The Aftermath
There's a really important parallel I noticed between Haymitch and Katniss at the end of Sunrise on the Reaping and Mockingjay respectively. I haven't seen many people talking about it so I'd like to get into it.
Important note: This will contain spoilers for Sunrise on the Reaping and the original trilogy. Also, this article will discuss suicide and suicidal ideation so keep that in mind. Protect your mental health if you need to.
They were ready to die
At the end of the 50th Games, Haymitch was mortally wounded with his insides on the outside and he was determined to make sure there would be no Victor. He didn't think President Snow would allow him to survive so he intended to make sure he brought Silka down with him and set off the second explosive so nobody would win. He chose to die, but the Capitol wouldn't let him find peace that way.
After the second rebellion, Katniss had concluded that Alma Coin would be no different from President Snow. He was dying already and she took her shot to prevent President Coin from leading Panem down the same road. She knew that this assassination would not be tolerated by the winning side. Luckily, Cinna's final gift was right there in her uniform, she went for her nightlock pill before they could arrest her. Peeta intervened and stopped her, because that's what they do.
Here's the connection. Both of them intended to die and were prevented from doing so, be it out of spite or out of love. Yet, Haymitch understood Katniss so well, he knew her intentions and ensured she got her chance to take Coin down. Haymitch finally kept his promise to Lenore Dove to stop the sun from rising on another reaping, through Katniss. The important thing is that they had both acted in such a way to paint their final posters, fully intending to kill themselves afterwards.
Another Prison
After the Games, Haymitch is mortally wounded and is locked up in a lab while he is being treated for sepsis, post surgery and whatever else he needed to stay alive. It wasn't a pleasant experience, since he was seeing animals and Avoxes being tortured. He had no idea how long had passed.
He is then sent back to the tribute apartment, locked in and fed milk and water. He's kept isolated for a while and has no contact with other humans. He's got a device like Loulou's that's feeding him painkillers. The only thing he gets is reruns of old Hunger Games on the television which he has no control over. The TV turns on and off by itself. He also knows he's being watched.
He was just left to stew in his own trauma, reliving the trauma of others and remembering what happened in the arena. Finally, he is awoken by an old clip of Lucy Grey singing from the tenth games. He knows she's Covey and makes the connection to Snow's knowledge of the Covey. He loses it, and is dragged out for his victory celebrations. A way to unsettle him to force submission, similar to how Cinna was attacked while Katniss was in her launch tube in Catching Fire.
After Coin's assassination, Katniss is treated largely the same. She's sent back to her tribute apartment as well, with no contact from anyone and nothing but a paper robe to wear. She is sent food and medicines and has no idea what is going on. She tries to find a way to end her life here, refusing to eat, refusing her medication until the withdrawals got bad or hoarding her meds so she can save up enough for an overdose.
They are both returned to the last place they had been 'safe' before the trauma of being in the Hunger Games happened. They had no information and were completely isolated, left to stew in their trauma with nothing to do but relive it all. They wished they had died but lacked the means to do anything about it.
They're both feeling like failures, their rebellion and reason to go on is out of the window. Katniss has lost the one person she set out to save, Prim. Haymitch has no idea if his loved ones will be safe since he didn't die like Snow wanted him to. That feeling of not knowing is a special kind of torture in itself.
Passing the Time
Humans aren't built to sit around and do nothing. They need something to keep busy with. Leaving a young, traumatised person with no stimulus at all, they are going to find something. Haymitch spends hours soaking in the bathtub, keeping the water hot and replaying all of the arena in his mind. He even imagines the gruesome deaths that he didn't witness in person. Inspecting his scar and torturing himself with horrors real and imagined.
Katniss fails to end her life and eventually she starts singing and doesn't stop. She sings all the songs she knows, all the ones her father taught her, the Covey songs and the forbidden ones. It's not clear why, she doesn't understand it but it could be a way of soothing herself or keeping herself busy. She maintains her hygiene, but stops eating and tries in vain to find a way to end her life.
Even those who are prepared to give up and end their lives will find something to fill their time. Both of them engage in self-soothing behaviour while they stew in their trauma and process everything that happened. This is a common outcome of trauma, such as we see in people who suffer from OCD, which is often induced by trauma. The PTSD is obvious, but I think it's so interesting how similar their experiences were.
Haymitch understands Katniss so well because of their shared experiences as well as their personalities being very similar. I do wonder how Haymitch felt, watching Katniss go through the same thing he did. Being a prisoner in their own minds, as much as in their tribute accommodations.
There are no Victors, no winners in war. Not really. There are survivors, those who are left behind to pick up the pieces and try to move on from the trauma. It's not a happy ending, really. A peaceful ending for them both, but they remain scarred for life from their experiences. Even when a tyrant is overthrown, things don't magically improve overnight. Some food for thought.
Emi the Cat Lady 💜
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