About a month ago, the prequel to Suzanne Collins 's dystopian novel series , The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Nightingales and Serpents , hit bookstores in Italy, published by Mondadori. Besides its growing success during the COVID era, it's interesting for some food for thought that can lead us to topics specifically in the sociology of narrative.
As Paul Ricoeur reminds us, stories are understood because the world is understood pre-narratively. Stories situate actions and events in time, but we are still immersed in time. What narrative discourses allow, in fact, is to articulate and refine this pre-understanding (ibid., pp. 36-37, 1986), in other words, to train it.
Games?
Literature is full of dystopian tales . Just think of Philip Dick, William Gibson, and George Orwell. Yet Suzanne Collins has managed to carve out a thriving space in a seemingly saturated field, carving out a special place for herself on children's bookshelves . But what is it that fascinates us so much about The Hunger Games?
First of all, works about dystopia —or those that exploit a dystopian setting —are charismatic and possess a very specific quality of agency. They give us the opportunity to compare the situations described with the reality we are living or observing. Furthermore, specifically, The Hunger Games is a glossy, bloody television show. A feral Big Brother used by the central system, Capitol City, as an instrument of control and "peace." The panopticon becomes a spectacle.
Gem of Panem…
The Hunger Games are bloody, constantly monitored games that, in the early editions described in the final prequel book , resemble a bullfight or the Roman Colosseum. The protagonists are the "tributes," a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18, chosen from each of the twelve districts that make up the nation of Panem, the true theater of this globally successful dystopian narrative . The contestants in this bloodbath must fight to the death until a single winner is determined.
All the events—whether they concern the environmental plot or the intertwining biographies of the characters—revolve around these events, and between love, politics, and ethics, the narrative concludes with a reflection on resilience.
With The Ballad of the Nightingale and the Serpent we return to Panem, sixty years before the events of Collins' last text, The Hunger Games : Mockingjay (2012), this time dealing with the childhood of the evil antagonist and tyrant Coriolanus Snow , played in the film adaptation by Donald Sutherland.
In this book, we find eighteen-year-old Snow , a noble family fallen from grace during the war between the district rebels and the Capitol, who seeks to restore his family's prestige by participating as a mentor in the Hunger Games . A completely different situation from that of Katniss Everdeen in the main saga, if not a true reversal of perspective. This has provided a glimpse into historical dynamics, thoughts, and points of view that have only been partially explored until now.
…powerful city, heart of justice…
Snow has experienced poverty, hunger, and war firsthand. Yet his heritage, the culture of the Capitol, never abandons him. This is constantly reiterated to us throughout the book. Coriolanus is just a boy, confused in some ways, eager for life, but the greed and ambition of a tyrant are already there.
It doesn't matter that war causes suffering, the people of the districts are scum. Differences exist. Power makes a difference. It's no coincidence that Sejanus Plinth, a classmate of Coriolanus's originally from District Two, manifests himself as the incarnate conscience of Collins 's thought , the only Talking Cricket among the Capitol's youth who reasons and criticizes the Hunger Games , raising real questions about the status of humanity.
Cruelty, according to Plinth, arises from an extreme need for justice, for control, which often leads sadistic and manipulative individuals to merge with the ranks of the bearers of legality.
Our pledge of love savor!
Beyond the need for control, Snow 's philosophy is one of utility. Almost Machiavellian in nature, feelings like love and friendship are distorted in favor of utility for one's own purposes and the higher order. Lucy Gray Baird, the District 12 "tribute" assigned to Coriolanus , embodies this second peculiarity of Snow 's character . He falls in love with her, shares and enjoys her youth, and attempts to act with the carefree and reckless spirit of someone fighting against injustice and the system, but he is unable to go against his nature, or rather, his culture.
Every element of the text—from the third-person narration to the treatment of diverse themes such as event planning and palace intrigue—reminds us and emphasizes the distance between reader and protagonist. He is not a hero and does not want to be one. He does not want to be pitied. The book should be read as the biographical journey of an antagonist, whose future statements take on significant weight, if not a different meaning. These elements encourage rereading of the original texts and better clarify the author's intent. Ballad of the Nightingale and the Serpent is therefore a retrospective of a dystopian world, where the protagonist's psychological evolution parallels the historical evolution of a country and its political communication.
Francesco D'Ambrosio
Bibliography
Ricoeur P., Time and Narrative, vol. I, Jaca Book, Milan, 1986.
Lecturer in Communications and HR Management. Journalist with a degree in Sociology (cum laude). Editor-in-Chief of Sociologicamente.it.
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