Parachutes From Haymitch

A Grieving Person's Take on the End of Mockingjay

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:11:41 -0400

I first wrote and posted this piece last September, then took it down a few months later. But in light of several recent posts I’ve seen floating around, I’ve decided to post it again. Just note that the dates are now wrong (I’ve been in this fandom for well over a year by this point, and I lost my sister a year and a half ago).

Let me say, too, I’m not posting this with any intent to offend anybody, or start any sort of drama — so please, please don’t take it that way. I’m offering it up as perspective and possibly discussion. No other reason.

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You know what I love about Wednesdays? MARGARITAS

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:21:55 -0400

His facial expressions are just so perfect, you know? THOSE...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:12:28 -0400

His facial expressions are just so perfect, you know?

THOSE EYES. AND THE JAW CLENCHING. UNF. Does he even know that his jaw does that? HE SURELY MUST.

just one kiss and i will be hooked to her fire / her flames are...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:24:48 -0400

just one kiss and i will be hooked to her fire / her flames are surrounding me now / as we watch as they light up the sky / we must stand up and fight

Suddenly a voice was screaming at me and I looked up to see the...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:36:44 -0400

Suddenly a voice was screaming at me and I looked up to see the baker’s wife, telling me to move on and did I want her to call the Peacekeepers and how sick she was of having those brats from the Seam pawing through her trash. The words were ugly and I had no defense. As I carefully replaced the lid and backed away, I noticed him, a boy with blond hair peering out from behind his mother’s back. I’d seen him at school. He was in my year, but I didn’t know his name. He stuck with the town kids, so how would I? His mother went back into the bakery, grumbling, but he must have been watching me as I made my way behind the pen that held their pig and leaned against the far side of an old apple tree. The realization that I’d have nothing to take home had finally sunk in. My knees buckled and I slid down the tree trunk to its roots. It was too much. I was too sick and weak and tired, oh, so tired. Let them call the Peacekeepers and take us to the community home, I thought. Or better yet, let me die right here in the rain.

There was a clatter in the bakery and I heard the woman screaming again and the sound of a blow, and I vaguely wondered what was going on. Feet sloshed toward me through the mud and I thought, It’s her. She’s coming to drive me away with a stick. But it wasn’t her. It was the boy. In his arms, he carried two large loaves of bread that must have fallen into the fire because the crusts were scorched black.

His mother was yelling, “Feed it to the pig, you stupid creature! Why not? No one decent will buy burned bread!”

He began to tear off chunks from the burned parts and toss them into the trough, and the front bakery bell rung and the mother disappeared to help a customer.

The boy never even glanced my way, but I was watching him. Because of the bread, because of the red weal that stood out on his cheekbone.What had she hit him with?

My parents never hit us. I couldn’t even imagine it. The boy took one look back to the bakery as if checking that the coast was clear, then, his attention back on the pig, he threw a loaf of bread in my direction. The second quickly followed, and he sloshed back to the bakery, closing the kitchen door tightly behind him.

So hold on

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:48:19 -0400

So hold on

Based off of This Post GPOY

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:38:31 -0400

Based off of This Post

GPOY

(727): You can achieve whatever you wish in your imagination...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:31:02 -0400

(727): You can achieve whatever you wish in your imagination with some help from drugs

I don't get what Peeta was complaining about

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:12:34 -0400

opeeta:

I mean she practically flashed him

and she shoved his face in her boobs

I’m pretty sure there’s a canon beej during the cave scene that Suzanne Collins and Gary Ross curiously omitted.

When you feel my heat, Look into my eyes, It’s where my demons...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:24:52 -0400

When you feel my heat,
Look into my eyes,
It’s where my demons hide

So what do we do?

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:36:34 -0400

So what do we do?

The Hunger Games Movie Meme → Two Colors [1/2]: Green;

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:48:29 -0400

The Hunger Games Movie Meme → Two Colors [1/2]: Green;

Response to Peeta and Pacifism.

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:50:00 -0400

ghtlovesthg:

Some people have expressed that they don’t believe Peeta is a pacifist in response to the page I posted today. First off, thanks for taking the time to look at my work, and I love any and all discussion it may elicit. I would like to attempt to describe my intended message with today’s page:

I don’t think Peeta is a pacifist, per se. I think he is an inordinately kind, gentle person, but he even says himself that he would kill if necessary in the first book. If it came down to it, I’m sure Peeta would fight more violently than we are shown in the books if he had to, but he’s often surrounded by more skilled fighters on his side, and he’s wise and eloquent enough to often manipulate events in his favor without the use of force. Events often transpire in such a way that prevent him from being in a situation where he can’t find another way out.

He engaged Cato in combat after the tracker jackers. He wrestled with him on the cornucopia. He indicated where Katniss could shoot and not be obstructed by his body armor. PEETA pushed Cato off the Cornucopia and into the pack of mutts. He tussled with Brutus at the end of the Quell. I’m sure there are more examples, and I am very cognizant that his hands are not pristine and bloodless after the games.

The comic I’m working on is meant to illustrate parallels between the fairytale, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” and THG trilogy (as part of a challenge on another tumblr page.) My aim with this page was more to show him enduring hardship and maintaining his sense of self without succumbing to the pressures of the world in which he lives, therefore proving him ’steadfast.’ (That’s where the bread scene, the snow scene, and the locket scene came in).

To parallel the fairy tale, I also needed to do show a separation from his peers, much as the tin soldier is separated from his more able-bodied compatriots. In the story, it’s not his missing leg that ultimately sets him apart from the other toy soldiers, it’s his caring for the ballerina’s welfare, and his unyielding fortitude in the face of the perils he is subjected to. The story is one about choosing compassion instead of a soldier’s lot and enduring hardship because of it. It’s not a perfect comparison to THG, but I think it applies to Peeta fairly well (hence, the comic.) I believe a separation between Peeta and the other victors does exist.

One of the better examples of this is during the Quarter Quell, when Katniss and Finnick actually discuss that he’s different from the rest of them, even going as far to call him “better.“ There are many ways in which Peeta is a compelling, remarkable character, and one that they seem to recognize is that his natural response in the arena is not to go into survival-mode and engage in melee combat as readily as they do. It is emphasized that he is less prone to use force, go on the attack, or battle as effectively as the others. That is not the only thing that distinguishes Peeta in their eyes, and that does not mean he’s an all-out pacifist. However, I think it’s not misrepresenting his character in any way to describe him as more reluctant to fight than most of the other victors.

He does choose violence last, in my opinion, instead favoring other methods: charm, appeal, charisma, lies, manipulation, kindness, humor, etc. He’s masterful at navigating the treacherous situations they find themselves in without violence, and that, to me, is one of the most appealing things about him.

When I described him as being ‘inherently unsuited for warfare,’ I didn’t mean he wouldn’t or couldn’t fight, or kill. I meant that the entire fabric of his personality was better suited for other things, things more momentous and complex than simple combat, like strategizing, swaying public opinion, subtly influencing people. And someone who recognizes their own abilities in these areas would not lend themselves immediately or readily to the brutality and senselessness of a death match, as we see in the books, not when they can get results more effectively without resorting to such extremes. I think it’s safe to say that he ‘has no taste for battle.’ That still isn’t stating that he absolutely wouldn’t battle.

In that same panel, where he’s surrounded by silhouetted warriors, they all carry their preferred weapon, colored gold. I say he’s ’not proficient with a weapon’ in the traditional sense, like Katniss is with a bow (although her true weapon, her appeal to the people, is also pictured in the mocking jay pin on her silhouette). He has no specialty, and has not chosen a melee weapon to favor. I actually have pictured him with his weapon of choice during the Quell: the locket. The locket is designed to elicit a very specific response out of Katniss to help Peeta win the Hunger Games. Katniss is a much better fighter than he is, and his best chance of getting her out alive (which for him, is winning), is to incite her own will to survive at any cost. His weapon is just more subtle and complex, like all his methods of dealing with the Capitol.

I was hoping to emphasize his distaste for combat, his preference of a different approach, not necessarily a complete rejection of physical conflict, but it seems I did not accomplish that. Had I meant ‘he refused to fight’, or ‘would not do harm to another,’ or ‘couldn’t hurt a fly,’ etc., I would have written that. There is very little space for wording in comic panels, and I actually agonized over the wording I did use, trying to convey the thoughts above as concisely as possible. It’s probably impossible to squish the comparisons I mean to draw into a few sentences without also making allusions I don’t mean to.

I’ll try to be especially careful with how I say things in future panels, but I really wanted to reference Katniss and Finnick’s observations from Catching Fire about Peeta while fulfilling the ‘steadfast soldier was different from the other soldiers’ in the fairy tale. I am fully aware that he was not calling for a ceasefire between the victors during the Quell, or standing on principle and not fighting.

I stand by my description of him as a gentle, patient person who ultimately responds to the world with love when possible. I think that is an apt (though in no way complete) description of Peeta, and I hope that doesn’t automatically make him sound like a simplistic, sugar-coated paragon of goodness(that is not how I see pacifists, that’s just how I see Peeta characterized all too often). If that’s the impression the comic page gives, I am sorely disappointed, as I do not like depictions of him as the perfect, golden martyr who can do no wrong and functions as a long-suffering doormat for Katniss’ whims. That’s not Peeta to me.

Anyways, I am appreciative of anyone generous enough to take the time to look at my work, and wanted to explain my (unfulfilled?) intentions with this page of my comic.

Disagree? Want to add something? Comment away!

itsallaboutjoshiferfans: When Johanna flirted with Peeta in Catching Fire Katniss was really upset...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:45:31 -0400

itsallaboutjoshiferfans:

When Johanna flirted with Peeta in Catching Fire Katniss was really upset and jealous but when Johanna flirted with Gale in Mockigjay Katniss just laughed.

that has to mean something

The foothills of the Capitol

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:22:55 -0400

The foothills of the Capitol

Josh Hutcherson waving to Jennifer Lawrence off camera. Ugh, I...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:12:36 -0400

Josh Hutcherson waving to Jennifer Lawrence off camera.

Ugh, I love that upper-right GIF where Josh does that head nod-thing with that guys do, and his jaw and cheekbones look so good, and it’s like, “‘Sup, Jen?” AND THE WINK. THE WINK.

Jen and Josh’s faces are so perfect here; Peeta looks very...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:24:42 -0400

Jen and Josh’s faces are so perfect here; Peeta looks very stoic and calm, whereas Katniss seems barely able to contain her fear. It also looks like his right arm might be around her, and in a moment, they could duck in for a comforting kiss.

sohelpmeoshea: “And when his sword up, raised for the...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:36:56 -0400

sohelpmeoshea:

“And when his sword up, raised for the slaughter,

Abraham’s daughter raised her bow.

How darest you, child, defy your father?

You better let young Isaac go.”

"The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:48:25 -0400

"The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the cracker, the dress that burst into flames. I am the mockingjay. The one that survived despite the Capitol's plans. The symbol of the rebellion.”

dancing-with-diversity: Art by Kris Atomic. “See, like...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:30:25 -0400

dancing-with-diversity:

Art by Kris Atomic.

“See, like this. I’m smiling at you even though you’re aggravating me.” — Effie Trinket