The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes
It's not often that I read the same book twice, but when I do, it's because it was GOOD.
In my previous blog post about The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes I essentially recapped the introduction of the story, mentioned my thoughts on Coriolanus as a main character, the hanging tree lore, who is Katniss' relative, and Taylor Swift. In this post I want to be more specific and instead focus on SPOILERS.
There have only been a handful of books I enjoyed and a fraction of those books I would consider rereading. I enjoyed reading this book the first time around, but I might not have considered rereading it if it hadn’t been for the announcement of Sunrise on the Reaping, also known as the second prequel to The Hunger Games. During my last blog post the movie reveal was just announced for The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes. To everyone’s amazement a book and movie announcement for Sunrise on the Reaping was revealed at the same time just a little bit ago. The book is anticipated to come out March of 2025 and the movie November of 2026.
Once the book is released I will, of course, have more to say about it. So before I can do that, there is so much information I would like to go over about The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes. I will preface by saying all of this is my opinion and despite taking a couple English classes, I am not the best at analyzing text. I am in no way an expert, I just find The Hunger Games world interesting and want to talk about what I noticed.
Coriolanus Snow
Since Coriolanus is the main character of the story it only seems fitting to talk about him first. The theory of nature versus nurture is the first idea that pops into my head when I hear his name.
There were many instances where Coriolanus was compared to his parents despite being orphaned at the age of eight. (According to numerology the number eight represents victory, prosperity, and overcoming). Sejanus' father presumed Coriolanus was more like his mother, whereas Dean Highbottom suspected he was more like his father. Of course, Coriolanus wouldn't know much about what his parents were like. Through the opinions and memories of those who knew his parents, and by growing up in a similar environment as his father, he was able to create a makeshift version of what he thought his father would be proud of.
All of his actions were made under the impression that he could die if he made the wrong choice. Growing up in that level of poverty at such a young age and then being a mentor in The Hunger Games made him unable to ever truly turn off his fight or flight responses. After the bombs from the rebels destroy the arena it looked almost identical to what life looked like to Coriolanus when he was growing up with his cousin, Tigris. He saw his classmates dying at nearly the same rate as the tributes and made the connection that his life was also at risk if he didn't play the game right.
During his time as a peacekeeper there's a lot of birds being mentioned including Lucy Gray being compared to a songbird, that's when it clicked for me. Birds represent freedom and to him, freedom means chaos. Around this time in the story is when Coriolanus begins to mention how disgusted living in district 12 makes him feel and also how excited he feels when he shoots down the mockingjays. It is also mentioned how Coriolanus felt taunted by the birds during several instances. The way Coriolanus behaves around the birds is a metaphor for how he felt about freedom.
His whole origin story focuses on his cognitive biases and though no one loves what he becomes (at least no one should) his story now makes so much sense. If Dr. Gull laid off on Coriolanus and if the mentors weren't involved in The Hunger Games, deep down he was still just a scared little boy with an immense amount of will. He played his cards right and he became the victor, not by killing all of his fellow tributes, no that wasn't necessary for the people of the capitol, but by manipulating his way into the hearts of the innocents and gaining popularity amongst the people he knew could get him to the top.
Coriolanus & Lucy Gray Baird
It would be unwise to assume that because Lucy Gray is a singer she must be the songbird and Coriolanus must be the snake in this story. She was as much of a victor as Coriolanus was, she is not “made out of sugar.” The first time we are introduced to Lucy Gray she appears to be vindictive. Putting a harmless snake down the dress of the girl who got her name read off on the day of the reaping. Lucy Gray might be the one of the most complex characters I have read about in The Hunger Games, however, that might be because the story was told from Coriolanus’ perspective.
Outside of the arena she is a performer, all of district 12 appears to love her apart from a handful of people as mentioned before. As Coriolanus learns about her past, so do we. One of the aspects of her life that he seems to be so hung up on is, unsurprisingly, her love life. She mentions in one of her songs that she lived by her charms, up until that part of their relationship he felt intrigued by her despite the societal expectations for district and capitol to remain separate.The realization that he didn’t have control over her past felt incredibly daunting to him. From that point moving forward all of his opinions and actions surrounding their relationship and her were made out of jealousy and self preservation.
Once Lucy Gray became a victor, the two of them agreed it would be more favorable to hide their relationship from the public. However, there were far more government eyes watching what he was up to compared to her. So with Coriolanus making the detectable decisions for the public eye to see, Lucy Gray made all the unnoticed decisions. So unnoticed, in fact, Coriolanus couldn’t even anticipate them. Lucy Gray had changed since she left the arena, all of her actions revolved around self-preservation even if that didn’t include Coriolanus in her future.
When Billy Taupe, the mayor's daughter, and Spruce set out to leave district 12 with the help of Sejanus. Billy Taupe seemed to want Lucy Gray to join them despite seemingly not being on good terms. He tells Spruce “she’s my girl” (p. 458) and Coriolanus wonders if she lied to diffuse the situation. Had Coriolanus not been there, maybe she would have left with them. When things get heated what appears to be a romantic gesture to some, only seems like an act of self preservation to me. I don’t think he was thinking about Lucy Gray’s safety, he was trying his best to get out of the situation so he could have a future.
Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark
The voices that would come back to haunt President Snow 60+ years later.
I have seen quite a few people talking about the similarities between Katniss and Lucy Gray and though I do see some I also see Peeta being similar to Lucy Gray as well. Lucy Gray and Peeta Mellark were both seen as fragile beings and they both had to perform as such in order to stay alive. For the most part, neither one of them directly killed anyone even in the games. Katniss was a hunter, forced to perform. Sejanus and Katniss proclaim the same moral compass. Throughout the entire story we hear Sejanus Once Katniss learned about her influence as the mockingjay she begins to make the claims she’s always thought. Overall, Katniss and Peeta are a mix between Sejanus and Lucy Gray.
The similarities between those four is what made me wonder about President Snow and Katniss’ relationship. Either President Snow thinks the same thing or he considers Katniss as similar to himself. She does appear to be good at self-preservation in the same way he was. The moment President Snow most likely began to wonder how similar he and Katniss were was when she and Peeta were about to eat the berries together. President Snow was the first person to introduce a performance into The Hunger Games, though his and Lucy Gray’s romance wasn’t well known by everyone, for the first time since there was a romance brewing. However, given Snow’s experience with Lucy Gray he is either hesitant on believing Katniss or worried about Peeta’s intentions or both.
It is mentioned in The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes that roses remind Snow of his grandmother, who was his only guardian after the age of eight. Snow gifts Katniss roses throughout the rest of the series as a way to say, “I am watching you” as if he were her guardian… as if he were her father. It’s a twisted mind game considering Katniss’ father passed away during a mine incident. Likewise, it confirms my belief that Snow sees himself in Katniss and it’s a fun game to him since he has all this power.
The Covey/ Family History
I would have to assume that Katniss is related to someone in the covey. Considering Katniss’ father had a great voice I would assume one of his parents were Barb Azure or Maude Ivory.
The Hanging Tree
In my last post I mentioned my thoughts on the hanging tree song. Hopefully I can explain it a little better this time around. Lucy Gray and Billy Taupe wrote The Hanging Tree song together. Essentially the song is about asking the person you love to die with you so you both don’t have to suffer any longer. Later this song is used as a protest song for the rebels.
When Arlo gets hanged at the hanging tree he yells “run, run, Lil, ru-” which is four syllables and he’s telling his lover to flee. He supposedly killed three people. The mockingjays echo his last words and some only pick up the melody. 60+ years later not only is the song Lucy Gray and Billy Taupe intact, but so is that moment in history. The people of the district show their unity with each other through whistling four notes, kissing their three fingers, and holding their hand to the sky. This motion is said to be shown as admiration and a way of saying goodbye to someone you love.
Where did Lucy Gray Go?
The moment Lucy Gray and Coriolanus became trapped in their own little hunger game. I don’t think that Coriolanus would have let Lucy Gray get away. Lucy Gray knew that so she decided to run away. I don’t think that Lucy Gray lived for too long after. Nobody knows what happened in district 12 between then and when Katniss’ story started, however Sunrise on the Reaping might give us some clues. Maybe she came back and remained hidden in 12, maybe some of the Covey followed her. Maybe she made it to district 13 or another district nearby.
There is so much to unpack within this story and unfortunately I don't have the words to express how I feel about all of it. I'm looking forward to hearing about Haymitch's story and I'm excited to share my thoughts on that story in the future. I might end up rereading the rest of the Hunger Games series after Sunrise on the Reaping comes out in March 2025, if I can get ahold of it. Anyways, I'm going to go watch The Hunger Games again.
As always, thanks for reading.