President Alma Coin Character Analysis in Mockingjay

The leader of District 13, President Alma Coin cooperates closely with Katniss Everdeen for most of the novel and Katniss seems to trust Coin based on the idea of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” – if Coin is working against Snow, then Katniss is on Coin’s side. Nevertheless, as the novel progresses the reader and Katniss come to recognize that Coin embodies many of the qualities that Katniss despised in President Snow. Like Snow, Coin is more than willing to execute those who disagree with her or break the draconian rules of life in District 13. Like Snow, she understands the importance of propaganda, and thus enlists Katniss’s help in filming a series of videos designed to inspire the rebellion against Snow’s government. Her manipulations—both of Katniss and of President Snow—result in a victory for the rebels—yet it seems that the government Coin plans to establish may be superficially different than Snow’s, but is no less corrupt or immoral than its predecessor. In general, Collins suggests that Coin’s brutality and cruelty at least equals Snow’s—in fact, the novel suggests, she and Snow are just two sides of the same “Coin.”

President Alma Coin Quotes in Mockingjay

The Mockingjay quotes below are all either spoken by President Alma Coin or refer to President Alma Coin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

The president allows a few moments of unrest, and then continues in her brisk fashion. Only now the words coming out of her mouth are news to me. "But in return for this unprecedented request, Soldier Everdeen has promised to devote herself to our cause. It follows that any deviance from her mission, in either motive or deed, will be viewed as a break in this agreement. The immunity would be terminated and the fate of the four victors determined by the law of District Thirteen. As would her own. Thank you." In other words, I step out of line and we're all dead.

Related Characters: Katniss Everdeen (speaker), President Alma Coin (speaker), Peeta Mellark

Page Number and Citation: 57

Explanation and Analysis:

And now Coin, with her fistful of precious nukes and her well-oiled machine of a district, finding it's even harder to groom a Mockingjay than to catch one. But she has been the quickest to determine that I have an agenda of my own and am therefore not to be trusted. She has been the first to publicly brand me as a threat.

Related Characters: Katniss Everdeen (speaker), President Alma Coin

Page Number and Citation: 59

Explanation and Analysis:

"Don't trust them. Don't go back. Kill Peeta. Do what you came to do." What did he mean? Don't trust who? The rebels? Coin? The people looking at me right now? I won't go back, but he must know I can't just fire a bullet through Peeta's head. Can I? Should I? Did Boggs guess that what I really came to do is desert and kill Snow on my own? I can't work all of this out now, so I just decide to carry out the first two orders: to not trust anyone and to move deeper into the Capitol. But how can I justify this? Make them let me keep the Holo?

Related Characters: Katniss Everdeen (speaker), Peeta Mellark, President Alma Coin, President Coriolanus Snow, Boggs

Page Number and Citation: 282

Explanation and Analysis:

"I brought you this." Gale holds up a sheath. When I take it, I notice it holds a single, ordinary arrow.
"It's supposed to be symbolic. You firing the last shot of the war."
"What if I miss?" I say. "Does Coin retrieve it and bring it back to me? Or just shoot Snow through the head herself?"
"You won't miss." Gale adjusts the sheath on my shoulder. We stand there, face-to-face, not meeting each other's eyes.
"You didn't come see me in the hospital."
He doesn't answer, so finally I just say it.
"Was it your bomb?"
"I don't know. Neither does Beetee," he says. "Does it matter? You'll always be thinking about it."

Related Characters: Katniss Everdeen (speaker), Gale Hawthorne (speaker), President Alma Coin, President Coriolanus Snow, Beetee

Related Symbols: Arrow, The Double Bomb

Page Number and Citation: 366-367

Explanation and Analysis:

President Alma Coin Character Timeline in Mockingjay

The timeline below shows where the character President Alma Coin appears in Mockingjay. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...her directions via her headset. These people include Plutarch, Plutarch’s assistant Fulvia Cardew, and Alma Coin, the president of District 13. Coin is about fifty years old, with straight hair and... (full context)

...is prevented from walking any further. Katniss walks inside, and is surprised to find Plutarch, Coin, and the other leaders, staring at a television. The screen shows an interview between Peeta... (full context)

Compassion, Callousness, and Revenge Theme Icon

...and her family. Katniss’s sister, Primrose, points out that Katniss has huge “bargaining power” with Coin and the other rebel leaders. Katniss should hold a public meeting with the leadership, she... (full context)

Katniss meets with Plutarch and Coin, and tells them that she’s prepared to be the Mockingjay, with a few conditions. Her... (full context)

Katniss is surprised with Plutarch and Coin’s willingness to manipulate her public appearance, but since they’ve agreed to allow Gale to assist... (full context)

...be all right. Meanwhile, Fulvia and Plutarch arrive at the hospital. Katniss points out that Coin is sending a message to all of them: comply with the rules of District 13,... (full context)

...that could be construed as treasonous. Katniss runs to the front of the Collective, where Coin is about to speak, and tells her that she needs Coin to put Annie Cresta’s... (full context)

Coin tells Katniss that she’s about to announce that Katniss will be the mockingjay. Katniss, getting... (full context)

...yet another strong opponent to contend with: first the Gamemakers, then President Snow, now President Coin. Coin has nuclear missiles and a vast army of soldiers—in many ways, she’s the same... (full context)

...spread word that Katniss, who is supposedly pregnant with Peeta’s child, has had a miscarriage. Coin seems to like the idea of sending Katniss out into danger, but only a small... (full context)

...the field.” He also supplies her with special arrows, some of which are explosive. Boggs, Coin’s strong, muscular assistant, enters the room, accompanied by Finnick. Beetee tells Finnick that he’s to... (full context)

...of hovercrafts. Katniss notices that Boggs seems good-natured, even if he’s also very loyal to Coin. She’s infuriated, however, to see all the hovercrafts—their existence means that District 13 had the... (full context)

...with Gale, but has no other option for keeping everyone safe—at least none that President Coin would support. She leads the group inside a nearby building, where Katniss is terrified to... (full context)

Katniss’s mother leaves, and guards wheel Katniss to Command, where she finds Coin, Plutarch, Gale, Fulvia, Cressida, Haymitch, and Boggs. Katniss notices that Boggs has broken his nose... (full context)

Having broadcast hugely successful propaganda throughout Panem, the rebels clap. Coin congratulates Katniss on her heroism, but informs her that she risked her life in order... (full context)

...the earpiece at all times. She notes that neither Haymitch nor Plutarch said anything to Coin about Katniss’s disobedience in District 8—Coin thinks that Katniss was following orders when she defended... (full context)

...the Capitol. At the same time, she acknowledges that he has a point—Katniss doesn’t trust Coin, Plutarch, Haymitch, or any of the other rebel leaders. Hurriedly, Finnick turns off the television.... (full context)

...response, Snow must have ordered that Peeta be silenced. Katniss agrees with Haymitch, and urges Coin to prepare the people of District 13 for the impending attack. (full context)

In response to Haymitch and Katniss’s urgings, Coin agrees to put District 13 in a “Level Five” lockdown. Katniss, along with the other... (full context)

...seems to like this idea, and he proposes that the rebel leaders talk to President Coin. While they do so, Katniss and Gale are sent outside—during this time, they go hunting. (full context)

...that she’s not going to the Capitol as a part of the rebels’ upcoming mission. Coin is the first to reply to this sudden outburst—Katniss is too important to the rebels’... (full context)

Having learned from President Coin that she needs to heal in the next three weeks, Katniss meets up with a... (full context)

...Holo, she’s surprised to find that Peeta has arrived outside the Capitol, sent by President Coin herself. Katniss wonders why Coin would send Peeta into battle when he’s clearly not ready... (full context)

...to leave the group and find Snow. She lies to Jackson and says that President Coin has sent her on a mission to assassinate Snow. Jackson says that she doesn’t believe... (full context)

...is a television in the apartment, and later in the night the group sees President Coin speaking, having hijacked the Capitol’s TV station once again. Coin eulogizes Katniss and reaffirms her... (full context)

...by Cinna, Delly, and, bizarrely, her own father, who is singing “The Hanging Tree.” President Coin visits Katniss and assures her “I’ve captured President Snow for you.” This satisfies Katniss, as... (full context)

...it to escape. The order to bomb the civilians, he maintains, must have come from Coin, not from him. By making it appear that Snow would attack his own people, Coin... (full context)

Snow concludes his explanation, urging Katniss to see Coin’s “genius.” From the beginning, it was District 13 that first rebelled against the Capitol. Later,... (full context)

...version of this story is the truth, Katniss realizes, Snow was right about one thing: Coin has manipulated Snow and the districts into warring with one another, allowing District 13 to... (full context)

Katniss remembers that Coin sent Peeta to accompany Katniss into battle, knowing that this decision would endanger Katniss. She... (full context)

...Games organizer, is also present. Venia whispers that Haymitch and Plutarch had to fight with Coin to keep her alive. Gale arrives at Katniss’s house, and shows her a single arrow,... (full context)

Coin arrives at the ceremony. She mentions to Katniss that many rebels are calling for the... (full context)

The execution ceremony proceeds, with President Coin presiding. Katniss goes through the ceremony as if she’s sleepwalking. At the end of the... (full context)

Katniss has just shot President Coin. Snow, who was supposed to be her victim, can only laugh. He coughs up blood... (full context)

...Plutarch is sitting, looking very happy. On the hovercraft, Haymitch explains that Katniss’s assassination of Coin caused chaos. Coin died, and Snow did, too, though it’s unclear if he choked on... (full context)