room of discarded furniture. My places are dim and quiet and impossible to find. I curl up, make myself smaller, try to disappear entirely.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When my father died, I became Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother. I buried my grief in work. I only took a half day off, the day I found out he died. It seemed clich\u00c3\u00a9 to return to work the next day, but I did it. And it helped, at least, to distract myself.<\/p>\n
But in the past, detachment worked the best. It worked when I was being abused, it worked when I was being bullied, it worked when I was dumped, it worked during times of ridiculously absurd stress, and it still works for me to do. Hiding from the world and, inevitably, my problems. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that Collins has ever experienced anything like this before, but I felt a strange kinship in these pages with Katniss, that even a fictional character like this somehow knew how I felt, knew what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d experienced.<\/p>\n
She even seems to nail down visual triggers so well, too:<\/p>\n
Patches of my former self gleam white and pale. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like a bizarre patchwork quilt of skin. Parts of my hair were singed off completely; the rest has been chopped off at odd lengths. Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire. I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care much except the sight of my body brings back the memory of the pain. And why I was in pain. And what happened just before the pain started. And how I watched my little sister become a human torch.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so distressing is the thought that Katniss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own body will now become her own unique trigger to that day in the City Circle. And I hate President Snow for making it a reality.<\/p>\n
The time draws near, although I could not give you exact hours and minutes. President Snow has been tried and found guilty, sentenced to execution. Haymitch tells me, I hear talk of it as I drift past the guards in the hallways. My Mockingjay suit arrives in my room. Also my bow, looking no worse for wear, but no sheath of arrows. Either because they were damaged or more likely because I shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have weapons. I vaguely wonder if I should be preparing for the event in some way, but nothing comes to mind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
With this, Collins finally shifts to the evil, sadistic mastermind behind all of this: President Snow. It seems Katniss will finally have her day to kill him, and I really adore that Collins has made it so that none of us feel victorious about it. To Katniss, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meaningless. Snow took her sister and Peeta. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already won, despite that the Capitol is no longer and power. What joy could possibly come from such violence?<\/p>\n
Days pass until Katniss wanders off into a part of the mansion she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not been to before, a quiet area with thick, cushy carpets. When the smell of roses overwhelms her, she almost loses it, believing mutts to be coming to attack her. When they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, she moves closer down the hall towards the doorway that holds the roses. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guarded by two rebel guards, who refuse her entry on President Coin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s orders.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when Commander Paylor, the woman from District 8, orders the guards to let her in to the room of the roses:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On my authority,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Paylor. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She has a right to anything behind that door.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand what this meant, initially. Did Paylor mean that anything in Snow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s former residence belonged to Katniss? She enters the room, the smell so strong she almost can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t smell anymore, and looks upon row after row of colored roses. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her goal to send an ironic and necessary message to Snow on his death, and she finds the agent to send that message her in that room: a white rose.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a nice one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
My hand jerks, the shears snap shut, severing the stem.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The colors are lovely, of course, but nothing says perfection like white.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see him, but his voice seems to rise up from an adjacent bed of roses.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And Paylor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comment now makes sense: this is where Snow is being held. Katniss has every right to him<\/em>.<\/p>\n
He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as well groomed and finely dressed as ever, but weighted down with manacles, ankle shackles, tracking devices. In the bright light, his skin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pale, sickly green. He holds a white handkerchief spotted with fresh blood. Even in his deteriorated state, his snake eyes shine bright and cold. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was hoping you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d find your way to my quarters.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, I guess I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting what I expected from this chapter, but in a context I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have dreamed up in a million years. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the confrontation between President Snow and Katniss in his mansion.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are so many things we should discuss, but I have a feeling your visit will be brief. So, first things first.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He begins to cough, and when he removes the handkerchief from his mouth, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s redder. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wanted to tell you how very sorry I am about your sister.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh, fuck you, Snow. My god. Even now, possibly days away from his death, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still interested in psychological fuckery. Ugh, the way he uses that slimy tone of his to pretend he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sorry is awful.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So wasteful, so unnecessary. Anyone could see the game was over by that point. In fact, I was just about to issue an official surrender when they released those parachutes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d His eyes are glued on me, unblinking, so as not to miss a second of my reaction. But what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s said makes no sense. When they<\/em> released the parachutes?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Wait a goddamn second. What the hell are you talking about, Snow? Are you trying to skirt responsibility by blaming the bombing on someone else in your ranks? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T BUY IT.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, you really didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I gave the order, did you? Forget the obvious fact that if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d had a working hovercraft at my disposal, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have been using it to make an escape. But that aside, what purpose could it have served? We both know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not above killing children, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not wasteful. I take life for very specific reasons. And there was no reason for me to destroy a pen full of Capitol children. None at all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What is he saying. What<\/em>. I mean, it could have been a last-ditch effort to swing the war in the opposite direction, right? To distract the rebels by killing children??? Right????!?!?!<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153However, I must concede it was a masterful move on Coin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part. The idea that I was bombing our own helpless children instantly snapped whatever frail allegiance my people still felt to me. There was no real resistance after that. Did you know it aired live? You can see Plutarch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hand there. And in the parachutes. Well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that sort of thinking that you look for in a Head Gamemaker, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Snow dabs the corners of his mouth. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gunning for your sister, but these things happen.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
$\"\"$ <\/p>\n
I am so heartbroken right now. They did it on purpose. They tricked me. They tricked Katniss. I should have known; the rebels had control of the Hovercraft. Just because there was a Capitol seal on the bottom did not mean it was the Capitol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing.<\/p>\n
I feel so betrayed by this all. The rebel leadership is now no better than President Snow: they both murdered children in order to gain power.<\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t watching Coin. I was watching you, Mockingjay. And you were watching me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m afraid we have both been played for fools.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I refuse for this to be true. Some things even I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t survive. I utter my first words since my sister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Snow shakes his head in mock disappointment. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, my dear Miss Everdeen. I thought we had agreed not to lie to each other.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Heartbroken forever. I was never, ever prepared.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the twenty-fifth chapter of Mockingjay, we learn of the terrifying ramifications of the Capitol bombing of the City Circle. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Mockingjay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,5],"tags":[21,28,39,24,29,27],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mockingjay","category-hunger-games","tag-awful","tag-katniss-everdeen","tag-mark-reads-mockingjay","tag-mark-reads-the-hunger-games","tag-so-fucked-up","tag-suzanne-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}