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
Sejanus jumps up guiltily, but he shakes Billy Taupe’s hand. He leaves for the house. Lucy Gray tells Billy Taupe to leave, but he implies that Lucy Gray is telling the Covey lies about how and why he’s with Mayfair to make herself look better. Coriolanus steps up and tells Billy Taupe to leave, and finally, Billy Taupe does. Lucy Gray spits that Billy Taupe is a liar—she flirts with people because it’s her job, but she hasn’t turned to sex work. But Billy Taupe holds her to a different standard. She explains that she sent Billy Taupe to Mayor Lipp’s house to earn money giving Mayfair piano lessons, and not long after, the mayor called her name in the reaping.
Billy Gray seems just as concerned with his reputation as Coriolanus is, given that he accuses Lucy Gray of ruining his reputation among the Covey. But this passage shows that damaging others’ reputations can be one of the most effective ways to gain control over another person. This is, after all, why Coriolanus worked so hard previously to save the Snow name and not let Dean Highbottom ruin his reputation.
Themes
Coriolanus and Lucy Gray return to the house, where Sejanus is helping Maude Ivory milk Shamus outside. Inside, Barb Azure grabs a pan of chilled milk from the refrigerator while Clerk Carmine fetches a contraption he says is a butter churn. It’s almost impossible to make butter with Shamus’s milk, but they keep trying for Maude Ivory’s sake. Coriolanus realizes he’s never thought of where butter comes from. As Coriolanus and Sejanus eat with the Covey, the Covey discuss where they used to travel, including up north where the Capitol doesn’t have control. Coriolanus knows the Capitol controls “the known world” now; that place doesn’t exist anymore.
Seeing the butter churn forces Coriolanus to confront his privilege. In the Capitol, food just appears in front of him (or it doesn’t)—he never has to consider where any of it comes from. Though Coriolanus privately insists that the Capitol controls “the known world,” it’s worth questioning if this is actually true. The Capitol says all sorts of things that aren’t true, such as that the people who live in the districts aren’t real people. It’s entirely possible that saying they control everything is just a way to make it seem like they’re more powerful than they are.
Themes
The Covey are playing for a wedding this afternoon, so Coriolanus and Sejanus get ready to leave. They agree to meet the Covey in the shed they use as a backstage area before the next show at the Hob and head off. As the boys walk, Sejanus hesitantly admits that Billy Taupe and other people in District 12 are just trying to check in on Lil, who’s imprisoned at the base. Coriolanus is enraged. They argue about what it means to fight for the tributes, and Sejanus insists it’s no big deal to check in on Lil. Coriolanus accuses Sejanus of not thinking and of trusting people he shouldn’t, like Billy Taupe. Billy Taupe must have a stake in this, and who knows what he wants?
Because Sejanus sees the people in District 12 as people, he totally understands why Billy Taupe wants to check in on Lil. Their relationship is unclear, but it’s not abnormal for people to want to check on those they love or care about. But Coriolanus comes from a different perspective. He’s selfish, for one, so he realizes that empathizing with the rebels is going to erode his status among the Peacekeepers and possibly get him in trouble.
Themes
Sejanus stammers that Billy Taupe was asking for a friend, and Coriolanus notes that the friend is probably Arlo’s friend—and the rebels can’t win. Sejanus points out that the rebels are desperate; they can’t survive in 12 like this forever. But Coriolanus can only think of how the war devastated his own life, and he insists this is all the rebels’ fault for starting the war in the first place. As Sejanus slumps onto a wall, Coriolanus tells him things will improve out here if people stop blowing up the mines. He says Sejanus hasn’t quite committed treason yet, but Sejanus says Dr. Gaul thinks he has. She didn’t want to let him join the Peacekeepers and insisted that unlike Coriolanus, who’d just cheated, he’d engaged in “a treasonous act of rebel support.” Strabo wrote her a check for a new lab.
Again, Sejanus understands that the rebels are people too, no matter what they did in the war. Coriolanus, though, is selfish to the point where he implies that he’s starting to truly believe in the Hunger Games’ mission: to punish the districts forever for their role in the war. So while Peacekeeping is making Sejanus even more empathetic and ethical, it’s having the exact opposite effect on Coriolanus. Sejanus’s insight about Strabo’s ability to buy Sejanus’s safety shows again how corrupt life is in the Capitol. Enough money can silence anyone, or buy anyone’s safety.
Themes
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When Coriolanus and Sejanus get back to the base, Coriolanus can’t stop thinking that Dr. Gaul doesn’t think he’s horrible. She singled him out during the Games, and maybe Coriolanus should write to her. He decides to finish his assignment on chaos, control, and contract. He describes the tension between the citizens here and Peacekeepers, and the brawl at the Hob. Coriolanus insists he’s not convinced people are as violent as Dr. Gaul thinks they are, but it doesn’t take much to make people violent. And how many District 12 miners would’ve fought in the Hob had the Capitol been able to identify them? When he’s finished, he mails the letter immediately.
As Coriolanus starts to feel more invested in the Capitol’s aims, he finds that he’s starting to trust Dr. Gaul. She might pose a threat, but Coriolanus also knows that she’s the one who is, perhaps, the most invested in keeping the Capitol in power and punishing the districts. Coriolanus is also finding that he’s learning a lot in District 12, and he now thinks Dr. Gaul has the right idea about human nature. At least when people have anonymity, they’re willing to lash out and hurt people they wouldn’t otherwise.
Themes
After dinner, Sejanus helps Coriolanus study for the officer test. Sejanus isn’t interested in taking it, but he agrees to think about it when Coriolanus suggests it might enable him to train as a doctor. Coriolanus signs up for the test on Monday morning and then discovers that he’ll be on guard duty for the first time today. He also discovers that the recruits are going to practice shooting the mockingjays, per Coriolanus’s suggestion. But first, the Capitol wants the recruits to help a team of Dr. Gaul’s scientists trap about 100 jabberjays and mockingjays. Coriolanus is certain the scientists will recognize and hate him. Sejanus insists Dr. Gaul won’t be around.
Coriolanus seems to have a knack for coming up with ideas that please his superiors, whether he’s in the Capitol mentoring in the Hunger Games or Peacekeeping in the districts. This shows how fully he believes in the Capitol’s goals, as his ideas overwhelmingly support the Capitol’s desire to amass and hold onto power. Coming into contact with Dr. Gaul’s scientists again threatens to jeopardize the reputation Coriolanus has built for himself with the Peacekeepers, as she knows he cheated.
Themes
Sejanus turns out to be right. The recruits hop out of a truck at the hanging tree. Coriolanus doesn’t recognize the scientists except for the woman with the pink glasses, whom another scientist introduces as Dr. Kay. In a friendly manner, she lays out their plan to divide into groups to bait traps and retrieve the birds in a few days. Coriolanus ends up in a group with Bug, who worked in orchards as a kid. Thankfully, Dr. Kay ignores Coriolanus. Tuesday proceeds as usual and then, on Wednesday, Coriolanus sits the officer test in the afternoon. He feels great afterward; he loves taking tests. Maybe he’ll become a military commander like Crassus Snow.
Again, things are starting to look up for Coriolanus. It’s a relief when none of the scientists seem to recognize him, and taking the officer test reminds him of how successful he was back home. This starts to open Coriolanus’s eyes to what his life could be like—he could, he realizes, follow in his father’s footsteps. This is an interesting realization, particularly since Coriolanus has said before that he was afraid of his father. It seems he no longer thinks that’s something to worry about.
Themes
Coriolanus’s test finishes too late for him to help the scientists with the birds, so he decides to get his bunk’s mail. Ma sent him more boxes of sweets and a letter, thanking him for looking out for Sejanus. Coriolanus is suddenly annoyed at how much work he has to do to keep Sejanus in line. He doesn’t think Sejanus wants to change; Sejanus will always feel compelled to help district rebels. Here, Sejanus’s behavior feels more dangerous, since Sejanus could end up dead if he’s caught.
Coriolanus feels like he has to babysit Sejanus in order to keep both of them safe—Coriolanus could get into trouble, too, since he knows what Sejanus is up to. It’s also grating for Coriolanus that Sejanus doesn’t seem to care much that he’s putting himself in danger. But where Sejanus prioritizes doing the right thing, even if it kills him, Coriolanus prizes his life and his success.
Themes
Impulsively, Coriolanus opens Sejanus’s locker and digs through Sejanus’s box of personal items. There are some mementos, pills and morphling, and a class photo with Sejanus and Marcus in it. At the bottom is Sejanus’s framed diploma. Flipping it over, Coriolanus discovers thousands of dollars in cash hidden in the back. What could Sejanus possibly do with this money? Information? Silence? Bribes? Coriolanus quickly puts Sejanus’s box back as the rest of his bunkmates return and dig into Ma’s treats. Sejanus agrees they’d be broke if Ma didn’t keep sending sweets. Coriolanus knows he can’t trust Sejanus to tell the truth.
Coriolanus has never really trusted Sejanus anyway, so it’s perhaps not surprising for him to find proof that Sejanus might be working against everything Coriolanus believes in. But interestingly, finding that Sejanus is hiding money suggests that Sejanus might be more like his own father than he'd like to admit. He understands what money can do, and he’s not above buying the things he wants. Where he and Coriolanus differ, then, is in their aims and in what they think is right.
Themes
