The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: Chapter 24 Summary & Analysis

Maude Ivory puts herself between Lucy Gray and the man, whom she calls Billy Taupe. She tells him to get away and to take his “weasel girl” with him. Barb Azure insists the band is fine without him, but Billy Taupe still tries to convince Clerk Carmine (who looks like he might be a brother) to come with him. A Peacekeeper puts a hand on Billy Taupe’s arm—and Billy Taupe shoves him. The lights go out and chaos erupts. A fist punches Coriolanus’s jaw, and he flashes on Dr. Gaul saying, “That’s mankind in its natural state. That’s humanity undressed.” Coriolanus is part of that “naked humanity.” Coriolanus heads out front, where the Peacekeepers decide not to respond to the brawl. Coriolanus finds it unsettling that the miners fought back. 

Lucy Gray never appears out front, though Peacekeepers march Mayfair Lipp out of the Hob. Sejanus, Coriolanus, and four others are tasked with walking her home. Without a weapon, Coriolanus feels vulnerable. He remembers Grandma’am saying that district people drink water because it doesn’t rain blood. Eventually, the party reaches a sorry excuse for a mansion and Mayfair slips inside. The officers decide not to tell her parents she was out—Mayor Lipp will no doubt lecture them.

On the way back to the base, Coriolanus notices Billy Taupe, bloody and scowling, against a wall. Coriolanus doesn’t tell his fellows, as he doesn’t know if the Covey might object to Peacekeepers dealing with Billy Taupe. He figures, though, that Lucy Gray was referring to his relationship with Mayfair in the song she sang in the interview—and that’s why the Covey wants nothing to do with him. As Coriolanus and Sejanus walk on, they discuss whether they’ll ever see their homes again. Coriolanus privately thinks that he and Sejanus both need a war to achieve their dreams of becoming an officer and a medic.

As Coriolanus washes his face back at the base, he thinks through seeing Lucy Gray again. He hates Billy Taupe for spoiling the reunion, but he also believes that the Covey rejecting Billy Taupe “confirm[s] that Lucy Gray belong[s] to him.” The following morning, Coriolanus learns that the higher-ups have decided soldiers can’t leave the base alone; the Hob might become off-limits, too. Coriolanus is distraught, since this means he can’t see Lucy Gray. He doesn’t want her to try to visit him here, even if that’s allowed; he doesn’t want to encourage rumors that he’s a rebel sympathizer. Sejanus reveals that he figured out last night where Lucy Gray lives. He’d be happy to accompany Coriolanus there.

Coriolanus tells his bunkmates he and Sejanus are going to trade chewing gum for letter paper and talks Cookie into letting him take some ice as a gift. Then, he and Sejanus head for town. Sejanus uses his gum to pay a woman for bread and directions to the Seam, the part of town where Lucy Gray lives. Coriolanus and Sejanus wander along roads lined with shacks. Coriolanus is ready to give up, but then they see trees ahead and hear Maude Ivory singing. They find Maude Ivory on a makeshift stoop, cracking nuts.

Maude Ivory runs inside and fetches Barb Azure, who says that Lucy Gray is in the meadow. Maude Ivory grabs Coriolanus’s hand and leads the way. She shares that she saw Coriolanus on TV, but only once—they only get static or “special” broadcasts, and the news is “boring.” Coriolanus realizes Dr. Gaul won’t be able to engage viewers for the Hunger Games if people don’t have televisions that work properly. Then, Maude Ivory explains that Billy Taupe is Clerk Carmine’s brother. The Covey girls are all Baird cousins, and the Covey found Tam Amber in a box as an infant. She notices Coriolanus’s ice and reveals that their freezer is broken—ice is a treat, like “flowers in wintertime.” Coriolanus tells the girl about Grandma’am’s rooftop rose garden, and then they reach the meadow.

Lucy Gray is in the meadow with Shamus, their goat. When Sejanus suggests he and Maude Ivory head back to the house to eat the bread, the girl agrees. Coriolanus nervously walks through the tall grass, listening to Lucy Gray sing a song about a “hanging tree”—it’s about Arlo’s death. She notices him when he steps on a stick and she jumps, terrified. She explains that she still acts like she’s in the arena. Then, Coriolanus embraces Lucy Gray, and she kisses him. They sit on a rock, bite a hole in the plastic bag of ice, and Lucy Gray tells Coriolanus about her experience in the arena. Coriolanus talks about going into the arena to kill Sejanus and admits he killed Bobbin; Lucy Gray admits she killed Wovey, Treech, and Reaper (whom she insists had rabies like Jessup).

Coriolanus tells Lucy Gray about Dr. Gaul’s lab, her snakes, Clemensia, and dropping the handkerchief into the snake tank. That, he says, is why he’s here as a Peacekeeper. Lucy Gray suggests they each owe the other their lives, and that they’re meant to be together. Shamus interrupts the couple’s kiss by nibbling Coriolanus’s collar, so Lucy Gray finishes off the ice and picks up her guitar. She asks if Pluribus might sell her some strings; she still has money from Dean Highbottom. He gave her cash and apologized. This shocks Coriolanus.

Lucy Gray leads Coriolanus into the house, which has a sleeping area in the loft, a rudimentary kitchen, a TV, and only chairs and a table for furniture. Maude Ivory runs for Lucy Gray as soon as they step in and says that “he’s making trouble again.” Billy Taupe is in the front yard with Sejanus, drawing in the dirt and talking. Coriolanus doesn’t see a problem until Barb Azure says ominously that Billy Taupe seems to be drawing directions. Coriolanus insists on going out with Lucy Gray; she belongs to him, after all, and he wants Billy Taupe to see. Billy Taupe wipes away his drawing as soon as Coriolanus walks up—but Coriolanus saw it was a map of the base.