The first Mockingjay

With the highly anticipated release of Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest addition to The Hunger Games saga has reignited a wave of reflection and reinterpretation among fans, determined to parse each layer hidden within Collins' dystopian narrative. Like the release of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Scholastic Press, 2020), which led to the romanticisation of the cruel President Coriolanus Snow, the publication of Sunrise on the Reaping brought on a similar social media flurry, this time dissecting the relationship between Katniss and her mentor. Haymitch's past, which mirrors Katniss' present, reminds us that loss, grief, and oppression mould the same stories, whether real or fictional.

In Suzanne Collins' masterfully crafted Hunger Games universe, Katniss Everdeen and Haymitch Abernathy are two peas from the same pod. Though Collins initially framed Katniss as an exception among the masses in Panem, the only one fit to lead a rebellion, her new book, Sunrise on the Reaping, makes it clear that Katniss and Haymitch were cut from the same cloth, fated to have polar destinies.

Both Katniss Everdeen and Haymitch lost their fathers at a very young age in mining accidents in District 12. Being the oldest sibling in the family, they bore the burden of being the breadwinner at a young age and signed up for 'tesserae', an orderly arrangement by the Capitol where one gets more rations in exchange for putting their name in more times for the annual Hunger Games. Katniss, with her exceptional archery skills, and Haymitch, being a bootlegger making cheap white liquor, made a living by selling to the Peacekeepers and the black market in District 12. Similarly, both their reapings for their respective Hunger Games were unintentional. Katniss volunteered to be a tribute in place of her younger sister, Primrose Everdeen, and Haymitch's reaping was unfairly rigged as a punishment for protecting his girlfriend from the violence of the Peacekeepers. Suzanne also portrays Haymitch's younger sibling, Sid Abernathy, with a personality reminiscent of Primrose Everdeen from the original trilogy, both embodying a quiet innocence that sets a haunting reminder of relatability within the families.

The two also opposed the radical methods of President Snow by displaying empathy as resistance in their Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen, in the 74th Hunger Games, formed an alliance with a 12-year-old girl, Rue, from District 11. The pair's affection quickly bloomed into sisterhood, and Rue's cruel, untimely death inclined Katniss to make her death more than just a show for the Capitol citizens. Katniss forced the audience to humanise Rue's death by arranging her body in a meadow of flowers and acknowledged District 11 with sympathy for their loss of an exceptional girl. On the other hand, Haymitch befriended Ampert, the youngest tribute and Beetee's son, sentenced to die in the Hunger Games as punishment for his father's resistance to Snow's power. Ampert and Haymitch were carefully assigned by Beetee to deconstruct the arena in the 50th Hunger Games as a display of the districts' intellect and to humble the Capitol for their incompetence. Haymitch had promised Beetee that he would take care of Ampert, making sure that if he passed, it would be at ease. However, as they both embarked on this mission, Ampert lost his life brutally to squirrel mutts programmed to only devour him—an unyielding example of Snow's cruelty. The helplessness they felt and the loss of the lives of their young allies fueled the defiance of both Katniss and Haymitch.

Lastly, Suzanne Collins was not subtle in constructing both Katniss and Haymitch's personalities as fiery and unconventional. Although Katniss is a more unreliable narrator than Haymitch, both are determined to make the Capitol see them and the tributes as more than animals forced to fight to the death. Haymitch and Katniss's defiance and desire for dignity is such a poignant part of their story, painting their own metaphorical poster, refusing to be immortalised as something they were not: obedient killers.

Katniss might be the Mockingjay, the face of the final rebellion, but Haymitch in every sense was the first almost-Mockingjay—the spark, the boy with the flint striker. Being ahead of his time and due to his circumstances, he lost everything that Katniss, too, could have. He could have led the rebellion, but Snow stripped him raw with grief—the grief of losing all his family, friends, and identity. A reflection of each other, and as Plutarch Heavensbee words it, they needed someone exactly like Haymitch to lead the rebellion, and she was just luckier.

In revealing the stark parallels between Katniss Everdeen and Haymitch Abernathy, Suzanne Collins deepens our understanding of what it means to survive in a world designed to break you. Sunrise on the Reaping doesn't just add backstory; it recontextualises the rebellion, highlighting how the Capitol's cruelty repeats itself across generations. Haymitch was the blueprint, the bruised but burning precursor to the girl on fire.

Bashirah Tahreema is a poet chasing a life in STEM but her dream is to live in a falling-apart castle in a forest that is probably cursed, and watch reruns of Modern Family forever.