In My Next Life, I Would Like A Chance To Be Soft - And Not Get Belittled

the thing that always breaks my heart about benji ovich is just… how good he is. how selfless. how kind. how he helps people without expecting anything in return, without even asking for acknowledgement. he just has such a strong, solid moral streak, far superior to that of his peers and even those of the adults around him. 

he stops bobo from attacking amat in his fury after their first training session together, saving amat (whom he just met) from potentially serious injury. he splits with kevin, his best friend and the boy he’s loved for years, for the unforgivable act of hurting an innocent girl. he’s one of the first few people to believe maya and take her side. he wrecks an entire bathroom in school just so she doesn’t get in trouble for smashing the mirror, taking on all the blame for himself. he steps aside in the bathroom as she’s storming out so that she doesn’t physically touch him and relive her trauma. time and time again he throws himself in the line of fire to protect the people around him, even those he barely knows. 

and in spite of all that he still truly believes himself to be a monster. he’s convinced that he’s beyond redemption, that something inside him is irreparably damaged. he doesn’t want to be saved because he doesn’t think he deserves it. he gets high and starts fights and shuts people out because he’s afraid of those he loves seeing how gentle and vulnerable he truly is. despite being one of the most self-sacrificing and considerate individuals in beartown, he still makes himself out to be the villain.

it just gets me every time, man. 

Themes of Implicit Submission in The Hunger Games (Book One)

I’ve just finished re-reading The Hunger Games (book one) and there are a few themes that I expect SOTR will develop based on Hume’s implicit submission theory. Specifically, these are the main six tactics I believe the Capitol uses to thwart another rebellion present in the first book alone: 

Societal Pressure:

District 12 has a “keep your head down” culture. Any talks of rebellion are frowned upon. Any anti-government statements will cause social repercussions. It’s not just Katniss rolling her eyes at Gale in the woods, it’s how she has been groomed by the culture to keep quiet about the issues pervading life in the district:

“When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually, I understood this would only lead us to more trouble. So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts. Do my work quietly in school. Make only polite small talk in the public market. Discuss little more than trades in the Hob.… Even at home, where I am less pleasant, I avoid discussing tricky topics. Like the reaping, or food shortages, or the Hunger Games. Prim might begin to repeat my words and then where would we be?” (p.6)

All of this proceeds the statement:

“Even here, in the middle of nowhere, you worry someone might overhear you.” (p. 5)

Under this point, it is also telling that during the reaping ceremony, Katniss says the “boldest form of dissent [the audience] can manage,” is silence. Not outrage, not yelling, not like district 11, but silence (p. 24).

2. Division between Classes 

The Capitol has created conflict within the districts to draw hatred to a local target. In the case of the first book, Gale remarks tesserae is a tactic to keep them divided. 

“Gale knows his anger at Madge is misdirected. On other days, deep in the woods, I’ve listened to him rant about how the tesserae are just another tool to cause misery in our district. A way to plant hatred between the starving workers of the Seam and those who can generally count on supper and thereby ensure we will never trust one another. “It’s to the Capitol’s advantage to have us divided among ourselves,” he might say if there were no ears to hear but mine.” (p. 14)

Interestingly, tesserae is already known as the “courtesy of the capitol” as stamped on Haymitch’s shorts in SOTR. The Capitol markets tesserae as something it does out of goodness. It attempts to make itself seem well-intentioned via the distribution of necessary goods. It’s their courtesy, after all. 

This point also includes the division between the districts. In the games, Katniss remarks how allying with the careers is essentially traitorous. 

“No one from District 12 would think of doing such a thing! Career tributes are overly vicious, arrogant, better fed, but only because they’re the Capitol’s lapdogs.” (p. 162)

By treating certain districts better, the Capitol promotes distrust between the districts, dampening potential unionization with planted hatred. By choosing favorite children, the parent that is the Capitol forces the districts to fight. 

3. Weaponized Language

The name of the Treaty of Treason, the treaty that makes the Hunger Games necessary per the law, is definitive of how the districts are forced to see themselves. They are the ones who committed treason by rebelling, and therefore they are guilty. They must repent by sending the children to the games. The permanent treaty, read during every reaping ceremony, enforces the guilt the districts are supposed to feel. In turn, the fact it is a “treaty” means the districts must have agreed to and signed it. Regardless of the circumstances around the signing of the treaty, the capitol then has the ability to wave it over their heads henceforth. 

The name itself points a finger and keeps the districts forever at fault. 

Furthermore, the fact Katniss is referred to by her district number until and even after she is given something to remember her by (the fire) further dehumanizes the tributes. During the parade, she says the citizens of the capitol have liked her and Peeta enough to "read the program" and learn their names (p. 70).

There are many more examples of villainizing and dehumanizing language in the book, but I have chosen those examples for the sake of brevity.

4. Propagandizing Education

A major theme in many dystopian novels is how the system treats education. In District 12, Katniss tells the reader:

“Besides basic reading and math, most of our instruction is coal-related. Except for the weekly lecture on the history of Panem. It’s mostly a lot of blather about what we owe the Capitol.” (p. 42)

A weekly lecture in a school is quite a lot of time to devote to any one subject. Seeing as how the rest of their curriculum revolves around district-specific content, the weekly lecture must be mandated across all districts, likely leaving the rest up to the discretion of the district itself. The Capitol once again emphasizes how the districts were wrong. It is repeated week after week, and eventually, it becomes ingrained in the social psychology of the district. 

5. Hunger and Deprivation of Needs

Continuing from the section about Katniss knows the weekly lecture must be propaganda, saying,

“I know there must be more than they’re telling us, an actual account of what happened during the rebellion. But I don’t spend much time thinking about it. Whatever the truth is, I don’t see how it will help me get food on the table.” (p. 42)

This point coincides with my second point about the division of classes. By keeping the people hungry, they are too busy thinking about the lowest rung on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. They see those who have food, and they are the opposition in front of them, rather than examining the source of the problem. By keeping the people hungry, they are less likely to have the time or ability to even think about a collective uprising. 

6. Limiting Flow of Information

The Capitol limits the flow of information between districts. In doing so, the districts are forced to make bridging assumptions about one another. This is revealed through Katniss and Rue’s discussion in the games: 

“It’s interesting, hearing about her life. We have so little communication with anyone outside our district. In fact, I wonder if the Gamemakers are blocking out our conversation, because even though the information seems harmless, they don’t want people in different districts to know about one another.” (p. 203)

By keeping them separate, they can turn any district against another. They rely solely on the Capitol for information about other districts, and therefore the Capitol has all of the power. 

Interestingly, another division between classes is shown through Peeta’s knowledge about other districts. He knows the different types of bread from the districts, implying the merchant class may have more access to information than those of the seam, leading to further division between classes. 

All in all, these are the themes I expect to be addressed in SOTR based on the pretense of implicit submission.

People need to understand that Zutara isn't about Zuko being the hot and sexy dream guy that makes Katara swoon. It's about their complimentary Tired Parent™️ energy and the fact that Zuko is—at all times—slightly terrified of Katara in the most smitten way possible.

I am convinced that it happened.

I have an everlark headcanon now, that after their “you love me. real or not real?”/“real” moment, it’s like a barrier breaks for katniss and she can’t stop saying “i love you” to peeta. she’ll put her hands up to her cheeks to feel her smile as she says it. she’ll whisper it to him again and again as they lie in bed. she’ll make herself smile as she thinks it while watching him work and will just blurt it out at random when peeta doesn’t even expect it. she’ll say it in a sing song way, in a hushed way, in a breathy way. she’ll just love that she can finally vocalise what she’s felt for so long and she’ll want him to know it all the time.

ah yes

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark in the first Hunger Games makes me want to pinch his little cheek and ruffle his hair, in Mockingjay I would like to wrap him up in a blanket, give him little kisses on the forehead, and keep him in a safe place forever. In Catching Fire however…I’m about to make the baby rumor he started true.

Ppl rlly be complaining about the decision to cast Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, saying that he's "too hot" to dislike him when that's exactly the whole point of the saga — to make you forget about the cruelty of everything and focus only on the "pretty side". And that's literally panem et circenses.

Agh I'm so mad💀

THIS

In the first book, Peeta is stung by tracker jackers, has the presense of mind to go back and find Katniss, shoos her away when Cato (who has also been stung) arrives, and gets severely injured but somehow not killed. (I think that's because both of them were hallucinating/willing to get out of there before their symptoms get worse).

He then proceeds to walk far enough for Katniss to have to track him for a while, find a good hiding spot close to a water source and camouphlage himself so well that even Katniss, a skilled hunter, couldn't find him. He did all that with a severely injured leg and three tracker jacker stings. He pushed the collapsing in hallucinations part for a long time. And then he stayed there for a week, infected, with no food, and didn't die.

In Catching Fire, Peeta gets electrocuted by the force field early on, and Finnick resuscitates him. He's young and healthy, and he wakes up, but electrocution alone would have left him painfully sore for a long time afterwards. All of his muscles would have contracted extremely hard and possibly spasmed when he was hit by the current, not to mention he was thrown forcefully back unconscious. I read a post a long time ago that described it as "feeling like he had the most brutal workout in his life". And then CPR is having someone literally pound on your sternum with enough force to get your heart to pump, multiple times. It hurts A LOT to be at the recieving end of it. And the muscle soreness takes days to go away.

Peeta literally spent the following days continually hiking, in the heat, with no water (until they figured it out), after all of that. He barely got any chance to recover, and a couple days later he was also taking turns with Finnick carrying Beetee on his back. Not to mention everything else that the others also went through. Oh, yeah, and he's got an amputated leg.

Talk about a strong constitution.

once the quell starts, every kiss between katniss and peeta is so soft and natural. a light kiss before parting for the quell (cf, 75). another one as a greeting in the arena (cf, 77).

and, like almost everything katniss and peeta do in the quell arena, it is reminiscent of a married couple. two people who know each other so intimately and deeply that kisses and affection become a part of their routine.

and after the intensity of the beach scene, their relationship takes on a new softness, returning to that married-stage with a new reverence.

and so when katniss takes peeta's face in her hands and kisses him before they split up at the end of the quell, it parallels the kisses that peeta gave to her before the quell began (cf, 105). the ones that acted as a reassurance that they would see each other soon. the ones that promised reunion.

but, of course, the rebellion had other plans. and katniss and peeta never did get a reunion kiss. 

and so, at the beginning of mockingjay, katniss is left sitting on her bed. rocking her body as she rolls the pearl between her lips. still waiting for her reunion kiss. weeks later. trying to sooth herself with the memory of peeta (mj, 32).

and that is what makes it even more tragic when katniss runs to kiss peeta after his arrival in district thirteen. because it seems like she will finally get the reunion that she has been waiting for. the one started with the kiss under the lightning tree that begged to be resolved (mj, 152).

but it didn't resolve. because her peeta doesn't show up. and instead of a soft kiss, she get bruises.

so, she is still left holding onto the pearl, trying to remember the boy with the bread (mj, 168). the one that she feels is so far away from her. the one still in snow's grasp.

and katniss gives up. she wants nothing to do with the stranger that bares her beloved's face. 

but when it truly seems like she might lose her precious boy with the bread forever in the winding capitol tunnels, she leans down and kisses him fully (mj, 267). 

and this kiss is not like everlark's soft, routine kisses. or their empassioned kisses like the beach scene.

instead, the kiss hidden deep in the capitol tunnels is one that solidifies the two lovers together. one that is begging him to stay with her. one that is pleading for him to not let snow take him away for good.

it is a kiss meant to remind peeta of who he is. and who katniss is. and who they are. a kiss that is meant to say everything that they don't have time for. 

a kiss that signals an ultimate, long-awaited reunion.

and many graces. the hunger games, m, peeta/katniss. (2 / 3). 18k.

On screen, a dead version of him kisses Katniss on the forehead, looking at her with such gentleness that he can almost feel it in his chest. “We tried to take care of each other,” he says, softly. “Sometimes.” “Sometimes,” Haymitch echoes. “When you weren’t trying to kill each other.”

What Peeta holds onto when he loses everything else, and what he finds after. (Or: Peeta hijacked, Peeta rescued, Peeta recovered.)

and finally: no one, absolutely no one, is doing it like Peeta “look at the shape you’re in” Mellark

the way that this blows any “Peeta is a lovestruck puppy” discourse out of the water … the way that it’s Katniss expecting hugs and kisses (from her really very definitely platonic friend nonetheless) … the way Katniss is like “I’ll enable you, Haymitch” … the way that Peeta is paying Ripper off like yes king use your wealth … the way he casually threatens to get his wife and weird drunk uncle arrested if they don’t get on board with his fitness program … the way he absolutely leaves no crumbs … Katniss’s final line asdfghjkl … I love this scene