Welcome to our third discussion of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes! This week we are talking about Part 3, pages 324-517. Join us below as we discuss Coriolanus' career as a peacekeeper, The Covey and District 12, as well as the finale of the book.
Spoiler Warning!!! This post contains many spoilers for Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, as well as The Hunger Games Trilogy.
Jacilyn: With the start of part three, we find out that Coriolanus is being sent to District 12 to become a Peacekeeper after being caught interfering in the 10th Hunger Games. Dean Highbottom confronts Coriolanus, and sends him on his way, leaving Tigris to deal with Grandma’am and their impending eviction. From there, the book suddenly picks up pace quite drastically.
Michaela: I feel this book’s general pacing is a little different, it seems all over the place for pacing honestly. However, with the way the story develops the pacing isn’t necessarily weird. It definitely ebbs and flows though. I think this last part of the book picks up right away but then dies down for a while and then picks back up randomly throughout until the ending.
Jacilyn: Even during the Games, I felt like the book moved pretty slowly. There were occasional moments of excitement, like Arachne’s death and the parades, but they died down really quickly. I’m saying this again, but I really freaking hated Coriolanus. That made it really hard to get into the book as much as I’d like to. I didn’t really feel like I NEEDED to keep reading until part three came along, and I think that was only because the fate of other people was increasingly involved and in much more dire ways than earlier in the book. But, we’ll get to that more a bit later.
Tigris is left to fend for an increasingly senile Grandma’am, while also trying to sell their penthouse so they don’t become homeless. Throughout this entire book, I think the only people Coriolanus ever truly, sincerely cared for besides himself was Tigris and Grandma’am.
Michaela: Tigris seems to always be the one left to fend for things. She was the one bringing in money for them pretty much the whole time and we learned in part two that she might have had to use prostitution as a way to do that. However, later Coriolanus does send half of his Peacekeeper paycheck to them. I think Coriolanus really does care for his family but he also is too scared to deal with this ‘shame’ he thinks he’s gained and does abandon them in a mental way. He even considers suicide to get away from the responsibility of his family and the ‘shame’ of not living up the last name, Snow.
Jacilyn: You’re right. Even when he cares for his family, it’s in a shallow way. He can’t see past his own issues long enough to recognize all that Tigris has done, and sacrificed, to save their family. Coriolanus never truly sacrifices anything. All of it is to raise himself up, to gain standing in the Capitol. He says he’s doing it to save his family, but he also says it’s what he’s owed. Even within his shame, he’s still selfish. It truly gets rid of any sympathy I may have had for him at some point.
Michaela: Coriolanus says a lot of things and only sometimes does he really mean them. He says he’s concerned about Tigris and Grandma’am but clearly not enough to provide any actual advice or comfort in his letter back to Tigris. The only thing he does is send back money. Tigris isn’t only dealing with money and taking care of an old lady. The Grandma’am clearly has something like dementia, ptsd, or alzeimers, or a combination of those things, and Coriolanus’ absence has made it worse. Tigris is trying to care for an elderly woman who is struggling mentally, emotionally, and physical. I have had a family member who dealt with this kind of struggle late in life and it is one of the hardest things to see a loved go through. It’s very hard for the person to understand what’s happening and it’s hard for the family to understand it too, even with help from professionals. Tigris is dealing with this all on her own plus having to work so they have some sort of money, losing their lifelong home, trying to find somewhere else to live, finding and cooking food, and more. All of that triggers the Grandma’am even more. Then all Coriolanus is capable of doing is sending money.
Jacilyn: He seems to think that money can solve all the problems in the world, but money wasn’t enough to save Sejanus Plinth. Coriolanus comes in contact with so many better people than himself, better role models, and he still manages to twist his experiences with them to convince himself that he is in the right, always. When really, those experiences should have made him realize how guilty he is in his world. Sejanus cared deeply for Coriolanus and those less fortunate than him, and his guilt at ending up in the Capitol and leaving District 2 behind made him selfless, willing to put himself at risk to help whoever he could. Coriolanus recognizes this and continues to manipulate him, all while claiming the love of a brother. In the end, Coriolanus betrays Sejanus to Dr. Gaul, and even admits that Sejanus died at his hand. And yet, Coriolanus still manages to tell himself that it was meant to be once he returns from District 12 and essentially takes Sejanus’ place in the Plinth family, further manipulating Ma and Strebo.
Michaela: Nothing Sejanus had planned was going to actually affect the Capitol negatively. The plan to free Lil and escape was so simple, it hurt no one, and the Capitol could have easily covered it up. Coriolanus’ blind loyalty to the Capitol is clearly shown in his choice to record Sejanus with the jabberjay. I can confidently say that Sejanus was one of the very few characters in this book that I actually cared about, and his death was really hard for me to read. They also decided on his execution so quickly so that Strebo could not interfere, obviously Dr. Gaul was tired of that happening. Coriolanus was so excited to see Sejanus when he showed up but then immediately thought “so relieved to have someone to talk to who knew his worth in that world” (pg. 344). It's absolutely disgusting and depressing how Coriolanus can’t let go of the Snow pride and just have a friend that he loves. Even after he grieves for Sejanus, his main thoughts after that were about if he would get caught then later it was how he can further manipulate the Plinth’s in his favor.
Jacilyn: Exactly. Every single emotion Coriolanus feels is morphed based on his blind loyalty to the Capitol. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that that’s a direct result of trying to cope with the trauma of the war. But that doesn’t excuse his actions. You see plenty of other people in this book cope with the trauma of the war in ways that DON’T harm others. Like Ma. All she wanted to do was be good to people. She has such a kind heart. It was really difficult reading about all of these great characters with good hearts and interesting lives that have their lives ruined and manipulated by Coriolanus.
Michaela: Ma is a great example of someone still being affected by the war but using it to care for others. Pluribus was, I think, an unsung hero in this book. During the war he traded the Snow’s a lot of extra food to help them survive without equal payment in return, because he cared about them. He also was very willing to lend his guitar to Lucy Gray, a district child who no one else in the Capitol really cared about. Even once Lucy Gray and Coriolanus are in District 12 after the Games, Pluribus is still so sweet to them, he sends Lucy Gray instrument strings for her and her family. Also, during Coriolanus’ absence, Pluribus is offering a place for Tigris and the Grandma’am to live. There are plenty of people Coriolanus has to look up to and all he is capable of doing is looking down on them. Clearly the ‘Snow lands on top’ sentiment is taken too seriously in his upbringing that he has no capability of being humbled.
Jacilyn: I would really love to learn more about Pluribus. I agree that he’s an unsung hero. He was always there to help out the Snow family, and didn’t pause for a second in thinking that Lucy Gray was special, with no regard to whether or not she’s District. Pluribus also provided Coriolanus with information throughout the book that could have cleared the air a bit had Coriolanus decided to actually think about what he was told (like the information about Highbottom and Coriolanus’ dad being good friends.) He really had his finger on the pulse of so much of what was going on, and Coriolanus kind of just takes his presence for granted. Another person Coriolanus takes for granted - Lucy Gray.
Michaela: Coriolnaus takes pretty much every person he knows for granted, but Lucy Gray is one of his worst. Even the hospitality of her family, he takes for granted. Lucy Gray lied about the rat poison to keep Coriolnaus safe. When her family talks about having traveled ‘up north’ and met people up there Coriolanus said he “felt embarrassed for them. No such place existed”. How Coriolanus who, until two weeks ago, had never left the Capitol can think he knows more about the world than the Covey, who have actually travelled their whole existence, is a mystery to me. He even starts to lessen his appreciation of their music because he became “weary of the infusion of music into his life. Invasion might be a better word” (pg. 439), clearly because the Capitol has tried really hard to erase all music. He is so brainwashed by the Capitol that he isn’t even capable of experiencing real love and appreciation for people and things in his life. Even just the existence of the mockingjays is deeply troubling to him.
Jacilyn: Lucy Gray’s love for Coriolanus - and her trust in him - is so heartbreaking. She even thinks Coriolanus killed Mayfair to protect her and the Covey, but his reaction was purely out of self preservation. The entire Covey welcomes him and Sejanus, and he betrays them every single chance he gets. He constantly, constantly refers to Lucy Gray as “his.” And the only reason he is concerned about Billy Taupe is because he’s worried about him trying to “claim” Lucy Gray, not because Billy Taupe is harassing Lucy Gray and the rest of the Covey. I think the worst part is that Lucy Gray didn’t deserve for anyone to try to “claim” her in the first place. Her soul belonged to music, and her family. She deserved to truly be free.
The fact that Coriolanus didn’t love the music proved that he didn’t love Lucy Gray. He may have loved the idea of her, but that was it. The music of her and the Covey was so powerful. When I read the first words to “The Hanging Tree” I got immediate goosebumps. And the same thing happened when Maude Ivory sings the song that Katniss sings to Rue as she dies in the arena. They are so haunting, and beautiful, and makes me realize why the future President Snow hates Katniss and sees her as such a threat. She unintentionally embodies so many aspects of this part of Coriolanus’ life that I’m sure he tries to forget, or at least reforge in his own head. Katniss forces Coriolanus to confront those demons, coming back to be his ruin. It’s poetic, and I’d like to think that Lucy Gray would have approved.
Michaela: Coriolanus referring to Lucy Gray as ‘his’ so much was revolting. He is so used to feeling the need to control everyone around him that he wasn’t even able to see her as a person to love, just a person to love controlling. It seems like Billy Taupe had a similar personality trait to Coriolanus, in that they both chose someone they thought they could manipulate. Lucy Gray definitely tries to see the best in them and they don’t live up to their potential.
Learning that Lucy Gray was the composer of those songs really broke my heart for her. Coriolnaus clearly holds a grudge against Lucy Gray, the Covey, and District 12 for all of what happened to him, even though it was all the result of his own actions. So at the end of the book we learn that District 12 gets a new commander who outlaws music at the Hob, and since the Covey are basically trapped in District 12 and not allowed to travel anymore, that means that the Covey at this point have completely lost their culture and life worth. Also, the fact that Katniss’ father taught her the exact songs that Lucy Gray wrote leads me to believe that Katniss is a descendent of the Covey, potentially the granddaughter of Maude Ivory. Which this would give President Snow even more reason to hate Katniss, not only does she sing Lucy Gray’s songs but also could be the granddaughter to Lucy Gray’s family members. Even Katniss’ name was used by the Covey while they were spending time at the same lake that Katniss’ father takes her too. Lucy Gray even says she prefers the name ‘katniss’ over the term ‘swamp potatoes’. We never learn Katniss or Prim’s middle names and I’m curious to know if they could be colors just like the rest of the Covey during Lucy Gray’s time. But then all this brings us back to Coriolanus at the very beginning of this book who said “His mind could fixate on a problem like that-anything, really- and not let go. As if controlling one element of his world would keep him from ruin...would likely be his undoing if he couldn’t learn to outsmart it”(pg. 7), he predicted his own downfall and yet did nothing to improve his obsession with revenge against Lucy Gray and the Covey.
Hearing the song ‘The Hanging Tree’, but then also seeing what caused its creation, was so powerful and chilling to me. Arlo’s death was so emotional and heart wrenching with Lil’s reaction and then the jabberjays repeating his last words, just as they do later with Sejanus’ last word. It’s such a beautiful yet morose scene of love and loss. The Capitol is always putting on a show and the executions at the Hanging Tree is a main attraction in their eyes, they believe it causes fear but what they fail to realize is it also sparks rebellion. Lucy Gray says “the show’s not over until the mockingjay sings” (pg. 352) which is yet another moment of foreshadowing Katniss and the downfall of the Capitol from their own creations.
Jacilyn: I feel like there is so much more to be said about what went on with Billy Taupe and Mayfair. I feel like there’s so much more there to explore. I love how the Covey are all named after songs and colors. It’s perfect. I also thought the same thing about Katniss potentially being descended from the Covey. I could see the Covey heritage on her dad’s side being canon, especially since he teaches her those songs.
That quote from the very beginning perfectly sums up the entire book, honestly. Everything comes back to control, which is what Dr. Gaul was trying to impress upon Coriolanus the entire time. In the end, Lucy Gray’s life ended in a prophecy predicted by her namesake song. She disappeared, like a ghost, with no body to be found…. At least, as far as Coriolanus is concerned. He shot her, because he realized he couldn’t control her, and that put him at risk. Do you think she meant for him to be attacked by that snake? The fact that it wasn’t venomous makes me doubt it, but at the same time, that whole part of the book was confusing to me. We also never really find out WHY the snakes like Lucy Gray so much. There’s so much left unexplained, and that almost makes me wonder if we’ll get a sequel to this book.
Michaela: I wish we had gotten more background on the Billy Taupe, Mayfair, Lucy Gray love triangle. I felt pretty let down by the few conversations we got about it. But I suppose that has a lot to do with Coriolanus being an unreliable narrator/main character that we follow. Coriolanus never really cared about the background just that Lucy Gray was ‘his’ so why would he dig any further? When we first heard Lucy Gray’s song I knew that’s how her life was going to end, it was too perfect for it not to be.
I think Lucy Gray just had a way with snakes, just like other people are really good at training dogs or horses. Some people just attract animals, like my fiance, he’s allergic to cats yet every cat he’s ever met has immediately loved him and won’t leave him alone. I think it’s an energy thing with animals and Lucy Gray is a really calm person but can be deadly really quickly, just like snakes. I really don’t know if she meant for him to be attacked by that snake, I am assuming it was because she definitely baited him with the orange scarf. Also, I don't think it took her long to figure out his involvement with Sejanus’ execution, she is a very smart person and she wouldn’t fall for Coriolanus’ answer to the 3 people he’d killed. I do agree that the book leaves a lot unexplained, though I don’t know that that means there will be a sequel, maybe just that Coriolanus doesn’t care about learning the whole story and since we follow him the entire book we just won't get any extra information.
Jacilyn: It’s interesting that Lucy Gray even attracted the muttated snakes. I agree that Lucy Gray realized what happened with Sejanus’ execution. Just another way that Coriolanus shows that he didn’t really know Lucy Gray.
One of the parts that I wonder about is how Tigris and Coriolanus’ relationship transforms over time. We see Tigris assisting the rebels from District 13 in the original trilogy, and it is implied that she had been a friend to the rebels for some time. I would love to see a second prequel, but from the perspective of Tigris. It seems like there’s still so much story to be told, now that we know that Coriolanus is training to be Head Gamemaker. I wasn’t the least bit surprised by that development, because we’ve been discussing the changes he’s suggested that we see in the original trilogy throughout this entire book. I will say, though, that I was surprised by him becoming a Peacekeeper, even against his will. It was interesting that many of the Peacekeepers came from the districts. I never really thought of where the Peacekeepers would have come from. It makes sense that they get sent to different districts than their own to serve, but it’s also interesting that they don’t have more sympathy for the rebels, or at least the people of the districts.
Michaela: Well the main reason Lucy Gray attracted the muttated snakes was because of the handkerchief. She smelled like their safe home space so they were automatically drawn to her as being safe for them but then she already had experience calming real snakes so that just made them trust her more than they already did.
I would love a second book from Tigris’ perspective, I think she would be a really good main character. I wonder if their main falling out was a combination of his gain of power over the years but also when she becomes ‘too extreme’ to be a Hunger Games stylist anymore. She talks about that when we meet her in Mockingjay. I’m sure that her and Coriolanus’ relationship gets strained over the next six decades by various things but one of them is probably Coriolanus’ decision at the end of this book that he “didn’t like love” (pg. 516), so he probably started to separate from Tigris to protect himself from vulnerability.
I was very surprised he became a Peacekeeper, but then learning that it was Dr. Gaul trying to teach him yet another lesson made it make more sense. I thought it was quite fitting for him to become a Head Gamemaker, he was Dr. Gaul’s protegé. Then with this plan he could still control the Games as President of Panem, which President Ravenstill was not capable of doing, and that’s everything Coriolanus wants; total control. Also, Coriolanus has basically come up with most of the new aspects of the Hunger Games that we know to be normal in Katniss’ time. He had a part in coming up with betting, gifts to tributes, establishing the mentor system, enforcing that citizens should be forced to watch the Games, setting a precedent for the interview process, feeding the tributes, letting them train. All of this comes from Coriolanus’ time during the 10th Hunger Games and his observations.
The Peacekeepers coming from the districts didn’t really surprise me, because why would almost anyone in the Capitol want to leave. It seemed like most of the Peacekeepers probably joined for the consistent supply of meals and paychecks to send back home, something not unfamiliar to the real world and why people join the military. At one point I even considered joining the Navy for similar reasons and the bonus of the Navy would pay for my education after I had served so many years. The Capitol provided those things to Peacekeepers to make the job more appealing so that they actually get citizens to join, loyalty to the Capitol is pretty unreliable in this universe. I also really don’t think that Capitol citizens or trained Peacekeepers are capable of seeing the districts, especially the more poor districts, as worthy of aid. Coriolanus even says as he tours District 12, “these people have given up” to which Sejanus says “the people are on their own” (pg. 348). The Capitol supports the industries of the districts, not the people who live there, they purposefully keep the citizens of Panem like this as punishment and as a form of control at the same time. I don’t think many people who were trained by the Capitol either in education or Peacekeeping are capable of sympathizing with the rebels because they are so brainwashed into thinking the Capitol is the only way to survive, which is clearly untrue. This is just the most recent version of civilization in history, on the train Coriolanus passes ruins of cities from past civilizations. The Capitol is so afraid of being another ruin that they try to control everything to make it seem like they are necessary.
Jacilyn: I’m not surprised that the Peacekeepers came from the districts, I just hadn’t really thought of who they were before they were Peacekeepers before reading this book. I can totally see why people would join - just like you said, the incentives are the same as incentives for the military in the US. Which, in my opinion, is really problematic. I feel like at least some of the newer recruits would take more time to be brainwashed to the point of seeing the people of the districts as the enemy. I don’t think that’s something that would happen right away. Although, we do see that some districts consider themselves better than others in the original trilogy, so that might also contribute to that. When Sejanus says “the people are on their own” it’s almost like Coriolanus takes that as further proof that the Capitol must be in total control. Which is funny, considering that the lives of people in the districts don’t improve once he becomes president at all. But, of course, Coriolanus would still think he was doing the districts a favor.
I think the fear of falling into ruin is something that’s really pivotal to Coriolanus’ mindset. When he’s speaking with Lucy Gray about control, he kind of scoffs at the idea that society could have thrived before the Capitol, and completely rejects the idea that it would survive after the Capitol ceased to exist. It’s like, even though the Capitol didn’t protect them during the war, he still sees the Capitol as the ultimate representation of safety. And that’s an even more interesting concept, when we think about the way Capitol society acts while he’s president. Many citizens of the Capitol, especially those in high places, were aware of the dangers of stepping out of line. Many people lived their life walking on eggshells to stay in favor, and sometimes, to stay alive. And many others self medicated and overindulged. That’s certainly not safety. Corionlanus’ later paranoia and affinity for poisoning people is further evidence of the lack of safety in the world he created.
Speaking of poison. I find it fascinating that Dean Highbottom was his first direct victim of poison. In some ways, I think Highbottom was trying to prevent Coriolanus from becoming the same kind of man that his father was. But unfortunately, we see Coriolanus do the same exact thing… take advantage of the friendship of others to further his own agenda, with little to no regard to the people he betrayed in the process. We see Crassus do this to Highbottom by getting him drunk and stealing his completely theoretical ideas. And the worst betrayal is that Crassus gets killed, and the legacy of the Hunger Games falls on the shoulders of Dean Highbottom. Perhaps, if Crassus had taken complete ownership of the idea, Highbottom could have convinced himself that he wasn’t to blame. Unfortunately, even that option was robbed from him. We know that in the original trilogy, Snow is sick from the constant poison he ingests. It’s fascinating to me that he managed to survive over 40 years of that exposure, assuming he begins this practice not long after he kills Highbottom this way.
Michaela: The incentive for becoming a Peacekeeper is insanely problematic, but what should we expect from the Capitol. Brainwashing new recruits could never happen quickly but they do it in small ways, a main one being simply that the Peacekeepers aren’t there to support the districts and “keep the peace” for them, they are there to keep the control the Capitol needs. There’s no support to the districts, even with Mayfair and Billy Taupe murders Commander Hoff said he’d like to give up on the investigation. They are always pitted against the citizens of the districts except in the Hob where they are equal for a few hours, until a fight breaks out and then they’re separate entities again.
The changes that do and don’t happen when Coriolanus becomes president is really interesting. He definitely crunches down on security, because during this time there’s no electric fence around District 12 but when Katniss lives there, there is one.
I definitely think that Highbottom was trying to prevent Coriolanus becoming like Crassus, in his own weird way. He was trying to make Coriolanus see that the Games was basically just there to punish children for being innocent. By convincing the world that everyone has this dark animalistic rage at their core instead of innocence, it’s easier to convince them further that they need to be controlled. Coriolanus is a firm believer in this, he says so while talking with Highbottom before poisoning him and in how he follows Dr. Gaul’s career path. The only reason they see deathly rage instead of innocence is because they force the children and the people into situations where they have to choose to let innocence go or die. I think it’s fitting how Coriolanus’ weapon of choice is poison, because that’s what the Capitol does, it poisons things. Then he died the same way, it comes full circle.
Jacilyn: The third part of the book definitely mirrored the idea of punishing children for being innocent. From Coriolanus and Sejanus, to Lucy Gray and Maude Ivory, any remaining shreds of innocence are incinerated. Again, another ode to the original trilogy and our Girl on Fire, who intimidates President Snow so much. This final part was definitely my favorite part of the book, in spite of (or because of) that loss of innocence. Overall, though, it was difficult to really get into the book with a character as unlikeable as Coriolanus. I’ve read plenty of books with dislikable narrators, but Coriolanus truly takes the cake. Since he sees all of these other characters in such shallow ways, us readers have the misfortune of having to experience them through his eyes. As we read, we can pick up on more than Coriolanus can as far as the complexity of many of the characters, but I wonder if part of why we’re feeling like we’re missing parts of the story is due to the way he sees them.
I don’t think this would be a book I would want to re-read, per se, but it was incredibly valuable in terms of context and background on Panem, the Hunger Games, President Snow, and even Katniss. I definitely think Hunger Games fans should give it a read.
Michaela: This last third of the book was definitely my favorite part to read. I found this book fascinating because we learned so much about Coriolanus, the Captiol, the Hunger Games, and Panem towards the beginning of the Games. The reasoning behind the existence of the Games becomes very clear in this book and I really enjoyed learning all of this history.
However, I definitely did find it hard to get into the book because of Coriolanus. I kept reading because I cared about other characters and to learn more about Panem. When it came to Coriolanus, he was so unlikeable and had ultimately no redeeming qualities throughout the story. He really was the most unreliable and unlikeable main character of anything I've ever read.
That being said I thought the writing of the book was great, Collins is a terrific writer in my opinion. She just wrote a very unlikeable character but that was also the point. I don't think we were ever meant to like him, just to learn about his story.
This book obviously goes well with the main trilogy, though I don't think I'll re-read Ballad every time I re-read The Hunger Games. But now knowing all this backstory makes me really excited to go back and read the triology through a new lense.
What were your thoughts on Part 3 and the finale? Was Coriolanus hard for you to relate to and read his points of view? Is this going to be added to your re-read list? Let us know your final thoughts on this book in the comments below!
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