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
Blood pours out of Arachne’s neck. Coriolanus wants to recoil like everyone else, but at Lucy Gray’s urging, he runs for Arachne and calls for a medic. The District 10 girl grabs the sandwich as Peacekeepers shoot her multiple times. The crowd panics and runs, trampling some people. Arachne dies in Coriolanus’s arms and Coriolanus experiences flashbacks to the rebel invasion when he was a child. Lucy Gray vomits as medics take Arachne away. Coriolanus notices Sejanus kneeling by the dead tribute, sprinkling something over her body. Peacekeepers usher Festus, Coriolanus, and Sejanus out of the zoo. Coriolanus can’t believe it—Arachne was like family to him. Clemensia joins the group and they all walk home.
Arachne’s death makes it clear that the tributes are hungry to the point of being desperate. It also becomes clearer just how traumatizing the war was for Coriolanus—any violence, any strife causes him to experience flashbacks that make it difficult to perform tasks. But notice that Coriolanus, Clemensia, and Festus are upset only about Arachne, not about how her tribute was also brutally murdered. This reflects how little they think of the tributes. They think only of themselves—the tributes are tools, not people, in their eyes.
Themes
After walking Clemensia home, Coriolanus remembers Dr. Gaul’s assignment. Clemensia figures Dr. Gaul won’t expect them to turn anything in—and Clemensia couldn’t work on anything now, anyway. Coriolanus decides to write a proposal, just in case. He gets home, comforts Grandma’am—who’s distraught about Arachne—and then showers, trying to get the sound of Arachne’s burbling blood out of his head. To clear his mind, he works on the proposal. He proposes that sponsors can purchase food, which will be delivered to tributes by drone. He suggests a panel to vet the food and a panel for betting. Proceeds will make the games almost free for Panem to put on.
Planning the programs to facilitate food deliveries and betting is, for Coriolanus, a way to deal with his grief and the trauma of seeing Arachne die. And while plenty of people turn to their work to deal with grief, what’s interesting here is that Coriolanus essentially proposes new ways to dehumanize the tributes to avoid having to deal with his emotions. Betting turns the tributes into little better than fighting animals, while the food delivery system again puts the responsibility to feed the tributes on viewers, not Panem.
Themes
When Coriolanus finishes the proposal, he walks it to the Citadel, where he figures Dr. Gaul has her office. Peacekeepers promise to get it to her desk. As Coriolanus walks home, screens on the streets start to air footage of Arachne’s death. Fortunately, Coriolanus looks heroic in the footage; his fear isn’t obvious. After a brief breakfast at home, Coriolanus returns to the Academy. His classmates treat him as the “chief mourner” for Arachne, and he lets people think he and Arachne were better friends than they were. At the all-school assembly, Satyria, rather than Dean Highbottom, speaks about Arachne. Other teachers and staff praise Arachne and announce that Arachne’s funeral will be tomorrow. They release the students; classes will convene after lunch.
It's interesting that Coriolanus is most concerned with how he looks in the footage of Arachne’s death. This shows how much he prioritizes appearances over everything else—it’s more important that he look good than it is to acknowledge how terrible Arachne’s death is. Seeing this footage on the streets also shows how fully Panem relies on its state-sanctioned television station to broadcast a specific message. Making sure this sort of thing shows everywhere in the country is part of how they disseminate propaganda—and make sure everyone believes the same thing.
Themes
The mentors’ first class is a meeting with Professor Demigloss. The professor starts by passing out an updated sheet listing the mentors and their tributes—now, the tributes’ names are listed, rather than just their genders. Coriolanus crosses the District 10 girl off the list, but he can’t bring himself to cross off Arachne’s name. Ten minutes into class, Coriolanus and Clemensia are summoned to the Citadel, presumably to meet with Dr. Gaul. Clemensia is upset Coriolanus put the proposal together without her, just after Arachne died. But Coriolanus gives her an overview of his proposal and says he didn’t put anyone’s name on it, since it’s a class project. He promises to cover for Clemensia if Dr. Gaul asks too many questions.
Again, Coriolanus shows where his priorities are when he crosses “the District 10 girl” off, but won’t cross off Arachne. And not listing the girl’s name also shows how little he thinks of her; to him, she’s just a murderous tribute. Coriolanus is only willing to humanize those who are wealthy and live in the Capitol, like him. As Coriolanus and Clemensia chat about the proposal, it also becomes clear that Coriolanus has no issue with lying to protect people he loves and cares about. While this suggests he’s not particularly honest, it also shows how loyal he is to his friends and classmates (as opposed to showing loyalty to Panem by being honest with Dr. Gaul).
Themes
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As they walk, Coriolanus and Clemensia wonder whether the city will even hold the Hunger Games. They finally reach the Citadel, go through security, and head 25 floors underground to the laboratory. Coriolanus cautiously leads Clemensia through the cages of horrifying creatures until a man leads them to Dr. Gaul, who’s next to a tank containing hundreds of neon snakes. Clemensia and Coriolanus lie that the whole class talked about the proposal and then wrote it up; Clemensia said she printed it. Dr. Gaul says she “just wanted to make sure [they]’d both had [their] hands on it.” Neither of them brought another copy, so Clemensia asks to discuss using the copy Coriolanus left for Dr. Gaul.
Coriolanus and Clemensia might not think highly of the tributes’ lives, but they do imply that Arachne’s death is a steep cost—and that, perhaps, if Panem values its Capitol citizens’ lives, it shouldn’t hold the Hunger Games. Keep in mind that they’ve been raised to value their own lives over those of the tributes, so this view makes sense and is, in this context, surprisingly humane. They don’t want anyone they care about to die.
Themes
Dr. Gaul laughs that her assistant used the proposal as bedding in the snakes’ cage and asks Coriolanus and Clemensia to fetch the papers. This feels like a test, but Coriolanus reaches his hand in and gently slides one paper out from under the snakes. As Clemensia reaches in for the second sheet, Dr. Gaul says the snakes can’t see or hear well, but their sense of smell is fantastic—and these snakes will ignore people who smell familiar and attack those who don’t. Suddenly, six of the snakes bite Clemensia.
Especially on the heels of Coriolanus and Clemensia suggesting that the Games shouldn’t happen for the mentors’ safety, it’s a huge shock when Dr. Gaul seems to create this situation where the snakes bite Clemensia. Clearly, Dr. Gaul doesn’t value her students’ lives or safety if she’s going to put Clemensia in danger like this.
Themes
