More similar than you think

Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping was published in March of this year. After its release, there were so many people talking about how similar Haymitch and Katniss were, both from District 12, both in a Quarter Quell, both rebels. However, I haven’t seen anyone really talk about how similar President Snow and Haymitch are. So, for this blog post, I will be talking about the similarities between Snow and Haymitch. There will be some spoilers, so if you haven’t read the books or are trying to be surprised for when the movie comes out, maybe stop reading now.

(From Pinterest)

One of the most obvious similarities is the fact that they both dated covey girls. During the 10th Hunger Games began to have affections towards Lucy Gray, and after he was sent to 12 as a peacekeeper, their relationship started becoming deeper. Haymitch is in a passionate, intense young love with Lenore Dove Baird, who is a member of the Covey, just like Lucy Gray. Also, it has been theorized that Lenore Dove and Lucy Gray are distant cousins. Both Snow and Haymitch end up losing their loves by the end of the story; one ran away, and the other was taken before her time. During the preparations leading up to the 50th game, Haymitch’s rebel actions lead to Snow meeting with him. During this meeting, it becomes very clear that Snow isn’t over Lucy Gray, and he even tries to project his failed relationship onto Haymitch and Lenore Dove. Snow tells him that Lenore Dove doesn’t truly love him, and after Haymitch rejects that statement, he still insists. At the end, Snow kills Lenore Dove and his family, and while the death of his most loved ones was a punishment for Hyamitch defying the Capitol, I think Lenore Dove’s death had a more petty reason behind it. I kinda got the vibe, “If I can’t have my girl, you can’t have yours” from Snow.

(From Pinterest)

Another similarity I noticed between the two was their backgrounds. After the war, Snow’s family became poor and was struggling to survive. It was up to Snow to do well in school and win a money prize to be able to pull his family out of poverty. Haymitch was born and raised in The Seam, the most impoverished section of District 12. Haymitch often added his name to the reaping bowl extra times to get food for his family, and after his father died, he started selling liquor to bring more income. Both of their motivation came from poverty; they were driven by the need to survive and lift their families to a more comfortable place. They both felt the pressure of being their families' providers with their fathers gone. And, while they lost them in different ways, both of them ended up without parents.

Both Haymitch and Snow are very smart. During his games, Haymitch outsmarted the gamemakers by using the force field to win the game. Snow uses his intelligence to help Lucy Gray win her game, and he also uses manipulation to get where he wants. Another thing that I noticed was that both of them, in a way, defied the capital. Haymitch defied the capital by weaponizing the force field and by actively trying to break the arena. Snow defied the capital by breaking its rules. He continuously broke rules to help Lucy Gray in the arena, he purposely messed with the snakes that were dropped in the arena to secure Lucy Gray’s win, and he got rid of Dean Highbottom to secure his power in the capital.

This last similarity I will be talking about is something small, I don’t even think it adds much to their stories, but it caught my eye. Snow was actually going to have a younger brother, but shortly after being born, he died with his mother. Haymitch’s mother was supposed to have twin girls, but they were born too early and too small to survive. Both Snow and Haymitch know the loss of a sibling before they even got to bond with them.

Anyway, those are some similarities I noticed while I read Sunrise on the Reaping and Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. A few days ago, the trailer for the Sunrise on the Reaping movie came out, and it looked pretty good. I just wonder if these similarities will be in the movie too.