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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Propaganda, Spectacle, and Morality
Children
Government and Power
Human Nature
Trust and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
Coriolanus is in a stifling train car, struggling to sleep as the train moves through District Nine. He recalls that the Peacekeepers’ recruiting officer seemed not to know who he was—and didn’t make a fuss when Coriolanus asked to be assigned to District 12. Then, Coriolanus thinks through his meeting with Dean Highbottom. Highbottom accused Coriolanus of stealing the napkin from the Academy. Tapping the compact, he called Coriolanus’s mother “vapid” and naïve, and Lucy Gray the exact opposite (but she’ll be sent home). Highbottom didn’t believe Coriolanus didn’t know about the rat poison. Then, he noted that the handkerchief had Crassus Snow’s initials embroidered on it. He told Coriolanus to join the Peacekeepers, and Coriolanus desperately asked why Highbottom hates him when Highbottom and his father were friends. Soberly, Highbottom said he and Crassus were friends, but Crassus deserves to be dead—though he’s alive in Coriolanus.
Coriolanus is too miserable to notice, but he’s learning important things as he joins the Peacekeepers—namely, that none of them watch the Hunger Games, despite Dr. Gaul’s campaign to popularize the event. Had the Peacekeeper at the office watched the Games, they would’ve known who Coriolanus was and had more questions for him. Then, Coriolanus learns some interesting things about his family through his conversation with Dean Highbottom. Clearly, Highbottom doesn’t share Strabo Plinth’s assessment of Coriolanus’s mother as “the epitome of a lady,” though it’s impossible to know whose assessment is more correct. Then, what he says about Crassus and Coriolanus suggests that he sees Crassus as evil—and Coriolanus too.
Themes
After stopping at the Citadel to try to see Dr. Gaul, Coriolanus did as he was told. As soon as he got home, he told Tigris and Grandma’am everything, including that he’d leave tomorrow. Coriolanus knew he’d never see Grandma’am again; Peacekeepers serve for 20 years. Tigris helped him fill a small box with mementos, insisted the Hunger Games are “unnatural” and “vicious,” and helped Coriolanus put together a disguise to walk to the recruiting center. Within a few hours, Coriolanus had his hair buzzed, signed his forms, and accepted his packet of assigned items. He joined his fellow recruits on the train.
Tigris isn’t aware that Dr. Gaul seemed to take Coriolanus under her wing. But interestingly, in describing the Hunger Games as “unnatural,” she contradicts what Dr. Gaul said: that the Hunger Games represent humanity in its natural state. Tigris, therefore, suggests that humans aren’t as evil as Dr. Gaul thinks they are. But again, Coriolanus is too concerned with what’s happening to him to pick up on any of this.
Themes
Now, Coriolanus wonders if his friends know what happened to him. By September, they’ll forget him. He wonders what will happen to Lucy Gray; will she return to District 12? Coriolanus tries not to cry. A day later, he stumbles onto the platform in 12. It’s so hot and humid that after the short walk to the base, Coriolanus’s socks are soaked. He and a recruit named Junius find their bunks. Soon, their bunkmates, Smiley and Bug, lead the newcomers to the mess hall. The food is surprisingly edible—and Coriolanus realizes he’ll never go hungry.
It's hard to tell if Coriolanus is right or just being dramatic here. But if he is right that his friends will forget him in a month, this highlights how cutthroat the social scene is in the Capitol, as his absence will certainly make way for someone else to take his place. The Peacekeepers start to not look so bad when Coriolanus realizes that while serving, he won’t be hungry—the government takes better care of its soldiers than its children, he’s finding.
Themes
By the time the meal is over, Smiley has given Coriolanus and Junius nicknames: Gent and Beanpole, respectively. Coriolanus loves having a nickname—it distances him from his disgrace. Fortunately, nobody knows who he is, as there’s only one TV on base and reception is poor. As Coriolanus gets to know his bunkmates, he’s shocked that they’re mostly district. Smiley insists Peacekeeping is a good job—and he notes that he’s not policing “his own people,” as he’s from Eight.
Being assigned to the Peacekeepers may be a slap in the face, but the Peacekeepers also allow Coriolanus to reinvent himself since nobody knows who he is. But again, this is a sign that Dr. Gaul hasn’t been successful at popularizing the Hunger Games. What Smiley says about not policing “his own people” suggests that there are major divisions between the districts, not just between districts and the Capitol. Nobody in Panem is willing to trust anyone else.
Themes
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The next day, Coriolanus drills with the other recruits. This, and washing dishes, is all he does for days—though he does think about Lucy Gray. When Coriolanus gets his first day off, he plans to go to town and ask about her. On Saturday night, Coriolanus has free time, so he goes to his bunk to read a letter from Tigris. Tigris writes that rumors are flying about Coriolanus. The apartment is going on the market and Pluribus will take Tigris and Grandma’am in until they find a place. Grandma’am is also losing touch with reality. Coriolanus feels terrible—his family is becoming insignificant, and he’ll never be president. In 20 years, he and his friends and family members will be nothing. Coriolanus decides the only thing to do is die now—but Sejanus Plinth appears in his doorway.
Though Coriolanus is settling into life as a Peacekeeper, he’s still connected to his family and the life he left behind in the Capitol—he’s a Capitol kid through and through. Hearing that his family is going to lose their home is a huge blow, as that’s what Coriolanus worked so hard to protect during the Hunger Games. But still, notice that Coriolanus isn’t upset with being homeless, necessarily. Rather, he’s upset about the implications: that his family is poor, insignificant, and no longer powerful in the Capitol. Put another way, he cares more about status than his family’s physical wellbeing, a mark of his privilege.
Themes
