Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Propaganda, Spectacle, and Morality
Children
Government and Power
Human Nature
Trust and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
Since the reaping, Lucy Gray has been Coriolanus’s property. But her song contradicts this by showing she had a life before the reaping, and Coriolanus doesn’t like that someone else loved her before he met her. Lucy Gray bows and lets Coriolanus lead her offstage. She explains that she’s probably going to die in the Games, and this song tied up “loose ends” in District 12. The Covey, she says, will get the song’s message; her cousin Maude Ivory will no doubt memorize the song after only hearing it once. Peacekeepers come to escort Lucy Gray away. Coriolanus is annoyed; he’s the star and Lucy Gray belongs to him, no matter what she says. He resents it when Pluribus gushes that if Lucy Gray survives, he wants her to sing in his club.
Coriolanus’s privilege means that for much of his life, he’s been able to identify what he wants and take it. Lucy Gray defies all that through this song. It allows her to show that she is human and is just as capable of making choices as Coriolanus is. And as she describes how the song will go over with the Covey, she also impresses upon Coriolanus that she’s left behind a chosen family in District 12. She doesn’t exist in a vacuum; rather, she’s a person with hopes and dreams that she’s giving up because she’s been forced to participate in the Games.
Themes
Sejanus approaches Coriolanus with a woman who can only be his Ma on his arm; she looks out of place at this fancy event. Coriolanus thanks Ma for the casserole, and Ma says Coriolanus can count on her if he needs anything. Coriolanus is aghast when Ma starts to cry. Later, Tigris and Coriolanus walk home together and discuss the night’s events. Coriolanus tries to hide his jealousy as he wonders what Lucy Gray meant by “living by her charms.” Tigris notes that Lucy Gray lost her parents and probably had to do lots of things to survive. Tigris implies that during the war, she did things she’s not proud of. This shocks Coriolanus. He wonders what Tigris did, but he decides he doesn’t want to know.
In this passage, Coriolanus’s snobbery shines through. Ma doesn’t know how to act at such a fancy event—crying, judging by Coriolanus’s reaction, is wholly inappropriate. And Coriolanus’s first reaction is to scorn her for this, showing how elitist he is. In discussing Lucy Gray, though, Tigris encourages Coriolanus to understand that everyone had to do what they needed to do to survive—even someone like Tigris, who’s from a powerful family. It’s unsettling for Coriolanus to realize that these two very different women in his life might have both had to turn to sex work to make ends meet during the war.
Themes
Coriolanus and Tigris enter the apartment building’s lobby to discover that, for the first time in years, the elevator is working. At first they’re ecstatic, but then they wonder if the managers are fixing things in preparation for selling apartments, now that there are new taxes. But the conversation ends when they enter the apartment and Grandma’am, who watched the interviews on TV, says that Lucy Gray is “a sad, trashy little thing” “but oddly appealing.” Coriolanus figures if Lucy Gray can win Grandma’am over, he shouldn’t worry about her past.
It's perhaps surprising that Coriolanus decides Lucy Gray has “won over” Grandma’am after Grandma’am says this. Calling Lucy Gray “trashy” is extremely rude and derogatory. Notably, this term also takes aim at Lucy Gray’s financial situation—something that Lucy Gray has no control over. Lucy Gray’s poverty is also a product of the government’s stranglehold on the districts, but Grandma’am doesn’t acknowledge this. Again, Panem has successfully shifted the conversation and the blame away from the terrible things they do to the districts.
Themes
Coriolanus sits down to write his essay for Dr. Gaul. He and Tigris discuss how Coriolanus loved the parades when he was little. And Tigris recalls how, after Crassus Snow died, soldiers delivered a basket with food, including a turkey, to the apartment. Tigris cooked the bird and Pluribus came for dinner. Coriolanus remembers his rooftop victory garden and writes his essay on “these childish delights.” But it doesn’t seem right. He adds a paragraph about his relief that the war is over; he doesn’t have to be afraid anymore. The enemies can’t hurt him anymore, and he says there’s security in having power and control.
The bulk of Coriolanus’s essay is essentially about finding happiness in difficult times, which is a helpful thing to be able to do when one is living through a devastating war. But he also seems to realize that this isn’t what Dr. Gaul wants: she seems to think war is fantastic, and she probably won’t be won over by an anecdote about a victory garden. Interestingly, though, even as Coriolanus writes about feeling better now that he has security and control, he still lives in a constant state of fear—his power isn’t as absolute as he’d like to think.
Themes
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The following morning, Coriolanus attends a mentor meeting. He imagines who his classmates would’ve been had the war not happened, and he feels guilty when he thinks of Clemensia. He hasn’t visited her because he doesn’t want to see how bad she’s gotten—and he's afraid Dr. Gaul will kidnap him if he goes to the hospital.
Coriolanus’s fears of Dr. Gaul do seem legitimate, as she clearly doesn’t care about her students’ wellbeing. But by not visiting Clemensia or even getting a message to her, Coriolanus sends her the message that he doesn’t care about her—and perhaps sides with Dr. Gaul.
Themes
To start the meeting, Dr. Gaul and Dean Highbottom review the performances from last night. According to Lucky Flickerman, Tanner and Jessup are the favorites to win, but Lucy Gray has more food gifts than anyone else. The lesson, Coriolanus’s classmates say, is that people love a long shot, love good songs, and are fools. At this, Dr. Gaul asks students to read parts of their essays. Many mentors write romantically about the war and how it bound soldiers together. Bur Coriolanus doesn’t share this view. He has no desire to be a soldier, thinks the Capitol’s “noble ideas” are a bit silly, and thinks that the parades seem like a waste. He just wants control.
Coriolanus starts to show his dark side here when he dismisses the very real bonds that soldiers can form during conflicts (which may be meaningful, but also aren’t a good reason to go to war in the first place). Essentially, he proposes that he doesn’t care much about going to the trouble of making war seem noble and necessary. Rather, he only cares about the end result: having control. This also shows how selfish he is.
Themes
Coriolanus reads his story about the turkey when it’s his turn, and then Dr. Gaul calls on Sejanus. Sejanus says all he loved about the war was that he lived at home still—and the war hasn’t fixed anything. He asks Dr. Gaul what she loved, and she says she loves that it proved her right. Dean Highbottom says it’s lunchtime before anyone can ask her to clarify. Coriolanus didn’t bring lunch and there’s no food provided, so he sits on the steps and listens to Festus and Hilarius Heavensbee discuss strategies for their female tributes. Hilarius whines; his girl, Wovey, has “zero personality” and his family is embarrassed.
Coriolanus and Sejanus say much the same thing about what they liked about the war: being home, surrounded by family, and being safe and cared for. Sejanus felt that way in District Two, but he doesn’t seem to have felt that way since arriving in the Capitol. Dr. Gaul also becomes more mysterious as she insists she loved the war because she was right about it; this is something the novel will return to later. Hilarius complaining about Wovey betrays his selfishness and entitlement. He doesn’t see Wovey as a person. Rather, he sees her as an embarrassing punishment who isn’t going to elevate his reputation.
Themes
After lunch, Satyria takes the mentors to the news station so they can see how things work behind the scenes. The Gamemakers’ offices are shabby and to Coriolanus, it’s disappointing. Gamemakers test drones, which will deliver the food gifts in the arena, and Lucky Flickerman is excited to host the Games. The mentors will have time to comment tomorrow morning when the Games start. Coriolanus will be one of the first to go, which excites him—until Lucky says they want to talk to him before Lucy Gray dies. Suddenly, Coriolanus has to confront the fact that Lucy Gray is going to die, and it’s useless to be jealous of her old boyfriend.
Coriolanus finds himself caught between knowing that the Games will boost his prestige—and knowing that Lucy Gray, whom he genuinely cares about, is probably going to die. With this, he starts to feel more like a pawn and, in a way, like the tributes. Nobody here seems to care that he has a goal and is trying to win. Rather, they want to leverage him to sell their version of the Hunger Games.
Themes
That night, Coriolanus decides he’d like to give Lucy Gray a special gift. He can’t think of anything that would help her defend herself. Over supper, Tigris packs a gift basket with food and a rose for Lucy Gray. Coriolanus carries it to Heavensbee Hall. It reminds him of the family mausoleum tonight. He gives the box to Lucy Gray. She says she’d share with Jessup, but he isn’t eating and is acting weird. They all are, though; Reaper has apologized to everyone for having to kill them. Jessup spat in his eye for that. Coriolanus shares that Lucy Gray has more food than anyone else and tells her to hide in the stands as soon as she can. If she can stay hidden and alive, she can win.
Here, the rose in Lucy Gray’s basket symbolizes not just the Snows’ attempts to look wealthy, but Coriolanus’s desire to help Lucy Gray survive and feel like she’s a person, not just a pawn. From her descriptions, it’s clear that things are tense between the tributes. They’ve all gotten to know each other over the past few days, and in only a few hours, they’re all going to have to kill each other. So the tributes have learned to humanize each other, only to have to turn around and prioritize themselves exclusively.
Themes
Lucy Gray sobs that she’s afraid and doesn’t want to die. Coriolanus tells her that she does matter to him, as a person and a friend. He admits that he was jealous after her ballad and doesn’t want to lose her. He says they can win, but he knows he has to make a grand gesture. Coriolanus pulls out his mother’s compact and says it’s a loan. Lucy Gray takes the compact and asks if there used to be powder inside. Coriolanus says there was—but he thought Lucy Gray might want to bring some of her own.
Coriolanus has taken the powder out of his mother’s compact and only gives Lucy Gray the shell—the important part, the wonderfully scented powder, is still with Coriolanus. So he’s still holding onto this connection to his mother, even as he gives the compact away. This also makes him seem more human to Lucy Gray, since she knows his mother is dead and empathizes with him.
Themes
