Throughout Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, readers learn about Capitol-created muttations. Katniss Everdeen finds herself interacting with these muttations, especially during the
games. She relies on mockingjays for connection and communication, uses tracker
jackers as a killing method and battles vicious wolves resembling her fellow
tributes. The mutts simultaneously reveal the true power behind the Capitol and
return some agency to Katniss as a revolutionary figure.
The Capitol has advanced technology that achieves currently impossible genetic modifications and creations. This limitless possibility should prove successful for the
Capitol, but one creation, mockingjays, reminds Katniss of her past and orients
her towards the future. As Katniss explains, the Capitol developed jabberjays
for eavesdropping (pg 43). Eventually, the Capitol left jabberjays to die in
the wild, but they mated with mockingbirds, creating mockingjays. Katniss’ dad
“was particularly fond of mockingjays” (43), so when Madge gives her the
mockingjay pin, “it’s like having a piece of [her] father with [her],
protecting [her]” (43). In the arena, Katniss uses mockingjays to both bond and
communicate with Rue, who already reminds her of Prim. Rue explains that in
District 11 she “[sings] back and forth for hours” (209) with mockingjays.
Through the mockingjay, Katniss connects Rue to her family, which in turn
ignites a deeper relationship between her and the other oppressed Panem
districts. Mockingjays may have originated from the Capitol’s creativity, but
Katniss turns heir dark past into a symbol of hopeful perseverance and a vision
of future rebellion.
Tracker jackers, unlike mockingjays, have not bred with any other organism and are still a pure Capitol mutations. Tracker jackers resemble large wasps, with gold bodies and
huge stingers that leave palm-sized swellings and cause hallucinations (183).
Even though Katniss uses their deadly abilities to kill Glimmer and wound the
other Career tributes, tracker jackers force her participation in the games.
The Capitol possesses a certain power over the tributes that grants autonomy in
action, but also manipulates their mental states and decision making.
Finally, the simply named “mutts” that attack Katniss, Peeta and Cato near the games’
conclusion present the Capitol’s complete, diabolical creativity. The mutts
“resemble huge wolves” (325) and “stand easily on their back legs giving them
an eerily human quality” (326). Eventually, Katniss realizes that the mutts
reflect the physical likeness of “all of the other tributes” (328). The Capitol
has purposefully engineered these mutts to target Katniss’ emotional
resilience; after already killing several tributes, in a sense, she now must
kill them again in their grotesque, deformed states. However, after the initial
shock, the mutts do not greatly phase Katniss. She refers to mutts as their
human models, stating that “more tributes are coming” (328) and then promptly
yells for Peeta to “Kill it!” (329). By not allowing her emotions to affect how
she perceives the mutts, Katniss completes a small, rebellious and independent
act against the Capitol.
While in all cases the muttations represent the manipulative and dictatorial state of the Capitol, Katniss manages to turn some of the manipulation around by using them to her
advantage as symbols, weapons or cathartic release.
I completely agree with your analysis of how the Capital's mutants are yet another way for the capital to hold their power and influence over the various districts. In fact, when talking about the danger associated with trackerjackers, it is mentioned that the Capital "destroyed all the nests surrounding the city, but the ones near the districts were left untouched" (Collins, 14). It is clear that these mutants, along with jabberjays and the mutts, are a form of governmental control, designed to keep watch over the districts and ensure that the citizens stay where they are supposed to.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting mutant of note in the game is the mockingjays, the offspring of a jabberjay and a mockingbird. It is well known that the capital used the jabberjays as a way of extracting information from rebels, yet once the rebels became aware of these birds, they were used to convey false information back to the capital (Collins, 43). When the capital discovered this, the jabberjays were left to mate with mockingbrids, thus creating mockingjays; a bird with the same ability to transfer messages as the jabberjays. Interestingly, the game makers decided to include these birds in the Hunger Games arena. These birds have come to signify a sort of rebellion against the Capital, one that Katniss utilizes throughout the game with both Peeta and Rue. The Capital is known to immediately squash any form of rebellion, so why include these symbols of just that on a grand stage for all to see? Could the game makers be plotting some sort of small, symbolic rebellion against the Capital? Is the Capital trying to 'rebrand' the mockingjays into a more dangerous threat associated with the Hunger Games? Either way, it is interesting to note the use and importance of mutants both in the games and in the districts themselves.
I find the Capitol’s genetically created muttations to be an interesting part of the novel. Being more technologically advanced than the various districts was one of the Capitols advantages during the rebellion, yet their muttation results were rather mixed. One of the Capitol’s creations were jabberjays, a special kind of bird, that “had the ability to memorize and repeat whole human conversations” (42-43). While these birds worked great for gathering important information from the rebels’ conversations at first, once the rebels discovered they abilities it allowed them to feed the Capitol with false information turning their strategy into a joke.
ReplyDeleteWhat I really find interesting about the jabberjays is that even after they were abandoned in the wild by the Capitol, they were able to survive and even multiply throughout Panem. The jabberjays mated with mockingbirds creating what is known as mockingjays which can “replicate both bird whistles and human melodies” (43).
I believe that this occurrence with the jabberjays alludes to what could be possible if the Capitol is no longer in control of everyone in Panem. At first, the jabberjays are completely controlled and used by the Capitol to get what they want. After they are released from the Capitol’s control however, the jabberjays thrive among themselves in the wild. Currently, everyone in the districts is controlled by the Capitol and living hard lives in order to provide the Capitol all the resources it needs. If the people of Panem were granted freedom from the Capitol it could be predicted that the people would thrive just as the jabberjays do.