Sunrise on the Reaping: How Much of History is Accurately Told?

(Major spoiler warning!)

The latest Hunger Games installment by Suzanne Collins explores the power of propaganda and how it is used to manipulate historical narratives. Set 24 years before the original trilogy and 40 years after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Sunrise on the Reaping follows Haymitch Abernathy—future mentor to Katniss Everdeen—through the 50th Hunger Games, a “Quarter Quell” that doubles the number of “tributes,” children sent to the Games, to 48 as a reminder of the Capitol’s control.

Throughout the story, there are several instances in which the truth is altered by the Capitol, creating a false narrative that becomes the “official” truth. Early on, a tribute is shot during the Reaping Ceremony in District 12, yet the incident is cut from the supposedly “live” broadcast, which actually airs on a five-minute delay to conceal the Capitol’s failures. When another tribute, Louella Mccoy, is killed due to the Capitol’s negligence, her death is erased from public memory; she is replaced with a tortured body double in the arena. 

Throughout the Games, Haymitch tries to expose the Capitol’s flaws by manipulating the arena itself. He succeeds by exploiting a hidden force field, but this defiance is punished; his subversion and his allyship with other tributes is cut from the official broadcast, replaced with a curated image of a selfish, scheming Victor. Haymitch’s rebellion doesn’t inspire change—it enrages President Snow, the Capitol’s leader, who, in turn, executes Haymitch’s family. This is reflective of a common practice of our world’s past and present dictators (as well as everyday humans): the act of exercising violence purely for the sake of reminding others of their own powerlessness. Haymitch’s character becomes a symbol for those whose desire for rebellion matched that of history’s celebrated revolutionaries, but who lacked the fortune of being remembered.

In Catching Fire, protagonist and deuteragonist Katniss and Peeta watch a tape of Haymitch’s Games. What they see is the Capitol’s edited version instead of the truth. Sunrise on the Reaping reveals how even Lucy Gray Baird from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was erased from history. The Capitol suppresses anything that might spark rebellion—unconventional Victors, the majority of books, and even communication between Districts.

Back in our world, this story reminds us why oppressive regimes fear books, as reading and writing are forms of resistance. Sometimes, picking up a book like Sunrise on the Reaping can be an act of rebellion. 

The famous quote “History is written by the victors,” (thought to be, but not confirmed to be by Winston Churchill), sums up Sunrise on the Reaping’s theme.  Collins’ prequel begs the question: How many pieces of history have been, and are actively being, omitted or altered in our reality?