Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute and survived a brutal fight to the death inThe Hunger Games.
She was sent back into the arena and sparked a rebellion inCatching Fire.
“She very much had a clear sense of where it was going to go from the beginning.
Credit: Scholastic
As withThe Hunger GamesandCatching Fire, reading the first draft ofMockingjayhad Levithan and his colleagues all feeling like fans.
I mean, that gutted us.
He laughs as he admits, “I should have intellectually thought that she might go there.
But it wasn’t until I read it that it hit me, that’s where it went.
And she said, ‘Oh yeah, of course, that’s the whole point.’
War, what is it good for?
In the decade sinceMockingjay’s release, the world has changed drastically.
Even in the past few months of 2020, life as we know it has completely shifted.
“At the end of the day, war is war,” he says.
“That’s really the lens, and her reference points were as varied as Spartacus and Vietnam.
Levithan adds that Collins never set out to make any statements about the contemporary political landscape.
“Approaching it now, she wouldn’t have any different lens with which to look at it.
There were a few more things added in there.”
“They’re like, ‘Wait, Katniss is evil, she voted for the Hunger Games!’
It’s a feint.
Some readers were so angry, but you have to look at it in context.”
I did not see that coming, but then when it came it made perfect sense.”
Was it because of Gale’s involvement in Prim’s death?
Or was Katniss always going to choose her arena partner?
Levithan’s opinion may surprise you.
You’re now out of the race not just romantically, but as a friend.'”
Levithan notes he was disappointed with that revelation, but “that’s the genius of the book.”
“If it were up to me, I think she’d be perfectly happy on her own.
Can’t just everyone
WhenMockingjaywas released, Levithan wasn’t surprised by the mixed reactions from fans.
“Hunger Gamesis far from the only series to fall prey to that.
In fact, most series if not all series fall prey to that.”
But Levithan adds that Katniss got the happiest ending she could have possibly hoped for, given the circumstances.
“The people who really wanted a very happy, sweet ending were upset,” he says.
“And that’s perfectly fine.
It just shows the investment that they have in the characters.”
If the trilogy started a conversation, the conversation is about to continue.
It does deliver, which is miraculous.”
He pauses to laugh and adds, “I do wish it was under different circumstances.
We’re pushing the dystopia thing a little too hard right now in real life.”
