The latest installment of the Hunger Games series was released in March of this year. The novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, made quite the splash among fans. A motion picture adaptation already in the works and casting announcements being released has breathed new life into the franchise. The internet is full of fan’s theories, opinions, and hopes for the film and even future instalments. After reading the new addition I, like many others, spent the next week reading the previous books. I hadn’t read the original trilogy since my early teens, but these books captured my attention even more as an adult. Naturally, after reading and interacting with other fans online, I have plenty of thoughts to add to the current conversation. Spoilers ahead.
The cruelty is the point
Sunrise on the Reaping tells the story of Haymitch Abernathy, winner of the 50th Hunger Games. He is better known as Katniss and Peeta’s drunken mentor in the original trilogy, but this book illustrates exactly how he got there. On is 16th birthday Haymitch is reaped with Maysilee Donner, a 16 year-old daughter of the mayor, Wyatt Callow, the 18 year-old son of a family that facilitated gambling around the games, and Louella McCoy, a 12 year-old girl and family friend of our main character. The book doesn’t pull any punches. It is just as emotionally devastating as it is violent. Double the tributes means double the tears, I suppose.
The brutality in this book, I think, surpasses that of the two games featured in the original trilogy. There is a lot of speculation online that it may be difficult to make a PG-13 movie adaptation. With tributes getting beheaded, eaten alive, and disemboweled, there is a heightened level of violence in Sunrise that may be difficult to transfer to the big screen, especially with some of these characters being so young. Personally, I really hope they don’t water this aspect of the story down. The violence forced on the teenage tributes is a direct reflection of the cruelty of the Capitol, and by extension, President Snow. Losing this part of this story takes away from it’s impact.
Reading this book, the saying “the cruelty is the point” comes to mind. This is a phrase I often hear thrown around in regards to current social issues. War, oppression, and genocide that we see today and throughout history has no doubt been reflected in the writing of this series. The cruelty is the point. It makes the best entertainment. It makes the best means of control.
Integral themes: control and propaganda
Control is a theme that spans the entire series. Specifically Coriolanus Snow’s desire for control over individual people and the country of Panem as a whole. The original trilogy sees his control over the country slipping away. In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes we see his intense possessiveness over Lucy Gray. Sunrise on the Reaping takes another approach and we see Snow vying for control with the use of propaganda. Multiple times throughout the book, Haymitch describes the posters strewn about the districts and capitol alike. Touting slogans insisting submission to the Capitol is the only avenue for a peaceful existence.
We see more how the games themselves are another piece of propaganda. Not just in the ways described in the trilogy, like portraying the districts as barbaric. But, Haymitch constantly brings up the way events are portrayed compared to what actually happened. The rest of the country has no idea there was a horrible chariot accident that killed one of the tributes because it was cut from viewing. The true events of the 50th games are lost to history because the were so heavily edited. All of this done to sell the story that the Capitol wants to tell. That they are capable, powerful, and rightfully leagues above the districts.
The Capitol elite’s portrayal of the districts as uncivilized, brutish, traitors does a lot to further their power. The tributes in Sunrise on the Reaping are treated almost like animals. This is to a lesser extent than they were in the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, in which the tributes were kept in a zoo until they were released into the arena. In the 50th games, the tributes were frequently chained and at one point, Haymitch takes note of how his prep team refers to his fingernails as claws.
Sunrise on the casting
At the time of writing this, casting announcements for the majority of the main characters have been made. This has stirred up much discussion online, especially when it comes to the physical characteristics of the characters. The author, Suzanne Collins often leaves out descriptions of the physical traits of characters that aren’t necessary to the plot. This is something I personally really like, because it makes a wide variety of interpretations valid. But, some feathers are ruffled when casting choices don’t match up with reader’s visions. Most notably, some fans were disappointed at the castings of Lenore Dove, Louella McCoy, and Loulou.
A lot of this comes down to the race of the actors. Whitney Peak will be portraying the character of Lenore Dove. The only physical description we get of her is that she has green eyes and a red tint to her hair in the sunlight. There was no mention of skin color beyond her relation to the Covey, a group of people that are generally portrayed as ethnically ambiguous. So, Lenore Dove being played by a black actress shouldn’t be an issue at all. Fortunately, a lot of fans agree, but some who had a different idea were upset. There has since been a lot of support for the casting decision, complimenting Peak’s previous work on the Gossip Girl reboot. Many fans also agreed with the choice due to the actress’ similarities to Rachel Zegler, the actress that played Lucy Gray, a relative of Lenore Dove.
The casting for Louella and Loulou was another one people were upset by. Once again, we received very little information in the physical traits department. All we knew was that Louella had black hair and Loulou was suspected to be from District 11, a predominantly Black district. Many readers thought of the characters as people of color, and were disappointed when they cast two Caucasian girls in the roles. People were hoping for more representation of people of color in the series, but many came to the consensus that this choice was likely made because of a comment from Haymitch towards the end of Sunrise on the Reaping. That a young Katniss Everdeen reminded him of Louella McCoy, making him use the same pet name for her in the original trilogy. The young actress portraying Louella, Molly McCann, does seem to bear a striking resemblance to Katniss’ actress, Jennifer Lawrence.
My thoughts and criticisms
It’s probably obvious that I enjoyed Sunrise on the Reaping. I found it to be a very emotional deep dive into a well-loved character. It added to the previous book’s messaging and offered more insight into Panem’s history and cultural shifts around the games. I was thoroughly entertained and I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the rest of the series. I do have some critisisms, though.
There were a lot of returning characters, to the point it felt a bit too much. We learn both Katniss’s parent’s names (a cool detail we didn’t have before) and get to know her father as Haymitch’s best friend. There were appearances made by previous victors like Beetee, Mags, and Wiress. Of course, Snow and Plutarch were involved as well. Where I really drew the line was Effie’s appearance. Everyone else made sense, but Effie’s role along with Burdock Everdeen being besties with our main character felt a little too much like fanfiction. All in all, it didn’t take away too much. It just felt a little awkward to me.
I’m excited for the upcoming film adaptation and I think the cast looks great. I really hope the movie follows suit with the rest of the franchise and does it justice without taking away from the heart of the story. Suzanne Colin’s past as a screenwriter offers some reassurance, though we don’t know how involved with the production she will be moving forward. Overall, I think it will be well worth a watch.
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