This article contains spoilers for Sunriseon the Reaping and the Hunger Games Franchise.
Sunrise on the Reaping is the newest addition to Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series, released on March 18. The book follows Haymitch Abernathy, a character from the original trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. Haymitch was the second person from District 12 to win the Hunger Games.
Since Haymitch was the only victor from District 12, years later, he became the mentor of Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist of The Hunger Games. As a mentor, Haymitch is responsible for securing sponsors for the District 12 players, which he did for Katniss and her partner, Peeta Mellark.
However, the two became more than just contestants to him. Haymitch describes how his deceased love, Lenore Dove, comes to him now and says, “I fulfilled my promise about the reaping, or at least lent a hand, but she says I can’t come to her yet. I have to look after my family.”
Haymitch and Katniss were close, but, more importantly, they were similar in their personalities and stories. Haymitch acknowledges this in the book’s epilogue, saying, “She’s (Katniss) is not an easy person; she’s like me, Peeta always says. But she was smarter than me, or luckier. She’s the one who kept that sun from rising.”
These similarities were woven into the plot of Sunrise on the Reaping, shaping the book’s message. Three parallels between Haymitch and Katniss are detailed in the book.
- The reaping
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If you watched The Hunger Games, you know Katniss volunteered to participate in the 74th Hunger Games. She steps in to save her younger sister, Primrose, who was initially reaped for the games — a death sentence. Katniss volunteered to save someone she loves.
On the other hand, Haymitch was not reaped, nor did he volunteer. He did, however, end up as the second male tribute because he was trying to help his then-girlfriend, Lenore. When the original male tribute was reaped, he ran instead of facing his death in the games, which led to him being immediately killed. Instead of redrawing, Haymitch was picked due to his pushing against the crowd of cowering people to get to Lenore.
Therefore, both Katniss and Haymitch entered the Hunger Games because they were trying to protect the person they cared for most. Katniss did it knowingly, while Haymitch did so involuntarily. However, volunteering for Primrose was one of the only things Katniss chose throughout the books. As the series progressed, Katniss was often pushed or forced to do things involuntarily. In contrast, Haymitch was aware of the anti-capital things he was doing, as shown in Sunrise on the Reaping.
Overall, both characters had similar intentions with similar potential outcomes.
- the “rebels”
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After Katniss and Peeta attempted to defy the Capitol’s rule of one winner per game by threatening to eat poisonous berries, the Capitol tried to make Katniss look less like a rebel.
The president of Panem, Cornelius Snow, wanted to show his power over the districts through the games. So when Katniss went against Snow by defying the gamemaker’s rule, it took away some of his power by showing he did not have complete control.
However, Katniss didn’t defy the Capitol knowingly. She defied the Capitol to save another loved one: Peeta. When the Capitol went back on their promise that two players from the same district could win, Katniss realized that either she or Peeta would have to die. She defied the Capitol because she had to kill the other players to save Peeta and return to her family.
Alternatively, Haymitch purposefully defied the Capitol. He gave himself the title of “Rascal” and entered the games with the plan to break them. He did not believe he would make it out of the games, so he planned on destroying them instead.
Katniss’s motive was to save her friends and family. However, Haymitch sought to destroy the evil elites who created the games. Ultimately, Katniss became a rebel while Haymitch made himself one.
- the controlled
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President Snow wanted complete control, but Katniss and Haymitch pushed against him.
Once both players left the games, Snow made it a point to show just how much control he had. He showed this to Katniss by displaying his power over the people she cared about. This didn’t work on Haymitch, as he already understood how much control Snow had. Instead, Snow uses his authority to show Haymitch how little he has by killing everyone he loves.
When Snow killed Katniss’s friends in Mockingjay, she developed more anger and a stronger motive to fight against him. However, this had the opposite effect on Haymitch, who went from believing he could defeat Snow and the Capitol to thinking he couldn’t.
In Katniss’s case, people, specifically Coin and those in the Rebellion, used her to take control away from Snow. For Haymitch, the death of the life he had before the Hunger Games prevented him from stealing back any control.
Haymitch and Katniss are similar. They were both reaped for someone, considered rebels, and controlled by President Snow. The slight difference in why they were reaped, considered rebels, and controlled by Snow is why Katniss was ultimately able to confront and eventually defeat Snow.
Haymitch wanted to keep the sun from rising on the reapings, whereas Katniss didn’t, even though she did just that.