Now that we’ve heard Katniss and Peeta’s story and learned of President Snow’s rise to power, it is time to learn what happened when Haymitch Abernathy won his Quarter Quell. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins takes us back in time to the 50th Hunger Games and reminds us that nothing about Panem and the games has ever been happy or even celebratory.
First and foremost, one of the best things about this book being the 5th in the series is that we’ve already familiarized ourselves with District 12 from a variety of time periods and perspectives. Not only that, we’ve been given a considerable amount of time with Haymitch in his forties to affect how we feel about the character.
So, naturally, going into his reaping for the Second Quarter Quell, we are prepared for the event to be grand and exciting (by the capital standards, anyway).
The Reaping Brings Gravity to the Situation Early On
We find out from Haymitch’s narration very early on that his birthday always falls on Reaping Day. That detail alone sets us up to understand that Haymitch Abernathy has never been allowed to truly celebrate himself in his life.
His personhood is constantly aligned with The Hunger Games and each child from District 12 who dies between the 34th and 75th games. A lifetime of death that is never far from Haymitch’s mind because of where his birthday falls.
Once we get that out of the way we do discover that despite it all, Haymitch loves his life and the family and friends that he surrounds himself with. Fans of the series are happy to hear familiar names and places that give us joy in the known.
Of course, there is the hob and the seam, but we also get familiar places like the woods and the old rundown cottage by a lake, which we encountered during Katniss’s story and which were given their origins in the story of President Snow and Lucy Gray Baird.
Haymitch mentioning that his love was a Covey brings us right back to Lucy Gray and reminds us of her impact on District 12 as we know it during the days of the second rebellion. In fact, his love, Lenore Dove, is the adopted niece of Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine, directly linking her to Lucy Gray Baird.
All of these early established connections in the narrative manage to hook us quickly into caring about the full account of what Haymitch Abernathy did during his games and why he’s a solitary man by the time he mentors Katniss and Peeta. We become even more keyed in when Haymitch mentions being friends with Burdock Everdeen and Astrid March, who later marry and have two daughters: Katniss and Primrose.
Therefore, by the time we reach the actual account of Haymitch’s reaping, we are already geared for it to be a devastating blow to the district as a whole. After all, the 50th Hunger Games is marked by the added bonus of 2 boys and 2 girls being reaped from each district.
Sure, we know going in that the Donner family loses Maysilee that year, but we don’t know anything about her personality or how her Mockingjay pin ended up with Katniss 24 years later. So, it’s fascinating to see Haymitch’s perspective of her.
What really forces this reaping to stick in our minds is the nature of how Haymitch’s name ends up being called. Before this book, we had no idea that his name was called as punishment for stepping between a peacekeeper and the boy they’d shot and his girl, who they were still trying to hurt.
Once again, we find ourselves astounded but also not by the lengths that Snow and, by extension, the Capital will go to cover up any drama or rebellion.
Haymitch’s Punishment Starts Before the Games
On the one hand, finding out more about the fellow tributes that Haymitch went into the games with is interesting, but on the other, that makes their imminent demise that much worse. By all accounts, the 50th Hunger Games is a much more brutal and devastating event than any of the others we have details on.
Okay, so of course, it’s going to be harder having to experience twice as many kids being murdered, but, above that, the manner of their deaths alone is so much more disturbing. We witness burning lava, poisonous plants and food, decapitations, and mutts programmed to kill a specific tribute and not relenting until the canon fires.
However, nothing is more devastating than Haymitch reluctantly agreeing to keep little Luella McCoy, his neighbor and childhood sweetheart, safe, only to lose her a day later during the opening parade. The way he refuses to let go of her mangled body and insists on stealing a horse and cart just so he can present her dead body to Snow is so visceral I was sobbing.
Of course, this event puts Haymitch on Snow’s shit list, and this is when most fans will start to draw comparisons between Haymitch and Katniss. After all, there has to be a reason that Katniss is the first tribute that Haymitch actually tries to help as a mentor.
All before the games even start, Haymitch is confronted face-to-face by the president and told that he will have to accept Snow’s gift — an unknown girl done up to look the spitting image of Luella McCoy. It’s heartbreakingly real and shows just how sinister and self-serving President Snow is even long before the flames of rebellion ran bright.
From then on, Haymitch finds himself in the company of Plutarch Heavensbee, who tries to help him in the same complex and complicated way he helped Katniss all those years later. It’s amazing to see that even a quarter of a century before the rebellion, a young Plutarch was trying his best to support taking Snow down.
We also get appearances from Wiress and Mags, who become the de facto District 12 mentors thanks to them not having a winner in 40 years. In Haymitch’s games, Mags can still talk, which begs the question of whether or not they silenced her as a result of her inclusion in the plot.
When the designer refuses to do anything he is supposed to, Haymitch, Maysilee, Wyatt, and fake Luella are introduced to their prep team’s Proserpina’s sister, Effie. Even better is during training when Haymitch realizes one of his allies, Ampert, is the son of Beetee Latier.
Honestly, out of everything this book has to offer, seeing characters we know and love from Katniss’ games is so much more satisfying. It further solidifies our understanding of Haymitch and explains how he was willing to be a part of the rebellion when his reputation, by that point, was an uncaring drunk.
Haymitch Attempts to Undercut the Games
While this entire novel is a riveting read from start to finish, the most exciting and devastating parts come during his quest to end the games by undermining the Capital and Gamemakers. Haymitch proves early on that he’s a mouthy kind of person who won’t ever settle for the Capital using him as some animal in line for slaughter.
That attitude carries him through his games and gives him the strength to keep to his plan with Beetee and Ampert despite the odds. Once again, everyone underestimates the outlying districts because they don’t have as many resources, and the tributes from there are always starving.
The great thing about Haymitch, which adds more layers to how he and Katniss interact during the 74th Hunger Games, is he is resourceful and has street smarts. This allows him to find alternate solutions based on what he has access to.
For example, he eventually gets his hands on a blow torch, which allows him to burn many of the creatures put in the arena to kill him. He also grasps everything Beetee and Wiress tell him about the arena’s technology and then uses it for his plan.
By spending the time to build up Haymitch’s slow trust in other tributes like Wyatt, Maysilee, Ampert, Welly, and a few others, the book gives readers a chance to really mourn them when they inevitably perish. One of the most devastating deaths in the arena itself has to be Ampert’s because he was targeted specifically as a punishment for his father.
The visual Haymitch weaves about how the squirrels ate all of Ampert’s flesh, leaving only a skeleton, is something I won’t soon forget. The imagery of the arena itself unsettles us enough that we start to question our realities. That is the power of compelling writing.
Before this book, we knew that Haymitch won his games by allowing an axe to fall off a cliff and then come zooming back to hit the other tribute in their head. Getting the full context makes Haymitch seem less heroic and more reluctant.
The reality is that Haymitch had all but given up. He’d failed to blow up the arena with his bomb idea, which led to Ampert’s death. Then, he failed to save Maysilee from her death, forcing him to consider that there is no victory for him, even if he were to win.
Adult Haymitch is so much more reserved and less emotionally driven that it’s surprising to see him have such viscerally agonizing reactions to the deaths of each of his friends and allies. But then we reach the end of his story, and we know he lost all his fight the day Snow released him back to District 12 and immediately orchestrated the deaths of his mom, little brother, and his love.
By the end of this book, we are left with a deeper hatred of what the Capital and Snow represent, a warmer love and understanding of Haymitch, and a wider understanding of how these books truly are a commentary on the world as we know it.
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Mads Misasi
Mads is a part-time entertainment journalist and full-time marketing content creator. They love reading the latest in Queer novels -- especially romance ones and watching the latest dramas, sci-fi/fantasy, Star Wars, and romcom films/TV shows. You can join the conversation by following them on Twitter: @dorothynyc89.
