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Lil
Livia is one of Coriolanus’s classmates. She’s assigned the District One boy and, to Coriolanus’s disgust, she openly gloats about it—District One tributes are usually favored to win. She pouts later when her tribute dies during the bomb explosions in the arena. Though Coriolanus detests her, he ultimately decides he should marry her or someone like her: he’ll never be able to fall in love with her, which means he’ll be able to better look out for himself.
Livia Cardew Quotes in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes quotes below are all either spoken by Livia Cardew or refer to Livia Cardew. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6 Quotes
“Who cares about these kids one way or another?”
“Possibly their families,” said Sejanus.
“You mean a handful of nobodies in the districts. So what?” Arachne boomed. “Why should the rest of us care which one of them wins?”
Livia looked pointedly at Sejanus. “I know I don’t.”
“I get more excited over a dogfight,” admitted Festus. “Especially if I’m betting on it.”
“So you’d like it if we gave odds to the tributes?” Coriolanus joked. “That would make you tune in?”
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Livia Cardew Character Timeline in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The timeline below shows where the character Livia Cardew appears in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
...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....
(full context)
Chapter 11
...tells the class that they’ll win the war with their heads, not their hearts. When Livia and Lysistrata argue that the war is over and the killing should stop, Festus notes...
(full context)
Epilogue
...him again. Coriolanus knows now it wouldn’t have worked out. He’s recently decided to marry Livia Cardew, since he’ll never love her. He imagines them years from now, as president and...
(full context)
