Is There Really Redemption in Sunrise on the Reaping? 

Spoiler Alert: This article contains heavy spoilers for Sunrise on the Reaping.

Several months ago, I had the honor of being the only male at a meeting of an all-woman’s book club named The Ladies of Loudoun Poets Society, which welcomes men to join discussions upon invitation.¹ This meeting focused on Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping. We loved the novel’s engaging narrative and excellent characters, and we enjoyed discussing its connections to other books in the series. 

During our talk, I proposed that the novel is one of redemption. To my surprise, I seemed to be the only “Lady” who felt this way as the others, to my understanding, believed the novel has too much death to be redemptive. I found it interesting that death was seemingly the mark of a non-redemptive story in this instance—especially when our source of redemption as Christians hinges on the death and resurrection of Christ.²

But I took the Ladies’ challenge seriously. After the session, I discussed my perspective with other friends³ and eventually reread the novel. I also considered the specific type of redemption I was noticing: Merriam-Webster provides several definitions of “redeem,” the second and fourth being most relevant: “to release from blame or debt” (clear), and “repair, restore.” I found that by the novel’s end, truth is restored and Haymitch is released from blame, but as both the Ladies and I would agree, many mistakes are made—and much death occurs—beforehand.

The Capitol’s control manifests itself in the first page of Sunrise. Sixteen-year-old Haymitch, whose birthday falls on reaping day, is shown living a life controlled by the Capitol. His shorts are marked with the words “COURTESY OF THE CAPITOL… stamped across [his] butt.” A critique of the Capitol as well as a symbol of its dominance: “Someday these shorts will be torn into strips and woven into a rug.” The Capitol is interwoven into the fabric of Haymitch’s life. And Collins hints at the Capitol’s power and manipulation of truth in one of the four epigraphs that precede the narrative—a quote from George Orwell stating, “All propaganda is lies, even when one is telling the truth. I don’t think this matters so long as one knows what one is doing, and why”—prompting readers to consider the rather Orwellian, Big-Brother-like dominance of the Capitol.

There is, however, the Meadow where Haymitch spends time with his love Lenore Dove, hidden from the eye of the Capitol (and reminiscent of Nineteen Eighty-Four when Winston and Julia meet privately in a wooded area in rebellion against Big Brother). Here, Lenore Dove gifts Haymitch with the flint striker and questions his belief that the reaping will always exist. Lenore Dove’s spirit, inspired by Covey culture, is one of resistance—a spirit Haymitch carries with him when he protects her as she helps a mother stop the Peacekeepers from taking her son’s decapitated body away, when he remembers his pa’s words to not “let them paint their posters with [her] blood,”  and when he is carried away by train, banging the window as he is torn from his loved ones. Like Lenore Dove, Haymitch is rebellious.

This rebellious spirit manifests itself again during the Games’ opening ceremony. To “paint [his] own poster” and prevent the Capitol from covering up Louella McCoy’s death due to chariot crash, Haymitch brings Louella’s body to the front of Snow’s mansion, where Snow stands watching. Haymitch sets her down, ensuring that Snow can see her, and gestures to him, applauding, “giving credit where credit is due.” An act of resistance in the spirit of Lenore Dove.

This act, however, makes Haymitch Snow’s target. When Haymitch is later called to Plutarch’s mansion to meet with Snow, Snow reveals his knowledge of Covey culture and ensures Haymitch that his actions during the Games will determine what his loved ones back home witness and how his death plays out. Snow then shares with Haymitch his family’s motto, “Snow lands on top,” before handing off Lou Lou (an imposter Louella) to Haymitch as “a belated birthday gift.”  Snow’s (and the Capitol’s) seemingly absolute power is what Haymitch spends the rest of the novel attempting to resist—with success, failure, and death all along the way. 

During his preparation for the Games, Haymitch has several successes. He contributes to forming the Newcomers alliance. He wins over the crowds during his pre-Games interview with Caesar Flickerman. He discovers that Plutarch’s a rebel, who encourages Haymitch to follow through with his and Beetee’s plan to destroy the arena’s water tank. Haymitch also makes promises: he promises Beetee that he will not let Ampert suffer during the Games; he promises Wellie that he will not harm any of the Newcomers. But, these are promises that prove difficult for Haymitch to keep. 

During the Games, Haymitch succeeds in destroying the arena’s water tank with Ampert’s assistance, but in doing so, Ampert is devoured by squirrel-like mutts, leaving only his bones. Haymitch lets Ampert suffer. Eventually, Haymitch meets up with Maysilee Donner, and after fighting off a massive porcupine-like mutt, they find themselves in a bed of katniss, where they pinkie promise to “paint [their] own posters” in resistance toward the Capitol. But soon after they discover the arena’s generator, Maysilee is killed by geese-like mutts. Another Newcomer killed, another horrible death due to Haymitch’s defiance. 

Haymitch then meets up with Wellie, who is hiding, scared—insisting that he not leave her again. But, as he goes off to find firewood (and after receiving a pitcher of milk as a gift from Snow, “COURTESY OF THE CAPITOL,” which lets Haymitch know that he is watching), Silka finds and kills Wellie. Haymitch thus broke his promise to Wellie. But, as a final form of resistance, Haymitch leads Silka to the generator at the arena’s edge, and after impaling her head with an ax, Haymitch ignites an explosive and throws it at the generator, creating “[a] blast [that] rocks the world.”  Haymitch succeeds in resisting the Capitol, but in doing so, breaks several promises—and many die as a result. From here, Haymitch reckons with his post-Games consequences.

The Capitol’s power and ever-present manipulation of truth reduces Haymitch to a selfish “jackass” while he watches his actions (out of context) during the post-Games recap: “the audience… has embraced this [edited] version, cheering and jeering on cue. Their lack of discernment transforms the recap, validating it as truth.” Haymitch’s only hope is that “the districts can still see it as the piece of propaganda it is.” Afterwards, as Snow crowns Haymitch victor, he says, “Enjoy your homecoming,” with a smile. And it is Haymitch’s homecoming that serves as his ultimate form of punishment: a homecoming where his ma and brother Sid are burned alive and Lenore Dove is poisoned with gumdrops as blood-red as the rose on Snow’s lapel. Thus begins Haymitch’s downward spiral.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” serves as a symbol for several characters and ideas, including Snow’s/the Capitol’s dominance, and in the final chapter, Haymitch explains that the raven calls to mind Snow’s ability to harm all those that Haymitch loves, leading him to drive away his loved ones to protect them from harm. Despite his best efforts, Haymitch finds that he is unable to escape Snow’s grasp and the Capitol’s lies. The poem’s reference to “nepenthe” represents Haymitch’s descent into addiction and alcoholism. And upon finding the grave of his “lost Lenore,” Haymitch “tell[s] her everything and beg[s] her to return… to forgive [him] for all the ways in which [he] has failed,” admitting that, ultimately, he has not succeeded in rebelling against the Capitol. What keeps him going is a “sign” from Lenore Dove that he later discovers: her own spray-painted message “NO CAPITOL, NO HANGING TREE!” He says this is “[h]er reminder that [he] must prevent another sunrise on the reaping”—this being the last promise he made to her as she breathed her dying breath. Despite his broken promises during the games, he still has one left to keep.

Plutarch, during the Victory Tour, encourages Haymitch to continue fighting. But, terrorized by the raven above his chamber door, Haymitch refuses to believe he is capable: “I am living proof that the Capitol always wins… I tried to change things, and now everybody’s dead.” Plutarch explains that Haymitch’s ability to imagine a different future is key to making change—even if that change occurs years into the future. Haymitch—oppressed by Snow’s “Nevermore”—remains skeptical of Plutarch and later calls him out for contributing to the Capitol’s propaganda with “the old Heavensbee spin.” And so, after the final lines of “The Raven” are read, Haymitch states that he is “forever trapped in [his] chamber” in Victor’s Village, doomed to see “[a]nother sunrise on the reaping” again and again with each new set of tributes he must mentor, ending the same way it all began: “Happy birthday, Haymitch!” A never-ending cycle of addiction, guilt, death, and Capitol control. 

With an ending like this, there can be no redemption. However, this is neither the end of the novel nor the end of the story. The novel’s epilogue illustrates its redemptive qualities. Unlike the raven in Poe’s poem, Snow does not stay perched above Haymitch’s chamber door; the Capitol’s propaganda and lies are soon exposed, and the vicious cycle of oppression is broken. As one of the Ladies said during our meeting, “I don’t want to give Snow that much power.” The epilogue reveals that he no longer has any power, opening with the following: “When Lenore Dove comes to me now, she’s not angry or dying, so I think she’s forgiven me.” Here, Haymitch reveals he has been forgiven and released from blame. 

However, this is not just Haymitch’s personal redemption story (which Haymitch himself would despise), but one of all people in Panem (living and dead). Snow and the Capitol’s lies are exposed, and truth is repaired, restored, and redeemed through Haymitch’s contribution to the “memorial book”: “family, tributes, friends, comrades in arms, everybody, even my love. I finally told our story.” The poster is finally made—truth finally redeemed. Haymitch and Lenore Dove’s relationship is restored, as he never truly gave up: “I fulfilled my promise about the reaping, or at least lent a hand, but she [Lenore Dove] says I can’t come to her yet. I have to look after my family.” 

And Haymitch finally discovers that the Capitol didn’t have as much power as it seemed: “The Capitol can never take Lenore Dove from me again. They never really did in the first place. Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping, and she is the most precious thing I’ve ever known.” This is redemption: truth restored and freedom from blame. Not dying in vain. And this is what makes Sunrise worth reading in book clubs and beyond; it reminds readers that despite death, redemption is still possible—though it sometimes requires death in some form as it did for Christians. Despite Haymitch’s mistakes, the Capitol and Snow are defeated, and hope was always present amid death. As Collins herself puts it in her acknowledgements: “The snow may fall, but the sun also rises.”⁴

1. Thank you for the invitation, Amber and Elizabeth! ↩︎
2. Not all the Society members are necessarily Christians, but at least several of us who attended this meeting are.  ↩︎
3. Especially Jonathan Olmstead and Matthew Fox who lent a listening ear to my ideas and discussed this novel with me. ↩︎
4.  I would like to thank all of The Ladies of Loudoun, named and unnamed in this discussion, who attended the session on Sunrise on the Reaping. Thank you for an amazing discussion on the novel and for giving me a newfound interest in The Hunger Games saga. Continue reading and discussing great books! ↩︎