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
Coriolanus allows himself to enjoy Sejanus’s disappointment for a moment, but then reminds Sejanus to think of his father or the Academy’s rules. Sejanus blurts that the Hunger Games are driving him crazy; it’s wrong to put kids in an arena so they can kill each other. They should protect children, but they’re not. Coriolanus agrees it’s “not pretty,” but Sejanus says it’s evil and he has to get out of it. Coriolanus is disturbed, but Sejanus says he won’t give Marcus to anyone else. Both boys head home.
It seems to have never occurred to Coriolanus to voice (or even think) what Sejanus has to say about the Hunger Games. For Coriolanus, the Hunger Games are good and just—and it’s silly to question the morality of the Games. They’re war reparations, so to Coriolanus (who’s bought into the idea that Panem must punish the districts for their role in the war) the Games are necessary.
Themes
Grandma’am hates that Coriolanus had a picnic with Lucy Gray—it suggests that Coriolanus and Lucy Gray are equals, and to Grandma’am, there are no similarities between Capitol people and “districts.” She notes that Crassus Snow said that “those people only dr[i]nk water because it d[oesn’t] rain blood,” and she insists Lucy Gray is manipulative. Coriolanus doesn’t argue and heads for bed. He fingers his mother’s powder compact and sniffs the rose smell, thinking maybe it’s best he has his father’s eyes.
Grandma’am is very interested in symbolism, particularly the symbolism of people’s actions. She knows very well that picnicking with Lucy Gray makes it seem like Coriolanus believes they’re both human, something that she believes isn’t true. And notice how she uses “districts” like a slur here to refer to the people who live there. This further dehumanizes them.
Themes
Coriolanus wakes in the morning to find Tigris baking bread pudding; there’s enough to take some to Lucy Gray. The cousins discuss that the tributes look so young, and that it’s disturbing to see them in a cage. Coriolanus reminds Tigris that he has to mentor Lucy Gray so he can help the family and then leaves for the Academy. There, his classmates—except for Livia Cardew—congratulate him for feeding tributes last night. After homeroom, Satyria warns Coriolanus to be careful. The “brats” could’ve killed him, and he has to be good after getting a demerit. Coriolanus shares that Sejanus offered to trade tributes and suggests he could blackmail Strabo Plinth with that information, which makes Satyria laugh.
Even if Coriolanus isn’t willing or able to say that the Hunger Games are wrong, he can’t ignore that the Games are disturbing and, to put it mildly, aren’t the best way to do war reparations. But this is as far as Coriolanus can go, since he does support the Capitol’s mission. Again, it’s telling how Satyria speaks about the tributes; calling them “brats” diminishes them and makes them seem both less human and less civilized. And when she laughs at Coriolanus’s suggestion to blackmail Strabo Plinth, it further suggests that blackmail and corruption are normal, expected, and even funny in Panem.
Themes
The history professor, Professor Demigloss, leads the mentors in a brainstorming session to figure out how to get people to watch the Hunger Games. Sejanus quips that watching isn’t the right thing to do, but Coriolanus’s friend Festus Creed suggests they punish people for not watching. Clemensia notes that the problem is that people avoid watching because the Games are “sickening,” which Sejanus agrees with. He adds that only “twisted” people would make kids kill each other, and people want to believe that human beings are better than that. Coriolanus notes that they all watched worse during the war, but Arachne Crane argues that they cared about that—but nobody cares about the tributes. Festus and Coriolanus suggest people would care if they could bet on the tributes.
Notably, the only person willing to suggest openly that the Games are wrong (Sejanus) is both very wealthy and an outsider (recall that Sejanus is from District Two). His wealth means that he’s less likely to be punished for saying these things, while being from District Two means the tributes are more human to him than they are to the other Capitol kids. This discussion reveals that to make the Games more interesting to viewers, the mentors or Gamemakers will have to come up with how to get people to care. As Sejanus has made clear, the tributes are people—but nobody in the Capitol sees them as human.
Themes
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After lunch, the mentors have an initial meeting with their tributes to fill out a questionnaire. Coriolanus and his classmates walk onto a balcony in Heavensbee Hall. Below, there are 24 tables with folding chairs, labeled with a district and the sex of the tribute. Peacekeepers usher the tributes in and shackle them to concrete weights. Some of the tributes eye their mentors high above them until Professor Sickle sends the mentors down to their tributes. Coriolanus doesn’t like seeing Lucy Gray in chains, though she smiles at him. He tries to get a Peacekeeper to unlock her, but the man won’t.
The symbolism here is telling: while the tributes are on the floor, shackled to concrete weights, the mentors—the cream of the crop at the Academy—are high above them, looking down. This illuminates the power imbalance between the mentors and tributes: the mentors have all the power, while the tributes have no choice but to go along with whatever their mentors say.
Themes
Coriolanus and Lucy Gray discuss her bruise and the issue of getting food. He offers her Tigris’s bread pudding, which almost makes Lucy Gray cry. Then, Coriolanus starts to go through the questionnaire with her. Lucy Gray explains that her family is all dead; all she has is the Covey. She says she isn’t married—but if Coriolanus is asking, they could make it work. Coriolanus blushes and changes the subject. Lucy Gray explains she’s part of a band; fortunately, the Covey got to keep their instruments when they were rounded up. She notes that Sejanus is having trouble; Coriolanus looks over to see Marcus ignoring both Sejanus and the roast beef meal on the table. Other tributes are crying.
As Lucy Gray tells Coriolanus about her family, it becomes clear that both she and Coriolanus experienced a great deal of loss as a result of the war. They’re both orphans, and they’ve both had to turn elsewhere (to music and to education, respectively) to try to get by. Lucy Gray’s willingness to speak to Coriolanus stands out compared to the other tributes. This does seem like a personality trait; Lucy Gray is just willing to talk. But this also speaks to the way Coriolanus makes her feel like a person who matters.
Themes
With five minutes to go, Coriolanus tells Lucy Gray that they’ll have a TV appearance later and she should sing. Lucy Gray isn’t sure there’s a point, but Coriolanus says people love her singing. He shares that her valley song reminded him of his mother, and he admits that both his parents are dead. They discuss their deceased parents and then, Coriolanus pulls the conversation back to the interview. Lucy Gray refuses to sing, so Coriolanus lets himself just talk to Lucy Gray for the rest of their time. When the timer goes off, Lucy Gray gives Coriolanus back the handkerchief he gave her yesterday.
Coriolanus doesn’t seem to have many (or any) close friends, aside from Tigris. So it seems like a big thing here when he’s willing to tell Lucy Gray about being orphaned. This allows them to connect on more equal footing. But there’s still a power imbalance: Coriolanus is still trying to pressure Lucy Gray to sing, something that, to his credit, will probably help her get food. But it also reads as selfish and as though he’s not truly listening to what she wants.
Themes
The mentors head for the biology lab. Clemensia laments that her tribute wouldn’t tell her anything but his name, Reaper. Arachne says her tribute only spoke about butchering and suggests she could make up a more exciting backstory for her. Dr. Gaul is in the biology lab with her muttation rabbit, along with Dean Highbottom. Dr. Gaul offers some rhymes, gathers the questionnaires, and flips through them. She asks the other mentors why they couldn’t fill theirs out like Coriolanus did. Coriolanus notes that “his girl” is a talker, but no one can see the point in speaking up. Sejanus says there is no point for the tributes.
Coriolanus has his faults, but unlike his classmates, he takes a genuine interest in Lucy Gray, which incentivizes her to trust him and tell him things. Arachne and Clemensia, on the other hand, treat their tributes with scorn and as though the tributes are horrifying curiosities, not real people. And Sejanus is right: for the tributes, there’s little incentive to speaking up. All but one of the tributes are going to die in the Hunger Games anyway—and why would they want to spend their last days speaking to someone who, like Arachne, thinks their lives are ridiculous and boring?
Themes
At Dr. Gaul’s prodding, Sejanus says he fed the tributes because he doesn’t think they should torture them. He insists the tributes aren’t really rebels, since they were young kids when the war ended. In theory, Sejanus says, they’re citizens of Panem, just like the people in the Capitol. He doesn’t see how the government is doing its job of protecting all the people if the Hunger Games exists. Dr. Gaul observes that Sejanus doesn’t support the Games, so Sejanus suggests she find a new mentor. She refuses, saying that the Games need empathy—they need everyone to be just as invested in the tributes as Sejanus is. She suggests they allow people to send food to tributes in the arena, and Festus brings up the idea of betting. Dr. Gaul tells the students to write her a proposal—if they have good ideas, she might use them.
Here, Sejanus essentially insists that Panem isn’t doing its job as a government by putting on the Hunger Games. The government, Sejanus suggests, should protect all citizens, even those who live in the districts—but instead, Panem is going out of its way to torture these children. But then, notice how Dr. Gaul sidesteps having to engage Sejanus on this issue. She suggests that his protest is making the Games more interesting and proposes letting spectators send tributes food. This, notably, means that the onus to feed the tributes shifts to viewers rather than Panem, further absolving Panem of any responsibility to care for the tributes.
Themes
Coriolanus sighs—he hates group projects. He, Arachne, and Clemensia decide to meet up later, after they visit their tributes at the zoo. Coriolanus has dinner at home and then takes a cup of soup to the zoo for Lucy Gray. His twin classmates Didi and Pollo Ring let Coriolanus have his flat rock. Lucy Gray joins Coriolanus immediately and says the tributes have gotten some food, but not much. People seem afraid to get close. Coriolanus waves over a young boy with a potato and helps the boy give it to Lucy Gray. Other kids give her vegetables, and Pluribus Bell gives her a can of milk. Other tributes snag spots by the bars and children run up to give them food. Some tributes perform by doing flips or juggling.
Even though the little girl yesterday told Sejanus that the tributes aren’t people, today the kids at the zoo seem open to considering that the girl was wrong. They want to help the tributes and make sure they get fed—but this takes courage, since they’ve been told the tributes aren’t people. But encouraging them to come close and feed the tributes shows the kids that the tributes aren’t so different after all. And the fact that it’s mostly children who are willing to do this also suggests that children are more easily able to change their thinking and learn than adults are.
Themes
Mentors show up with food as Coriolanus and Lucy Gray watch. The two discuss Sejanus and Marcus, and wish they’d met under different circumstances. The atmosphere becomes festive as the District Six tributes dance. Coriolanus thinks this is fantastic and tells Lucy Gray they need to work on her popularity, since that’s how she’ll be fed in the arena. He watches Arachne slice cheese and make a sandwich for her District 10 tribute. But Arachne teases the girl, offering and withdrawing the sandwich. Finally, the tribute snatches Arachne’s knife and slits Arachne’s throat.
Though the performances help promote the Hunger Games more broadly, Coriolanus also realizes it creates more competition for Lucy Gray. Now she has to compete against dancers and jugglers, rather than against silent, underfed children. And notice that as Coriolanus watches Arachne and her tribute, he doesn’t mention the tribute’s name. This reflects how subhuman the tribute is to Coriolanus—she’s not human enough to deserve a name.
Themes
