The Cover of MockingJay Part 1's book Suzzane Collins

I have already read the novel of MockingJay part 1 and here is the cover of it

On the next my blog, I will review about this book. But, before that, Here is the information of it

 Date : Saturday, 23th April 2016 until Sunday 24th April 2016

Title : The Hunger Games Mocking Jay Part 1

Time : 2 days

Characters :

1.      Katniss is many things: the hunter, the hunted, a friend, a lover, a sister and daughter, a Panem celebrity, and the Mockingjay. But in trying to be so many things to so many people, she loses sight of who she actually used to be a few short years ago.

2.      Peeta is good at public speaking, in contrast to Katniss…who is not. At all.

3.      Gale is a hunter. He's most comfortable when he's out looking for game. He and Katniss have a history together. Before the Games, before the Quell, before it all started, Katniss and Gale were a team. They were the best of friends and relied on each other to keep their families safe.

4.      President Coin is one of the few characters given a lengthy physical description in this book:

She's fifty or so, with gray hair that falls in an unbroken sheet to her shoulders. […] Her eyes are gray, but not like those of people from the Seam. They're very pale, as if almost all the color has been sucked out of them. The color of slush that you wish would melt away. (1.27)

Coin is described in a variety of light (and unpleasant) colors: gray, pale, slush. Katniss says it's like "all the color has been sucked out." Coin is an ominous blank. Maybe this is a reference to that other leader who references whiteness, President Snow.

5.      President Snow has a great deal of blood on his hands, which is somewhat ironic when you consider that his last name is Snow. A name like that implies whiteness, purity, and the cold. Snow is definitely cold, but he's about as far from pure as you can get. His impurities literally start leaking out as he ages, because he starts coughing up blood and smelling really foul.

6.      Haymitch is a drunkard, a friend, a mentor, and a victor. He's still really good at strategizing but he's no longer good at going out into the field. For most of his time in District 13, he's forced to be sober, but as soon as he's around alcohol, he can't keep his hands off it.

7.      Finnick first appears in this book as a shadow of his former self. He's mentally deranged and tortured by the idea that the Capitol might be hurting his captured lover, Annie. It's not until Katniss tells him about a special weapon that Beetee has created for him that Finnick starts to come back to himself, and "actually sounds like the guy [Katniss] met at the Quarter Quell" (6.51). It's a tough process, but he's a strong guy.

8.      Annie is a former Games victor who had a breakdown as a result of the trauma of the Games. She's Finnick's lover and is one of the people imprisoned in the Capitol to be abused after the rebels broke Katniss out of the Quarter Quell.

9.      Johanna is one of the few surviving victors from the Quarter Quell. The rebels aren't able to rescue her at first, and she's left behind to be tortured in the Capitol, along with Peeta: "That's how they tortured her in the Capitol. Soaked her and then used electric shocks" (18.33).

10.  Beetee, a wounded victor from the Quarter Quell, is a whiz with technology and weapons. The rebels rely on him almost as much as they do on Katniss.

11.  Prim, Katniss's little sister, seems like a bright light in a dark world:

I look at my little sister and think how she has inherited the best qualities our family has to offer: my mother's healing hands, my father's level head, and my fight. There's something else there as well, something entirely her own. An ability to look into the confusing mess of life and see things for what they are. (13.31)

12.  Katniss's mom is more of an absence than a presence in Mockingjay. Although Katniss gets to spend some time with her mom while they're both refugees in District 13, Katniss is busy training for her position as the Mockingjay and her mother seems every bit as busy working as a valued medic in the hospital.

13.  Plutarch is the Capitol's former Head Gamemaker who's now on the rebels' side of the war. Yet he's still acting in much the same kind of position he held when he was on the Capitol's side.

14.  Boggs is one of the few people Katniss comes to trust in District 13. He seems to be on her side more often than not. When she, Gale, and Beetee, among others, are debating inhumane and humane war strategies.

15.  Cressida is in charge of the media team and camera crew that film and follow Katniss around "in action." While at first it seems like Cressida is a skilled manipulator along with others like Plutarch and even Coin or Snow, later we see her using her potential for manipulation and quick thinking to support Katniss when Squad 451 is in the field. She comes up with a reason to support Katniss's bogus secret mission.

16.  Castor and Pollux are twins who serve as cameramen for Squad 451, the rebels. Pollux is an Avox, or a mute; he lost his voice as punishment for a crime and had to serve as a mute servant in the Capitol for years.

INTRODUCTION

Mockingjay is the dark and violent conclusion to Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. In Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen, our unusual heroine, has just escaped her second Hunger Games with the help of rebels from District 13, and they want her to be the face of their revolution. In fighting on the rebels' side, though, Katniss finds herself trapped in an even more terrible version of the Hunger Games than those the Capitol hosted.

As turns out, we're definitely not the only people wanting to pick up this book. Since its publication on August 24, 2010, it has been named a #1 Bestseller by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today (source). In Mockingjay's first week on the market, nearly half a million copies were sold (source). A film based on the first book in the trilogy, The Hunger Games, is currently in pre-production, and if that movie does well, it's safe to say we'll probably see a version of Mockingjay in theaters soon enough.

And why not? The book is totally cinematic. It has plenty of exciting action scenes, which will probably be fun to film, even if they're going to be absolutely stressful to watch. It even packs in a love triangle and plenty of suspense, to further add to said stress.

While this book has a summer blockbuster feel to it, that doesn't mean it's all Hollywood. Author Collins doesn't pull her punches. You can't get too fond of any character that emerges in this book. As soon as one does something nice or heroic, he or she is pretty much guaranteed to get the chop. Seem unusual, or even cruel? Well, that's war for you. Mockingjay is committed to showing the darker side of battle, how it's unfair, and how people who are loved die all the time. Don't let this deter you, though – just scroll down to "Why Should I Care?" to find out why it's worth your time.

 

Why Should I Care?

Reading Mockingjay feels a lot like watching an action movie or playing a first-person shooter – it's intensely griping entertainment. But Suzanne Collins says there's more to it than that. Her books (The Hunger Games series and her Underland Chronicles) aren't just sci-fi – they're serious too.

Scratching your head a bit? Let Uncle Shmoop help you out. Collins says that she's really interested in "the question of what makes a necessary war – at what point is it justifiable or unavoidable?" (source). At a time full of warfare and potential warfare (we're thinking Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Iran…), that's an important question. Mockingjay is very concerned with war, and Collins claims that her books are "absolutely, first and foremost, war stories" (source).

In The Hunger Games series, the world is really messed up. The adults and the generations past are the ones to blame. They instituted horrors like the Hunger Games. Katniss and the younger generation are born into an awful situation, but they're also the hope for the future. How do they go about creating change, though? How do they fight the old system?

Collins comes from a military family; her father was in the Air Force for many years and also fought in Vietnam. She grew up hearing about war from a young age, and considered that a good education. Lucky for us, Collins wants to share her education with her readers. Here's what she has to say on the matter:

One of the reasons it's important for me to write about war is I really think that the concept of war, the specifics of war, the nature of war, the ethical ambiguities of war are introduced too late to children. I think they can hear them, understand them, know about them, at a much younger age without being scared to death by the stories. It's not comfortable for us to talk about, so we generally don't talk about these issues with our kids. But I feel that if the whole concept of war were introduced to kids at an earlier age, we would have better dialogues going on about it, and we would have a fuller understanding. (source)

Through her books, Collins wants to teach the real-life younger generation about war. Maybe by being introduced to the complexities and horrors of war earlier, we'll be able to change the world for the better, like Katniss and her friends aim to do.

But what to do you think? Does Mockingjay teach us anything valuable about war? And is it simply too dark for teens and tweens?

CONFLICT

The major conflict is between all of the districts and the capital; during the entire book, these two main groups are fighting with each other.  The conflict is over who will gain control in the end--will it be the materialistic capital who has been in charge for so long now, oppressing its people and using them for slave labor?  Or will it be the leadership of District 13, who have been staging a rebellion for years?   It is through this conflict, that is played out in District 12, Disctrict 12, and the capital streets itself, that is such a good showcasing for rather serious themes of war, violence, power and greed that are evident throughout the book.
Minor conflicts erupt between Katniss and various characters throughout the book, but the major conflict lies in the larger picture of the battle for power between the districts and the capital.

SOLUTION

The resolution in any novel provides the reader with a conclusion when all loose ends are tied up, conflicts resolved and any major complications are clarified. Sometimes, when there is to be a sequel, there will be something left out that will only be resolved in the next book. In Mockingjay, Katniss is released and allowed to make a life for herself, which she does with Peeta. The fact that Gale moves away seems to leave unanswered questions but the ending suits the story which was never going to have a happily-ever-after resolution.
The reader must consider the effects of war, based on the fact that in this apparent internal battle of Man versus himself and versus society, so many people needed to die. The "changed" Katniss serves as a warning of the meaninglessness of war much like the ending of Mockingjay as she seems to just go through the motions. Her passion is lost. She is haunted and wonders who will "be joining the cast of my nightmares tonight" such is her acceptance of her lot. This allows the story to come towards its conclusion as Katniss' acceptance is part of her healing process. She wants "to make their deaths count." Solace is found as Peeta's "arms are there to comfort me." Peeta is her "dandelion in the spring" making it "real."

OPINION

I think this story has many lesson for us. If the peace can’t solve the problem, so the war from each district and capital are never ending. The justice is never exist in the world.