***Fan Question*** Changing Mockingjay…
Our Fan Question of the Week comes from….Hannah
SPOILER ALERT – this question is all about the ending of the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay. If you haven’t finished reading all three books, the perhaps you might want to come back later.
If you could change the ending of Mockingjay, what would you have happen differently? What would be the cause and effect of your decisions?
***Summer***- I would personally change how quickly the book ended. I don’t like how katniss’ mom just left. She said she couldn’t return but as a mother of 2 I would never leave one child alone if something happened to the other. Not until I thought she could deal with it. And that she wanted to live her own life. Also I wouldnt think Gale would just leave Katniss either. Nothing ever became of him. These are some of the things I would change. I hope you enjoyed my answer!
***Jacqui*** I summed up what I felt about the ending of Mockingjay in this review I wrote back at the time of its release, so let me share that again as it still holds today. I would have liked to have seen Katniss own her place as the Mockingjay. I had expected her character to be more developed in the final book. I thought her internal struggle would be reflected in what was happening in Panem – that as the districts took back their power, so too would Katniss emerge as the master of her own destiny. Unfortunately it never really happens. It felt, to me, that her inner journey was never fully resolved. The ending was a little unsettling, which is definitely part of its strength and its beauty, but a part of me was left wishing for a just a little bit more.
***Hamilton*** I feel that the ending could have used more closure as well. Not only internally like Jacqui mentions, but with what was going on in the rest of Panem outside of the rebuilt District 12. We get very little in the way of glimpses into how the structure of the country had changed – hopefully for the better, but even for worse if that was the case. I would have liked to see more how the districts had come together and become a new nation of Panem. Do they still think of themselves as separate districts? Has it been harder for some to accept that the old power is gone? What kind of power do those in the Capitol have now? Those are all questions I would have liked to have seen explored a bit more. I don’t think I would have changed any plot elements, such as having certain characters not die. It was all rather hard to deal with, but ultimately the ending needed to be hard to deal with to get the point across.
***Audrey*** I feel like the ending was too rushed. There were many things that I wanted explained. I think I would have liked to see Katniss’ trial – and had that explained. The consequences and aftermath of the revolution and how daily life had changed. SOMETHING needed to happen with Gale. Personally, I’d rather have had him killed off than never heard from again. I just didn’t feel like enough things were resolved, but maybe that was the idea.
So there you have it..the opinions of the staff here at My Hunger Games..now it’s your turn…
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Category: Fan Questions, Movie, News, The Books
I agree with most of the themes like with how fast it ended, but I just wanted the kids to be named!
Yeah, i know! LOL, One named Finnick, one named Primrose (or at least a middle name.). i forget if they had another one.
in my mind peeta and katniss’s children are called the names that susann’s children are called iv allways imagened them with thoes names.
Now I’m reliving how horrible the ending was ughh. I hated it! if anything Prim shouldn’t have died!
I agree with all of them. It was rushed and there was no clousure with Gale which would not have happened. They helped eachother survive. Ugh it was such a bad ending. I wrote my own alternate ending to fix the mistakes the author made.
I actually think there was a goodbye scene for Gale. When he brought her the ‘symbolic’ arrow. When they looked at each other in the mirror and we hear her thoughts about what might have been, prior to her volunteering for Prim. She isn’t sure that would have worked out either.
Then, when she asks if it was his plan that killed Prim and his response, ‘Does it matter? Will always be between us. Only thing I had going for me was taking care of your family.’
Then, when she shot the arrow at Coin instead of Snow, after Peeta took away her chance at the Nightlock and death, she looked for Gale to end her life…but she could not find him.
i felt like ending was strange but i think the reason gale left was because he said protecting your family was all i had going for me and when he failed to do that he know that nothing would ever be the same between them and that peeta was the one that Katniss couldn’t survive without he was her dandelion as far as her mom goes she had a hard time dealing with her husbands death imagine having to deal with your child’s she probably throw her self in to her work to keep herself from going insane again
Totally agree.
I agree, everything was too rushed. The nation should have been developed, the inner relationship between the districts outlined. I think it had to be painful, so I think prim dying was correct… horrible and sad, but right for the story. Also Gale needing to leave I don’t think was bad either, but yes, they should have had more closure. And I think Peeta all the sudden being back from crazy and the two in love was too sudden too. It could have been explained. And Katniss and her mom… yeah that was just wrong too. For such a wonderful trilogy, I was extremely disappointed with Collins for the end of Mockingjay, it’s as though she just wanted it to be over…
I agree with everything previously said. Mrs Everdeen and Gale just taking off– very strange and too sudden. Katniss killing the new president was awesome, but we got no indication of how that changed Panem at all. Is it better or worse? And, not that I wanted Katniss to be working for the government or anything, but how is it that she went from being the Mockingjay to just going home and doing nothing? Her character had become such an important political symbol that it felt so anti-climactic for her to just return to her house like nothing had happened. It just leaves the reader feeling so confused about this world, after having become so invested in it. I also wanted to see more of Peeta returning back to his normal self– it was like crazy one second, in love the next, and it would have been nice to see how Katniss felll back in love with him, as well. To sum it up: there needed to be four books in this series.
I’m am in the minority here, but I loved the ending. I liked the books, but really didn’t love them until I read the ending.
i wouldent change it at all when i started the third book i thorte there could not posibley be an ending good enough to give me closhure but there was all my questions where awnsered.
I guess I’m in the minority too. I wouldn’t change a thing. I think the point of the ending was meant to be unsettling and leave you pondering. It did that for me. Unfortunately life isn’t clean, nor simple and it certainly isn’t wrapped up in a chapter. There isn’t always a happy ending, and in this case I think it ended as happy as it could given the amount of loss Katniss had to come to terms with.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the ending for days. War isn’t pretty. Honestly, nothing about Katniss’ life prior to the reaping, or her journey from someone who didn’t want to be noticed to face of the rebellion was easy, clean or settled. So why would her life be any better especially after all that crazy she went through?
There was also no way her mom could return to Katniss. Losing Prim we always knew would be the absolute worst for Katniss, but her mom couldn’t deal with the loss of her husband (nearly killed the girls because of her depression) so it didn’t surprise me in the least that she couldn’t deal with another loss as great as Prim. Had she gone home they would’ve been so bad for each other during a horrible time in Katniss’ life.
As for Gale, it was clear throughout Mockingjay that those two were not going to be together. Gale was the most honest of all of them. We knew who he was and what he wanted and Katniss was never in that same state, she was subliminally questioning “real, or not real” long before the idea came up to help Peeta. Remember it was always Gale who was ready to rebel, Katniss early on was willing to lay low and just go through life as she was, surviving which is why she never fully embraced the idea of the “mockingjay” role. In the end she went back to what she knew was REAL to her such as, District 12, daily hunting, and even finally embracing her true self, when she and Buttercup (herself in cat form – survivor and fervent protector of Prim) have it out over the death of Prim – she’s a survivor, whether she likes it or not that’s who she is.
The books start with a girl who wanted to be left alone, to live her life quietly and stay out of the limelight, and it ends with just that, Katniss choosing a quiet life, out of the limelight, with the one person who never knew her as this created figure – the Mockingjay. He loved her, and knew who her true self was long before she did, and always accepted her as is, never expecting more from her (including her love in return).
As for Panem and what/ how the new world is doing. Well, I think the booked summed that up pretty well with Plutarch’s quote, “We’re fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction. Although who knows…” so telling of our own reality. Time of war, time of peace, it can all change in the blink of an eye.
Loved this series…it rocked my world and can’t wait for this movie!
This is exactly what I think. I love the ending because I think it is so true to reality (everything isn’t tied up with a neat bow in the real world, nor do we know the futures/fates of everyone we meet in life). I don’t even mind that we don’t know the names of the two little Mellarks (it’s almost as if by not telling us the narrator (Katniss) is trying to reclaim her anonymity and put the public figure she was forced to be behind her)
I agree with a lot of what Michelle D said. I feel like the book attempted to be as realistic as possible with how things turned out. I expected the mom to just disappear and do her own thing as her way of coping, Gale leaving without any awkward exchange between him and Katniss after understanding that they will never be and weren’t truly on that path to begin with, and Katniss retreating to some form of privacy/home in District 12 after all the trauma she’s been through.
The only thing that bothered me about the book is, I don’t think the way Katniss treated Peeta after he was rescued is very realistic. In fact, I was surprised she didn’t press District 13 for a rescue mission sooner instead of going about merely giving Peeta a glancing thought. After everything Katniss and Peeta went through and how he’s proven to her that he is completely 100% devoted to her, she may not admit that she loves him romantically, but she loves him as much as she loves her family and definitely more than she loves Gale (the amount of hardship Katniss and Gale faced together is little in comparison to the amount she faced with Peeta, not to mention the fact that Peeta 10 times over reveals through words and actions his devotion and loyalty to Katniss). I think after she recovered from the explosion of the arena, she would have made it a mission to find out if Peeta was dead and if not, she would try everything in her power to rescue him. If not for love, she at least owed him that much.
I also do not think Katniss would have been so cruel and cold to Peeta as she was after the rescue and discovering that he hates her with a passion. It is realistic for her to have those brief feelings of anger, and I thought maybe she is so cold and uncaring because to show any love for Peeta would send her into despair and render her utterly useless. But I don’t think that reason would hold out long because I think Katniss is the type of person who would cast her fear of anguish aside and risk all the pain in the world to save the people she loves, which includes making some effort to help Peeta reach a sound state of mind.
The argument runs that Peeta loves her so much that he doesn’t expect her to love him the same way in return to the point that he is perfectly fine with her not showing the love he would have shown her if the situations were reversed. And people just accept this. Well, that may be true for Peeta but that does not necessarily mean that it is true for Katniss. I don’t think Katniss is THAT messed up. If she is willing to risk her life for people she does not even know, I think she is compassionate and empathetic enough to want to help Peeta. Ultimately, I guess it doesn’t matter how she treated Peeta during the time he needed her most because they end up together again and “loving” each other in the end. But I do agree that the ending for these two felt rushed because I still feel like Katniss doesn’t truly love Peeta. Because such little development went into their romance, it feels like if someone asked her whether she was in love with Peeta, she would say “I guess…” I know it ends with her saying “Real”, meaning she does love him, but it REALLY doesn’t feel enough, and doesn’t give their relationship justice.
These are two seriously tramatized and messed up 16-17 year olds that have killed others, lost loved ones, seen 100′s if not 1000′s killed…but survived. That fact that they survived to love each other in their own ways … is nothing short of a miracle. It could have ended very differently with one or both of them not surviving. One killing the other then killing themselves in a murder/suicide. We got a pretty ‘happy’ ending … considering.
I think that is absolutely true! I’m not arguing that the ending wasn’t relatively happy, in fact, I wouldn’t change how things turned out at all. I’m just speaking for romantics like me who would have liked the development and re-patching so to speak of Katniss and Peeta’s relationship to have been fleshed out a little bit rather than summing up what happened in the last few pages.
@Michelle D. I LOVE that take… seriously. Just, perfect.
I agree with Michelle. It was a mature and realistic ending in most ways. Katniss’ mother was never much of a mother to her, so her leaving just continued that theme of abandonment. Gale in my opinion was never a real love interest. He wasn’t even a particularly good friend to her in Mockingjay. And the symbolism all through the book set me up to know he’d never give Katniss what she wanted and needed – peace and sustenance (Peeta) as opposed to rebellion and death-dealing (Gale). The ending with Gale proved that he never was a real contender for Katniss’ heart, so it read right to me. To me the love story always was between Katniss and Peeta – it was clear from early on how much she loved him, although she couldn’t admit it to herself. The one thing I did want to see more of in the ending is how they reconnected. How he came out of his programming so it was safe for them to be together again. It definitely did feel rushed, and I spent a long time afterwards trying to imagine all the things that should have been written. A fourth book would have been good. But I had no problem with the conclusions.
I agree with ‘Audrey’. She makes a fair point about Gale–he made a mistake and now she hates him for it–I hate to see friendships end that way. Gale should have died a hero, done something brave, saved Peeta’s life or her’s, gotten redemption, rather than live hated.
For me, just like a lot of people said, the end was too rushed. I would like to know more about what happen after end of Capitol and the Districts. But honestly what kills me is not having more Peeta and Katniss details. The thing that holds me to this books was all this crazy adventure but also this amaizing and beautiful love story.
If I was Suzanne I would written more about how Katniss and Peeta relationshio: more details about their lifes. I keep trying to imagine how she ask him to sleep in her house, after he tried to kill her, and their first kiss after that and when she said that she loved him. Sorry, but I too romantic… I hope they put this on the movie.
And I read that some people write alternative endings to the books and honestly I would love to read them. You guys from the website should think about that.
p.s- sorry for my english
i agree that Mockingjay could have had a better closure. it does feel a bit rushed and with all that happened in book 3 (the revolution, the trial) – it needs more explanation and better closure. with gale, for example, he’s off doing something in district 2. sure, this can be seen as how now the districts are working together and helping each other. but after all that build up in book 3, i would want to see his relationship with katniss develops naturally (with her being together with peeta and all) rather than just ends like that.
and in the epilogue, it’s too focused on peeta and katniss. it would have been good to know that katniss’ mother does visit district 12 every now and then, showing how everyone is healing emotionally. like katniss have said before, there’s not much left in the district but it’s home.
maybe there’s going to be book 4?
I felt the ending was completely rushed too. To me the third book was boring until the last couple chapters were everything happened at once and everything was confusing and jumbled.
I would have preferred it if Gale had died, like Audrey said. I think Gale should have died saving Peeta’s life somehow, I think Gale should have definitely gone out with a bang instead of just disappearing.
I also really hated with what happened to Haymitch. I think he should of died to saving Prim’s life (But Prim should still die in the end -not trying to be heartless or anything it just really went well with the whole theme) showing Katniss how much he cared for her and everything. I didn’t like how he just disappeared as well.
I was also really hoping to see Peeta and Katniss recreate their relationship. I think Peeta should of helped Katniss overcome her struggle with her losing almost everyone she loved and having them discover that all they have left from their past life was each other. I think Katniss should have realized that she really did love Peeta and Peeta really did love her. I wanted a better closure to their love story.
Also, did they ever have that 76th hunger Games with the Capitol children? I would have liked more details on that.
And I think Joanna should have had some happy ending like idk but she really needed someone loving in her life.
One last thing, FINNICK SHOULD HAVE LIVED!!!!! I hated how Finnick died!!! Him and Annie had just reunited and were now able to be with each other. I still can’t get over Finnick dying. And he didn’t even have a dying dramatic scene. I love you Finnick!! :’(
The ending didn’t really bother me until I read it for the 3rd time. Then it hit me. Gale would have never left without at least a goodbye. And the trial would have been nice to hear about. And Peeta’s transformation (from normal to hijacked the back to normal) was a big part of the book and I think we should have seen it a little more. But it is shown a lot throughout Mockingjay. I think it’s an more of an opinion whether the ending was good or not. But for me, it was pretty close to perfect!
***Minor Spoiler alert****
One thing that I constantly hear Collins say about her books, is that she wants to teach youth about war, what it means, and what it does to people. I understand that when you read a book, or watch a movie the audience desires some kind of closure, but if Collins is really trying to help us understand, she did the right thing by exactly NOT giving us that.
Some wounds are just too deep for people to fully move on. What happened to Katniss, what she went through, has changed her entirely. She will never get over what she’s been through, she will always suffer, as will Peeta, Gail, and everyone. I guess what I’m trying to say is that there is no closure for such a traumatic experience. There are no answers to “why?”. Panem was ruled by a dictator who would stop at nothing to do what HE thinks is right. Katniss went to war, and when you come back from war, the problems don’t go away, they continue on.
Another thing I am seeing is that people wanted Katniss to step up. The problem with that is, Katniss never truly was a leader. She was forced into a position of leadership that she didn’t want. She didn’t want a rebellion, much less to lead one. She wanted to go home after the games and go back to whatever life she had left. She accept something that she hated, and sure in some moments of passion she was strong about fighting for freedom, however she never asked to be looked up to…she just was. I don’t mean this in a bad way, I love Katniss dearly. She is just not a born leader, she gets by, and that’s all she ever asked for.
****SPOILER ALERT****
Another thing. I have a sister, and I cherish her deeply. I don’t say that I like that Collins killed Prim in the end, but I understand it. In the beginning, Katniss took her place in Games, and promised her that she would come back. In the end she lost the very thing she was attempting to protect, which is one of the deepest sacrifices of war. After finding out that the very people that you have been representing, people that you were fighting for, people you were being a symbol for, were the cause of your sisters death, would you want to take up the position of leadership? And I mean let’s look at it this way, she shot and killed the president of the rebellion, who was celebrate? Who would trust her as a leader? Not to mention, she was only the rebellion’s pawn, she had no real power, no understanding of how to run a country. How could she become a leader?
I don’t mean to argue anyone’s point. I understand people want their heroine to be the hero, we look up to Katniss just as everyone else in Panem did. I’m just trying to argue a different standpoint.
Wendy
katniss wasent a leader at all that doesant make her anyless a hero! she is shy , mysteriouse , awkward and non sociable but she took the place of her sister to be killed herself that alone makes her a hero.
Call me crazy but I thought the ending was decent, I will admit I wanted more,These are my thoughts I think she left Gale out because hes over consumed with guilt over Prim and knows Katniss will never forgive him. I was so consumed with the story of Peeta and Katniss that all i wanted was for them to end up together! Peeta is so amazing to me, so selfless and in this all consuming world those characteristic’s are so rare.
I agree with everyone here but the ending was rushed and it could have been fixed. But also Mitchell D is also write because everything was answered except for a few little things. Gale WOULD HAVE NEVER EVER LEFT WITH OUT A STRANGE GOODBYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is the only thing i hated about it, maybe it’s was because he was my favorite character anyways. BUT ALL THE CRAP THAT HE DID FOR HER AND COLLINS JUST DISSES HIM LIKE THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! NOT COOL! i dont really care about how the country ended up because that place was to screwed up to be fixed. and Peeta was mostly back to himself and those two being together after that messed my head up badly. you cant just go from crazy to in love and has two kids. But Katniss ended up happy and with all the hell that she went through she deserved that. Over all she messed up some stuff and i think she should make a spin off series about haymitch and gale or something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with all the comments about the ending of the book, but if I was to change it, it would be the fact that I havent heard alot about Gale, the fact that Prim died…(SO SAD) and that I don’t know there kids names! I like the fact that she described how they looked like and how they lived but I would like to know their names… it made me wonder a few days after the book what might of happened to Gale and what were the kids names but the whole trilogy of the HUNGER GAMES were great.
Movie is coming up and I cant wait. Its like waiting for my birthday!
Loved book and can’t wait like I just said.
Loved all the comments because they are true (not lying) and hope to see more of these comments SOON…
I feel that prim shouldn’t have died I think it was unnecassery also I hate how gale just like dropped of the face of the earth. And her mother should never have left her children. The ending was way to quich she could have dinatly elaborated more
I think it was an oversight of Katniss, not to put both Prim and her Mother on ‘the list’. She put Buttercup on the list but overlooked her loved ones. It was a lesson on covering all your bases, not being naive about how the world works and thinking that they were safe. Coin locked in on that loophole and took advantage. Every day in a work life, there are people that look for any weakness and POUNCE on that weakness. That is what Coin did…IMO.
At first i was very disapointed with the end of the story, I didn’t like how Prim died , and i did’nt like how it ended with Gale, but somehow she had to get rid of one of them, Gale or Peeta. I also think that it could have ended a bit simpler but at the same time more satisfing, you don’t really now if anything has resolved, how is the new capitol going to treat them.. i cried for a hole day non stop when i finished the book, there was too many deaths and Gale and her mum had practicly abandoned her.. she was left almost alone, if it wasn’t for Peeta. It was good to see that even what they did to Peeta, couldn’t stop his love for her. Somehow i think it was a good ending. I would have just not let die Cinna, Finnik or Prim, but maybe it is because i got too attached to the characters.
Well, I guess it could have ended in Polygamy being legal in the new Panem. But Polygamy is usually 1 male to >1 females, not 1 female to 2 males.
Peeta: ‘And are we both Okay with that? You kissing the other?’
Katniss: ‘No, it wasn’t Okay with either of you. But I wasn’t asking your permission,’
Might have made for a lively ending!
I think the majority of everyone’s questions are answered between the lines of the book. For one, I am upset that Primrose died, but more frustrated than anything as to how she dies, and how Collins describes it. There is a meager one, or two, paragraphs ‘describing’ Prim’s death and I personally had to go back and read it because I wasn’t sure if she had actually died or not. It was very, very lackluster. The same goes for Finnick’s death. Personally, I liked his character, but do not understand why he was so loved by other readers. He was built up by Collins and became a pivotal character for Katniss, however, he was broken by the end. I just wish there was a a better description of what happened. They merely killed him off-screen, sort to speak. Not everyone survives the war, that was the point of Finnick’s death, IMO. As for Prim, it goes back to President Coin. There were suggestions all throughout the third book that Coin was never trustworthy, especially from Snow himself in the garden. Katniss was one of the only ones who saw this and if she did not kill Coin, then Coin would have ruled savagely just as Snow had, which is why he laughs at the end. He knows Coin cares about human life no more than he did, which is why she wanted a fina Hunger Game for the Capitol children. Katniss only agreed to this final Game because she knew it would be her only chance to kill Coin, and it is foreshadowed when Haymitch obliges to the game based solely on Katniss’ decision. Had Prim not been killed, by the Rebels and specifically Coin, Katniss may not have had the reasoning to actually kill Coin, even though she knew Coin was not to be trusted. Had Coin lived to rule, Panem would have been in no better shape than it originally was.
Finally, the only things I was unhappy with (besides the obviously RUSHED ending) was that Gale just leaves to go to District 2 without much wrap-up. Obviously he knows Katniss will choose Peeta and that is why he distances himself from her, because he did love her as well. But I would have liked some closure to this, however, it does make sense he leaves. Also, not reading the letter from her mother to the readers got me mad. How the mother just vanishes from the story. I assume it is because she needs to keep being useful so she doesn’t break down and go back to her former self. Finally, i understand that Peeta and Katniss got back together, I mean it was kind of obvious this would happen when they both survived… However, I did not like how it took all of three pages for Collins to write that he was just there when she woke up, and then they had kids. Like, BANG, end of story. No! Collins needed to describe at least a little, IMO, how they grew back together. I don’t know, I loved the first two books, and the third was OK, not great but definitely kept me reading. The ending was just LACKLUSTER and RUSHED. I am okay with who died and who lived, I just wish Collins had gone into further detail about the deaths of Prim and Finnick and the the final stories of Katniss and Peeta getting back together and Katniss’ mother. And personally, I would have rather had Gale killed in battle than to see him just dissapear without ever knowing if he contacted her or not.
PHew…sorry to rant but, I had to get it out! Great trilogy overall, just a lame ending.
I agree with ‘mockingjay’ – the ending was rushed but the storyline was as it should have been. It had a good skeleton… but no flesh. The basic pieces were all there. When an author writes, that’s typically how it’s done – write a story outline, put in some pieces, and then go back in and add the details. It seemed that everything after Katniss shoots Coin is just the skeleton with a few details. Things like: she’s in her old room from the hunger games. Yeah, why? And who would have even known that it was her old room other than her and Haymitch and maybe someone else – but isn’t it a huge coincidence? Seems an odd detail that never got developed. The letter from her mother – yes, another piece. She votes ‘yes’ for the last hunger games for Prim – but we never really hear for sure why. The trial – it’s hinted at that she is found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity… but when have you heard of a Presidential assassin going completely free with a verdict like that. So many details that never got flesh put over the bones – like there was a deadline for the story and it just went out, as is.
Of course Gale did not drop the bombs – but it was his design, and used by Coin. And Prim dying was Katniss’ complete proof that Coin was as bad as Snow – she had many pieces of the puzzle up until that point, but the fact that Coin would authorize the kids to be bombed, a 13-year old to go as a medic to the front lines (because she was Katniss’ sister and a useable pawn to control Katniss), and would agree to another Hunger Games – all for political gain – yes, evidence that noone could ignore. And so, she had to kill Coin. But all that should have been explored in a full chapter or two rather than just ‘ok, done, here ya go’. Included should have also been how news of Katniss infiltrating further without dying affected the rebels – and what happened to the footage that survived? This is how the rest of the books were written, with great detail and care – it is how the last few chapters should have been.
And then I had another thought. We have been seeing the world through Katniss’ eyes throughout the series. And after witnessing Prim’s death… and performing what she thought was her last act in assassinating President Coin… Katniss basically checks out of life. And so the writing then becomes flat… faded… uninteresting. Just like Prim’s perception of her life.
COMPLETELY AGREE !!!!! WITH YOU OMY GOSH …I made up an alternate ending in my head
BETTER ENDING: The mom and prim get dropped off and the mom sees katniss and suspects something it wrong about prim being here too, She tells prim to stay with katniss (prim objects) and while the mom goes back to save the children, the explosions go off. Making for a better ending since katniss would get closure about hating her mom, so she could have died a hero for saving prim, who latter becomes a doctor and is very near to the Katniss and Peeta.
Katniss and Gale should have had more closure a goodbye of sorts0-he was her best friend. but she should have told him that ultimately she couldnt be without peeta.
More of Peeta and Katniss~ Come on, only one page devoted to them! AHHH SO FRUSTRATING I wanted more dialogue. and more closure mentally with them.
REWRITE THE ENDING!
The ending was too flat for how emotional and hard it was to navigate with katniss on her final journey. I think honestly the moms character, gale ,and even katnisses mind needed more closure.
BETTER ENDING: The mom and prim get dropped off and the mom sees katniss and suspects something it wrong about prim being here too, She tells prim to stay with katniss (prim objects) and while the mom goes back to save the children, the explosions go off. Making for a better ending since katniss would get closure about hating her mom, so she could have died a hero for saving prim, who latter becomes a doctor and is very near to the Katniss and Peeta.
Katniss and Gale should have had more closure a goodbye of sorts0-he was her best friend. but she should have told him that ultimately she couldnt be without peeta.
More of Peeta and Katniss~ Come on, only one page devoted to them! AHHH SO FRUSTRATING I wanted more dialogue. and more closure mentally with them.
It always felt like she ran out of pages she could use so she had her go with Peeta because he was already there. The thing with Gale upset me so much. Neither of them would have let the relationship go with out a fight. All this said, I don’t consider it the ending of the book. I wrote my own to make up for the bad job Collins did, and that is what I believe is the end. Collins made me fall in love the series and with each book getting worse, made me dislike it.
MIchelle D… you said it so perfectly.
I loved the books and I loved the third one once I reread it, especially the ending. The entire story is told through Katniss and after Prim dies, she is done. In “Mockingjay” Prim tells Katniss that Snow will do “whatever it takes to break you.” Katniss is thinking about Peeta, Snow is thinking about Katniss but no one is thinking about Coin. Coin does exactly what is neccesary to break Katniss. Everything after Prim’s death is her mental breakdown. Prim is the sole reason the story started in the first place. And throughout all of the books Katniss is on a slow decline towards a mental breakdown. Every step of the way we can see the Post traumatic stress. All the surviving tributes are mentally messed up for life. There is no going back.
As for Katniss fully embracing the role of the “Mockingjay”, she never could because she didn’t want to. A traumatized seventeen year old probably couldn’t. And for some reason I don’t imagine Gale wasting his life away in District 2. It was unfortunate that his bombs killed Prim, but Prim is a representation of all children. In reality, people create weapons everyday that are used for awful things. Gale was never against killing anyone and his weapons killing Prim just show that all actions have repercussions and you never know who is going to get hurt.
Finally, I love that Katniss never had to make a choice between Peeta and Gale. Doing so would have put too much of an emphasis on a love story. And Hunger Games was not a love story by any means. I love Peeta and believe that Katniss “chose” him in book 2 and very clearly in book 3. Gale wanted her to be the Mockingjay and Peeta loved her for who she already was
Thank goodness there are other people out there who agree with me about the ending! The only thing that bothered me was the lack of detail on Peeta and Katniss’ relationship. It was built up so much in the first and second book, that the ending didn’t justify their love story. I do appreciate that the series was beyond that, and it was never really a choice for her, but not seeing Peeta get de-hijacked and ease back to his normal self or whatever was a huge disappointment. I really was hoping for some scene with the pearl that she held on to. Really hoping the movie will make up for the book’s anticlimactic ending.
100% agree with B. My thoughts exactly!:
“More of Peeta and Katniss~ Come on, only one page devoted to them! AHHH SO FRUSTRATING I wanted more dialogue. and more closure mentally with them.”
I wouldn’t change ANYTHING. The ending was perfect. I know people want a “happy ending” but seriously, Suzanne Collins gave it the happiest ending she could while keeping it realistic. I wouldn’t have it end any other way. She gets hate for writing a semi-depressing ending, and yet I’ll bet you anything, if she had given us the fairy-tale ending everyone wants, she’d get tons of hate for “not being realistic enough.” Mockingjay is my favorite book and part of it was because of the ending. It was the only book to make me cry. I wouldn’t change it for the world. And everyone needs to accept that it’s not gonna change no matter how much you want it to.
I agree with Rachel. This was a trilogy about war, the horrors of war, and losing people you love. It wasn’t a romantic comedy!
With regards to the relationship with Gale…1) Katniss could not justify the bombing of a mountain and the killing of all of the people in District 2 — Gale’s idea. 2) Gale was responsible for coming up with the war strategy of causing major harm, sending in the paramedics, and then causing more major harm. He was the reason her sister, the purpose of her life from year 11 to 16, to be dead…which she witnessed in person. Choosing between a friend or a sister that was your world. Seems like a no brainer to me. She had to go with calming Peeta or end up in the luny bin…with NO hope of a real life.
I agree with Michelle D. The only thing that would have made the ending better, as others said, is more Katniss and Peeta and how they grew back together.
I don’t think that details about the new government and the districts were necessary, Suzanne Collins left it to our imagination and it would have felt cheap to read something like a “happy” conclusion about how well everyone finally worked together. The trilogy wasn’t about plot resolution, the ending would have been weak if it had listed how everything and everyone evolved following the end of the war. And Haymitch didn’t disappear, he stayed true to himself, living with two of the people he probably cared most about after losing everyone else.
As for Katniss’s mom not coming back well of course she didn’t. She never was a strong mother to her two daughters, and I’m not saying I don’t understand her depression after losing her husband, but she shouldn’t have let her children almost starve to death. She was never going to come back for Katniss because Katniss was a reminder of a life that would never be the same, and because she and Katniss would not have gotten along without Prim as common ground.
The same thing goes for Gale. He wasn’t right for Katniss, and like others I never felt like he was a convincing love interest. More like someone for Katniss to hide behind while she delt with her (Real or not real ? Real !) feelings for Peeta. Gale and Katniss fought too often about too many important things. And remember in Catching Fire when she gave him gloves and he threw them away, thinking they came from Peeta. He was resentful and even when Katniss didn’t know who she was going to choose, he probably guessed all along she needed Peeta more than him. So it isn’t surprising that he didn’t really say goodbye in Mockingjay, the fact that he may have led to Prim’s death was clearly the separation point. I never expected him to come back to district 12 to check on Katniss. They were friends in the past but everything changed when she volunteered at the first games and they never went back to their friendship.
All in all, Mockingjay was a REALLY hard book to read. The first time I just wanted to get to the end to know what happened, but the second time I really experienced its gut-wrenching sadness. And even though I love the book almost as much as the first two, it really takes a big emotional toll.
I am on my 5th read for all three books (I read while completing my biking exercise, and YES, I’m obsessed with this story line). It is AMAZING to me, that each time I read them, I pick up something new. Something I missed in the previous readings. AND, I test very high for comprehension and the ability to remember details. But yet, I continue to find new thoughts, meanings, interpretations. I think those are the vanguards of a classic. No matter how many times you read it, it feels like a new experience!
i agree im on my third time round and i still find them amazing!
The ONLY thing that I feel is missing from the ending of MockingJay … is the PEARL as a way to bring Peeta and Katniss back together. When she gets back to her house in the Village, after her trial is over…she is going through the box of her meager possessions. Why couldn’t the pearl have been in the box? That triggers her thinking about Peeta (which we get to hear about), then she wakes up from the nightmare hearing the shovel and…there’s Peeta. Then, at some point, Peeta finds the PEARL and realizes she held onto it through everything and that her feelings for him exist.
That minor change would bring it all together…at least for me.
For those looking for more info on Panem…and if you are jonesing for a Hunger Games read, I can recommend ‘The Hunger Games Tribute Guide’ softbound from Scholastic Press. It is written entirely as a ‘program’ guide for residents of the Capital to help them decide who they should bet on for the games. Sick, but a totally different perspective.
The trilogy was amazing. I hated Gale throughout the series, he wasn’t a hero, he was an anti hero. Even during the peeta rescue mission I hoped that Collins would kill him off. Collins never says that Gale planned the bombing but is there any doubt that he drew up the plans.
In my mind during the final battle as Katniss and Gale press on it is Peeta above them killing the peacekeepers, doing his best to hold it together and keep Katniss safe. Collins never specifies directly that the rebels were there protecting Katniss…Peeta, once again protecting her?
As for the ending, I think Collins leaves it up to the readers to imagine how Katniss and Peeta grow close.
I see them walking through District 12 playing real or not real talking with Haymitch and others as their home is rebuilt. One night Katniss has nightmares while Peeta is there with her. She calls him to her bed and she asks him to stay. After that, he holds her every night while she sleeps protecting her like always.
They visit Haymitch often, and he notices Katniss and Peeta are closer than before, their pretend love from the games now playing out for real.
He calls Johanna in District 7, telling her about Peeta and Katniss, and Johanna, who owes Peeta so much for taking beatings in the capitol that were meant for her says, “She finally deserves him.”
One night Katniss is holding Peeta tightly as he sleeps and the bed shakes a little, she looks at Peeta and he is shaking in his sleep, clutching the bed with one hand while his other arm is around her. She kisses his neck and tells him she loves him, the shaking slows and finally stops. Peeta mumbles, “I was lost without you Katniss.” thinking her professing her love was just a dream.
They kiss a few times as Katniss begins to truly realize her feelings for Peeta, after a nightmare or after Peeta has dug his hands into a chair as a flashback passes through his mind.
She finally kisses him while they lie in bed, feeling the hunger that overtook her on the beach, she realizes her love for Peeta is absolute and that she could never have survived without him. Their kiss lingers, with more passion then Peeta can imagine, his memory of the beach floods his mind, how Katniss pressed the kiss harder until the lightning strike. His next memory is in the Capitol where Katniss kissed him, hoping to keep him sane, telling him “don’t let him take you from me”. Finally he pulls away from her, thinking of the memories, and the dream just days before when he heard her tell him she loved him.
Hoping for the answer he has longed for, he whispers, “You love me. Real or not real.”
He watches as tears fill Katniss’ eyes and roll down her cheeks. She leans in to kiss him again, whispering, “Real” just before their lips connect once more.
After Katniss overhears Gale say that, “she will pick whoever she thinks she can’t live without”, I would have liked for the ending to be more along the lines of Katniss discovering that she can survive without the help from anyone and instead of living in the victor’s house that she never felt comfortable in and picking someone she is not truly in love with, she goes back to the cabin by the lake and finally gets to live out the rest of her life as she chooses, hunting in the wilderness like her original plan was in the first book. It would be nice to have the cat as a companion and for her to be regarded by Panem as a true hero, not broken or labeled insane but pardoned by the new president after a trial finds that Coin was actually behind the bombing. I wasn’t crazy about her choosing to have another hunger games and would have preferred for her to vote that no child ever be forced into what she had to go through.
I would also like to have some of the gaping holes that flew by in the end, particularly with Snow’s capture and Panem’s restructuring explained a bit more.