Songbirds & Snakes

Inside Union Station, Washington, DC

I finished Suzanne Collins’ “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a prequel to the Hunger Games books. Before I started to read it, I binge watched all four of the Hunger Games movies, but NOT the movie from this book. This book was so different from what I expected that halfway through I watched the last movie in the series again…what I was reading seemed inconsistent with the storyline in the movies. Granted, books are usually different than the movie but this felt so divergent I wanted to ensure I hadn’t misremembered what I’d seen.

The Hunger Games world is a dystopian view of the U.S. and the prequel was no different except the murderous Game itself was still in its infancy. The protagonist of the novel was Coriolanus Snow at 18 years old. In the Hunger Games book trilogy, Snow was president of the country and evil personified. In "The Ballad,” he was a teenager struggling with his identity, society, economics, racism, and tradition. As a reader, I empathized with Snow and felt sympathy for him as he struggled through life, and, struggle he did. Snow was part of a formerly wealthy and respected family however family fortune and reputation had decreased dramatically and Snow was at risk of not attending university and being forced out of his family’s ancestral home. He was appointed a Hunger Games mentor to a “tribute” from impoverished District 12. The tribute’s name was Lucy Gray.

Snow struggled with his self confidence, with his view on how his peers viewed him, and with his undisclosed financial emergency. He believed if “his” Lucy Gray won the Games, he would be rewarded with cash for his tuition and family home. Lucy Gray was a small girl, not physically strong and unlikely to survive by brute force. Snow and Gray began a relationship…perhaps a metaphor for Snow’s relationship with his world.

I was struck by the power of social media in the book…how misinformation and disinformation shaped the opinions and actions of the populace…the mob. (Not too different than what it’s like in today’s America.) The oligarchical nature of the Capitol suppressed intellectual and financial growth in the Districts. A caste system had been formed with physical, psychological, and spiritual divides among the residents of Panem. The Capitol maintained order through power and media control…armed “peace keepers” were everywhere and an inner circle maintained total control of a Big Brother like television system. However, Snow discovered that in the Districts, few televisions were available and the message of the games wasn’t well known. He and Lucy Gray manipulated the media and won the Game, Snow discovered the power of the media on the masses and the potential benefit to the Capitol. He began to institutionalize the role of media in the Games.

In our family discussions of the book, I was a bit off track from the majority view. “Too sympathetic!” was one comment. Apparently, I was identifying too closely with the protagonist, Snow, and missing the evil texture of his existence. Maybe. But. He was 18 and the world is a different place when you’re 18. And, he’d been raised in a caste system where he was at the top of the food chain and at risk of losing that position. His parents were dead so family support came from his cousin and grandmother. It was a societal norm to oppress those different than you. So…in my reader’s mind, Snow had nothing worthwhile (by my standards), he was living a shallow life which was quickly falling apart. His relationship with Lucy Gray seemed a positive force, he was learning about personal things, learning to care about someone besides himself, and learning to help others. But, was the response, all that he did for Lucy Gray, he was really doing just for himself, not her. He used her. Probably. Maybe. Hmmm…but, Lucy Gray used him. Her sweet disposition, her music, her personna was captivating, addictive, alluring. For Snow, and, for me, the reader.

I didn’t have a clue how the book would end. In fact, I’m still anxious about the ending even though I finished reading it. I want more. I guess that’s what a prequel does.