"The Mockingjay"

Dystopian environments often have an element of time associated to them.  Many of these environments are set in a “post-apocalyptic” environment where the consequences of social order or technological innovations are illustrated (see my first blog post of this series for more information on the relationship between dystopian environments and “post-apocalyptic” ones).

It takes time for a society to become a dystopian one, but the use and/or abuse of one organization over others overtime is relative to the setting of most books.  For example, in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, time was shown to further intensify the need for rebellion of the Districts against the hierarchical power of the Panem government in the Capitol.  And, in Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, the setting is 2045 America where technological advancements have resulted in a virtual society via an Internet-like, networking-focused video game called OASIS is controlled by Innovative Online Industries (or IOI) that rules over and regulates society.

In this new post, I argue that the symbol of the Mockingjay produces an agency within itself outside of Katniss in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins because of the rising discontent for the social order created by the Panem government in the Capitol.  Since this discontent grows overtime, the symbol of the Mockingjay becomes one that many members of the districts can rally around in rebellion against the Capitol.  As a result, Katniss is forced into the role of becoming "The Mockingjay," a symbol that effectively has more agency than she does.  And, it is this idea of thing-power, or object agency, that is suggested by new materialist Jane Bennett.

New Materialism and the Mockingjay Pin

One interesting concept about dystopian environments is that they include inanimate objects that become larger symbols or have intensified significance.  This is a main component of new materialism.  Many new materialist researchers focus on the variations of agency as a result of environmental conditions in society.  Jane Bennett (2010) is a new materialist who focuses specifically on how one small object can lend itself to causing something bigger to occur.  Bennett (2010) explains this phenomenon as an “assemblage,” where many different causes come together at the right time to result in one main event (ix-xi). 

The first example that comes to mind when thinking of something small that causes something greater to occur is the Mockingjay pin that Madge Undersee, daughter of the mayor of District 12, gave to Katniss on the day of Reaping for the 74^th Hunger Games (Collins, 38).  After Katniss famously “volunteer[s] as tribute” for her younger sister, Primrose (or Prim, for short), Madge is one of the people who see her before she leaves for the Capitol (Collins, 22). 

Replica of Mockingjay pin given to Katniss Everdeen before the Reaping of the 74th Hunger Games.
Image retrieved from www.scigadgets.com.

Now, it is important to note that this Mockingjay pin has significance to the previous war between the Capitol and its districts.  During the previous war, the Capitol had mutated birds called “jabberjays” to hear conversations from the districts and relay them back to the Capitol using voice tone.  Unfortunately for the Capitol, the districts found out the bird’s secret and actually used the “jabberjays” against the Capitol, sharing false plans.  But, instead of dying in District 13, the “jabberjays” actually bred with mockingbirds to create mutated birds called “mockingjays” (Collins, 42-44).  As a result, the Capitol decided to put the “jabberjays” into District 13, which the Panem government later chose to annihilate (Collins, 18-19).   Katniss' progression as "The Mockingjay" is illustrated by the three different pins, one for each book by Collins.

Three different mockingjay pins that illustrate Katniss' progression as "The Mockingjay."
Image retrieved from www.pinterest.com.

Rise of Discontent = Rise of "The Mockingjay"

As time passed in The Hunger Games series, Katniss became more and more rebellious with her actions.  One of her beginning rebellious acts was when she shot one of her arrows into the group of Gamemakers, hitting the apple in a cooked pig’s mouth, because they were not paying her any attention (Collins, 101-102).  (To see this rebellious act according to The Hunger Games (2012) film, click the following link:  Pig-Apple-Arrow.)

And, later, following the 75^th Hunger Games, Katniss still refused to follow direct orders from President Coin in District 13.  Instead of staying outside of the frontlines during the rebellion, Katniss chose to sneak onto a plane to other districts to be on the frontlines.  These actions emulate the idea of "The Mockingjay."  She refuses to abide by the conventional norms of a hierarchical system put in place by the Capitol.  Hence the reason why Plutarch Heavensgate, the Head Gamemaker of the 75^th Hunger Games, says “Katniss, you are ‘The Mockingjay’” following their escape of the Games (see the following link to watch the scene:  Katniss-Mockingjay).

Plutarch Heavensgate speaking to Katniss from Catching Fire film (2013).
Image retrieved from rebloggy.com.

And, finally, [SPOILER ALERT] Katniss chooses to undergo her most rebellious act of all when she kills President Coin, rather than President Snow, in her final act as “The Mockingjay” (see the following link to watch the scene:  Katniss-President-Death).

Although she originally never wanted to be the Mockingjay and the face of the rebellion against the Capitol, she eventually takes on this role perfectly when she becomes obsessed with saving Peeta from the grasp of the Capitol and killing President Snow because of Peeta’s forced hatred of Katniss with trackerjacker venom (as shown in the Mockingjay - Part I film (2014) directed by Francis Lawrence).

By being named “The Mockingjay,” Katniss became dehumanized.  In fact, for her interview gown before the 75th Hunger Games, she is put in a black dress that looks like a mockingjay (see the following link to watch the scene:  Katniss-Becomes-Mockingjay). 

She became the obvious symbol of the rebellion; however, she continued to lose her own agency in many aspects as a result.  Postmodern sociologist Gilles Deleuze explains that humans often lose their agency extensively in "societies of control," where one organizational body controls all aspects of human life.  In The Hunger Games trilogy, the Panem government controls and exerts power over all of its districts using a network of technological innovations, including constant surveillance and enclosure.  As a result, Deleuze finds it unsurprising that "Individuals have become 'dividuals,' and masses, samples, data, markets, or 'banks'" (Deleuze, 5-6).

Both President Coin and President Snow used her own emotions to try to elicit a response from her.  In other words, they attempted to control Katniss using emotional ties.  For example, President Snow used Peeta for peace propaganda in order to try to make Katniss stop the rebellion.  Unfortunately for President Snow, Beetee is able to mess with the propaganda message to allow for "hijacked," or brainwashed, Peeta to show that Katniss is alive (see the following link to watch the scene:  Peeta-Warns-Katniss-Propaganda).  And, President Coin used Katniss’ emotions to create propaganda that inspires the districts to rebel against the Capitol (see the following link to watch the scene:  Katniss-Propaganda-Hospital).

In this way, the symbol of “The Mockingjay” seems to have more agency than its human counterpart, Katniss herself.  Here, Bennett’s idea of the assemblage is expressed.  The symbol of “The Mockingjay” has become larger than anyone had previously anticipated.  Sadly, however, through the process of becoming “The Mockingjay,” Katniss gave up her agency to the symbol.  The districts, who were rebelling against the Capitol, were acting for the rebellion, not for Katniss; rather, the districts were fighting under the symbol of “The Mockingjay” (Collins, 13-14, 18-19, 91, 104-105, 175, 236, and 372-373).

This idea of the symbol of “The Mockingjay” being more important to the rebel cause than Katniss herself is expressed by President Coin.  As the rebels get closer and closer to the Capitol’s gates, Katniss is shot.  She is wearing a bullet-proof vest, so she lives; however, video of the shooting is shown everywhere in the Capitol and its districts as a show of propaganda.  In Lawrence's film Mockingjay - Part II, President Coin’s address of Katniss’ so-called death, she says that the rebellion does not cease by losing “The Mockingjay.”  Rather, she insists that it intensifies as a result of Katniss’ death.  

As examined by Bennett (2010), "Thing-power gestures toward the strange ability of ordinary, man-made items to exceed their status as objects and to manifest traces of independence or aliveness constituting the outside of our own experience" (xvi).  Here, “The Mockingjay” would possess “thing-power" since the symbol of "The Mockingjay" incited rebellion and holds its own agency.

As President Coin expresses in her address of Katniss' so-called death, the cause of rebellion does not end with the death of “The Mockingjay.”  The cause, instead, gets larger.  It was “The Mockingjay” as an object with amazing power that unified the districts against the Capitol, but it was the many causes of discontent, distrust, and inferiority felt by the districts that resulted in the rebellion.  As a result of the time that the districts were oppressed by the Capitol and to the extent that they were stunted and sucked dry from its resources by it, “The Mockingjay” acts as just one cause of the rebellion.  It was the hierarchical culture of the dystopian environment that led to the rebellious sentiment that “The Mockingjay” was able to fuel.  Here, it is apparent that there were multiple causes of the rebellion, and “The Mockingjay” acts as a piece of "thing-power" that adds to the assemblage of rebellion within the districts against the Capitol.

Word count:  1585 words 

Works cited

Bennett, Jane.  Vibrant Matter:  A Political Ecology of Things.  Duke University Press, Durham and London:  2010.

Collins, Suzanne.  The Hunger Games.  Scholastic Press, New York:  2008.  pp. 1-374.
Deleuze, Gilles.  “Postscript on the Societies of Control.”  October, Vol. 59: The MIT Press, 1992.  pp. 3-7.
Lawrence, Francis.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Based on Catching Fire from The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins.  Lionsgate:  2013. 

Lawrence, Francis.  The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part I.  Based on Mockingjay from The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins.  Lionsgate:  2014. 

Lawrence, Francis.  The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part II.  Based on Mockingjay from The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins.  Lionsgate:  2015.