The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

Book 1

There are books that stay with you, there are books that you read and forget about and then there are books that you learn from at every point. The hunger games is neither one of these. This is a book which won’t stay with me, it is not a book that I can forget and I did not learn from it at every point, but this book taught me life in whole. It taught me how to be myself. It taught me things that I wish I was taught about in school at least a little. I met the Girl on Fire, Katniss Everdeen, who is a one hell of a woman. She told me once that I will never need a man in my life for me to live happily, but I will always need a friend, she taught me that it is okay to fall and that when I do fall, I should know that my strength and courage will be measured by how I put myself back together. She told me that it is okay to cry bucket full of tears and then scream at the top of my lungs because I have had way too much.

I also met Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthrone, the two boys who made it seem like this book was a story of a girl who has to choose between two boys and is unable to do so, but no, this isn’t Twilight, not even a little. The two boys actually showed me that Katniss Everdeen can go on bringing down the government of an entire nation without either of them; All she needs is a cause.

This book taught me that love is fearless, in every aspect, when love happens it’s a fall that you have to take, like Katniss did when she volunteered for her sister, she knew the risks and still she stood up, she took her sister’s place so that her sister could live a happy life. However the irony of the situation hits us here, Prim dies at the end, because of the politicized movements and greedy thoughts, Sweet, innocent Prim dies at the hands of President Coin; Prim’s death taught me that death is inevitable and that in a war as big as this, sacrifices are made, even as unnecessary as Prim’s, they happen and that we have to go on, we have to live on because that is what she would have wanted. That is what Prim would have wanted, and that is what Rue would have wanted and that is what Finnick would have wanted.

The book taught me leadership and trust; Boggs, thank you for telling me that sometimes stepping down is the best decision a leader can make, Annie thank you for telling me that courage is found where there is absolutely no hope, and I would also like to thank Haymitch and Efiie, the two mentors who learned more than they taught throughout the series, thank you for teaching me that even if I am a phoenix, and am buried under the ashes, it is I who has to rise, the ashes may be dark, but there is a world full of light, love, hope and wonder right above me.

Most of all I would like to thank Ms. Suzzane Collins, who introduced me to this dark yet soon reaching dusk world of politics and love and rebellion and the future, thank you for telling me that as  a child reading this book was probably the best decision I could make because this is when I got to know that death happens, and so does torture, but then smiles happen and so does laughter. The hunger Games is not a children’s book, no, but it is a book that has to be read by every child because it shows you the reality, cruelty and hope that resides in our world. It may be fictitious, yes, but it is not false, it is the story of a girl who found courage in a single dandelion and took it with her to raise and entire nation into rebellion and freed the people off the oppression they had been facing, showed them the light and taught them to live again.

Katniss Everdeen can either be defined by the system she was born in or how she defied it, here’s to you, Girl on Fire, I hope I can be as courageous as you one day, stand up for myself, fight for myself and nit be afraid of who I am, at any point. Thanks to you, I don’t think I am very far from it.