Do you have any fun facts for The Hanging Tree? 💖
Thank you for the ask @mage-chocolate!!
The fact is - I meant it to be a sort of sweet arranged marriage grow together story… and then lost track of the tone 😬 (Anyone else?) So now it feels like the premise is too heavy for the bits of fluff I have in the drafts currently 🤦🏼♀️
In the meantime - Here’s a snippet!
can you explain how the hanging tree symbolizes katniss and peeta if you haven't already? 🩷
i think that the hanging tree specifically reference katniss and peeta, but rather what love looks like in a world like panem.
at the end of catching fire, finnick laments annie and peeta's capture by saying the iconic line "i wish [annie] was dead. i wish they were all dead and we were, too" (cf, 109).
and he says that because he loves annie. and wishes that they could all die and be safe rather than live with the cruelty of the world/government.
and so in the hanging tree, the whole song is about beckoning your lover to join you in death rather than have them await the cruelty of the world. which applies to the many different times katniss thought about sparing peeta by killing him. after the quell. on the battlefield.
but what is so special, so reverent, about katniss and peeta is that the song doesn't determine their fate. because peeta does not die. he does not leave her to deal with the cruelty of the world. not like prim and the other loved ones that let her go as they traveled to the safety of death.
peeta did not leave her. he did not escape their cruel world. not without her. because whatever everlark does, they do together.
so, instead, the choose to live. and heal. together.
Thank you for tagging me @thelettersfromnoone!!!
Some Peeta POV from The Hanging Tree
As I drift into consciousness, the first thing I notice is the weight on my chest and something soft tickling my neck. I lift my head to look at the source, but a bolt of pain radiates from my neck, shooting down my spine and wrapping around my head. The world narrows and I drop back to the pillow, repressing a groan. As the throbbing in my head ebbs, I begin to register the rest of my body: the heavy limbs, sore ribs, and phantom tingling of toes long gone. Tentatively opening an eye, I’m met with the sight of plain, but unfamiliar ceiling.
Where am I?… When am I?
Tagging: @moonlightredfern and @pookieh (since you requested more hanging tree 👀) but please feel free to join in!
An Everlark Executioner AU
One-shot based on ‘Is it true that in the old days an executioner could save a female delinquent if he offered to marry her and she agreed?’
A continuation of If We Met Up at Midnight in snippets
Wip question:
What flower would you use to represent your main character of your wip you touched most recently?
[you can get fancy with language of flowers or arbitrary just by color or smell or something else]
Thank you for the ask!!
I’m working on a scene between Katniss and Haymitch and because saying Katniss feels like cheating, I’m going to answer for Haymitch.
I can’t explain it, but my first thought for Haymitch was:
Mountain Laurel
…
And after some research, here’s what I’ve got.
Mountain Lauren can be found in the woods from New England to the Florida panhandle - including the Appalachian range where they grow as trees rather than bushes and thickets are referred to as ‘Laurel Hells’
Mountain Laurels were named for their resemblance to the laurels found in the Mediterranean that were often used to weave crowns as symbols of Victory
The Mountain Laurel symbolizes perseverance because they can survive in tough habitats. They can also symbolize trickery. Either because their aesthetically pleasing but poisonous or because they grow in dense thickets that make it difficult to climb or be push through (hence the nickname)
Everlark Executioner AU inspired by this post
Read on Ao3
Had the messenger arrived a day earlier, he would have been greeted by a yellow flag above our door, and had to turn back, summons undelivered.
The odds, however, are not in my favor.
Everlark Executioner AU inspired by this post
Read on Ao3
Had the messenger arrived a day earlier, he would have been greeted by a yellow flag above our door, and had to turn back, summons undelivered.
The odds, however, are not in my favor.
What are your thoughts on The Hanging Tree? More specifically the movie version that is on the Mockingjay part 1 soundtrack, not the remix. Did they do a good job, or did they just butcher it? Thanks in advance.
Here’s the deal. I came into the fandom about a year ago lukewarm about the movies and the longer I’m here the more indifferent I become to them.
I’ve come to the following conclusions:
But back to your question:
Following that vein of thinking: I don’t have a strong opinion. I’m not a songwriter so it effectively turned the lyrics (living as a poem in my head) into a song. The tune was catchy, but I wouldn’t be devastated if they changed the notes in a hypothetical new adaptation (so long as the lyrics remained the same)
Otherwise, I’d be remiss not to mention @thesmileykate’s brilliant meta on the lost importance of the song in the book vs movie.
Thank you for the ask @dorcaloveskotlc!!!🤗
Thanks to @thelettersfromnoone and @professionalfangrrl !!!
The Hanging Tree - The Hunger Games (x)
(fan arrangment by adrisaurus)
(cover art by ~La-Chapeliere-Folle)
What are your thoughts on The Hanging Tree? More specifically the movie version that is on the Mockingjay part 1 soundtrack, not the remix. Did they do a good job, or did they just butcher it? Thanks in advance.
Here’s the deal. I came into the fandom about a year ago lukewarm about the movies and the longer I’m here the more indifferent I become to them.
I’ve come to the following conclusions:
But back to your question:
Following that vein of thinking: I don’t have a strong opinion. I’m not a songwriter so it effectively turned the lyrics (living as a poem in my head) into a song. The tune was catchy, but I wouldn’t be devastated if they changed the notes in a hypothetical new adaptation (so long as the lyrics remained the same)
Otherwise, I’d be remiss not to mention @thesmileykate’s brilliant meta on the lost importance of the song in the book vs movie.
Thank you for the ask @dorcaloveskotlc!!!🤗
I think about this all the time
In the stillness I remember the scene. I was home from a day in the woods with my father. Sitting on the floor with Prim, who was just a toddler, singing “The Hanging Tree.” Making us necklaces out of scraps of old rope like it said in the song, not knowing the real meaning of the words. The tune was simple and easy to harmonize to, though, and back then I could memorize almost anything set to music after a round or two. Suddenly, my mother snatched the rope necklaces away and was yelling at my father. I started to cry because my mother never yelled, and then Prim was wailing and I ran outside to hide. As I had exactly one hiding spot — in the Meadow under a honeysuckle bush — my father found me immediately. He calmed me down and told me everything was fine, only we’d better not sing that song anymore. My mother just wanted me to forget it. So, of course, every word was immediately, irrevocably branded into my brain.
My thoughts diverge in two directions:
1. How many folk songs/nursery rhymes tell gruesome tales?
Our nightlight plays a variety of songs, including Oh, My Darling Clemintine. I sang it appropriately once (listen - I should have known better) before my 4 year olds started asking questions about where Clementine was and why she was gone forever (and a millions other questions)
Also consider Rock a Bye Baby and Ring Around the Rosie.
2. It reminds me how easily you can inadvertently make a lasting impression on a child.
Note: I’m a parent but really I think this applies to anyone who interacts with children.
I don’t know how I would have responded in Mrs. Everdeen’s place, but probably pretty similarly. I read her reaction as fear based: She found her child singing a, not only morbid, but also seditious song.
We hear Rue’s story about harsh punishments in D11 paired with Haymitch and Mrs. Everdeen’s allusions to a time when the Peacekeepers were much stricter. Katniss singing The Hanging Tree in public, even as a child, would have been dangerous. Not to mention: they were were crafting necklace nooses while singing about hanging… that had to look like some horrifying foreshadowing in Mrs. Everdeen’s mind.
But for Katniss that had to be so confusing. She’s singing a song her father taught her and happily making jewelry when her mother has a big, scary, out of character reaction. Not knowing the meaning of the words, there are so many ways she could have internalized this incident and misplaced her fear.
With that being said: effects of trauma is a theme in the series and this incident is relatively small potatoes.
I think about this all the time
In the stillness I remember the scene. I was home from a day in the woods with my father. Sitting on the floor with Prim, who was just a toddler, singing “The Hanging Tree.” Making us necklaces out of scraps of old rope like it said in the song, not knowing the real meaning of the words. The tune was simple and easy to harmonize to, though, and back then I could memorize almost anything set to music after a round or two. Suddenly, my mother snatched the rope necklaces away and was yelling at my father. I started to cry because my mother never yelled, and then Prim was wailing and I ran outside to hide. As I had exactly one hiding spot — in the Meadow under a honeysuckle bush — my father found me immediately. He calmed me down and told me everything was fine, only we’d better not sing that song anymore. My mother just wanted me to forget it. So, of course, every word was immediately, irrevocably branded into my brain.
i have really resonated with the symbolism of pearls in catching fire and mockingjay (see this and this). effie introduces peeta and katniss to her capitol friends as potential beauty, explaining (incorrectly) that "if you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls” (thg, 74). this same sentiment, one of beauty emerging from pain, follows katniss as peeta gifts her a pearl in the quell arena (cf, 104).
but on my recent reread of catching fire, something else about pearls stood out to me. as she prepares for the interview, cinna reveals the wedding dress that snow is forcing katniss to wear. katniss states how the dress is practically dripping with pearls, ones that are "stitched into the dress and in ropes at [her] throat and forming the crown for the veil" (cf, 70-71).
in this scene, these pearls point to katniss being held captive by snow. the pearls rope katniss's throat like a noose. and in typical snow fashion, it is a pretty and elegant noose, but a noose just the same. snow wanted the dress to show that katniss (just like the districts) was always within his control, whether he was dooming her to a forced marriage or an arena that meant certain death.
so it makes it even more powerful that the pearls "clatter to the stage" as the dress transforms into the mockingjay (cf, 72). with the pearls scattering, katniss is released from her shackles. she is not captive in snow's control and neither are the districts.
but this makes it even more interesting that katniss's most prized possession in mockingjay is a pearl. katniss's last gift from peeta, the pearl from the arena becomes katniss's token in the 'arena' of mockingjay, as she desperately clings to it and hopes that peeta will come back to her, physically and mentally. katniss clings to the same symbol that was once her shackles.
now, if this was some other book written by some other author, it might just be a coincidence. but this is suzanne we are talking about… so there has to be some connection. it is just our job to find out what.
so, as i racked my brain for what this could possibly mean, i first thought that the use of pearl in both scenarios could be used to differentiate the context. for snow's pearls, the giver was trying to control katniss, so the pearls represented the noose of the capitol's control. in contrast, peeta's pearl came from a person who gave unconditionally to katniss. it shows that the pearl was a product of the arena, of their shared pain, coming to represent the very genuine love and relationship that came from katniss's and peeta's attempts for survival. in this way, there are two very different contexts in which the pearl is given.
but then i thought of something else. what if the pearl in both scenarios represents the same thing? the same control that snow has over katniss. now, hear me out.
when katniss is in district thirteen, she is constantly thinking of running away from everything and the only thing that keeps her trapped is that peeta is still captive in the capitol (mj, 14). coin uses katniss's love for peeta as her own way of controlling katniss (mj, 53). as katniss is talking to haymitch, he reminds her that "he's (peeta) not dead yet" and she responds that "we're still in the game" (mj, 70). katniss eventually finds out that snow only kept peeta alive because he could still be used to control katniss, to break her (mj, 131).
and it works. while katniss is clinging to the pearl and peeta and her desperate attempts to bring him back, snow and coin constantly use peeta and katniss's love of him to control her. snow breaks katniss and katniss follows coin's bidding (until the end, of course). so the pearl, while it represents katniss's efforts to control what happens to peeta, also represents the shackles that katniss unintentionally finds herself in as she and her lover once again become pieces in someone else's game.
This is a very cool analysis but I just wanted to add a tiny little thought into this.
You pointed out, “in this scene, these pearls point to katniss being held captive by snow. the pearls rope katniss's throat like a noose” and then the fact that Katniss basically clung to the pearl Peeta gave her in the arena as a representation of him while he was gone (both physically and then mentally). So in a way, Peeta was her pearl….
And what does a noose do? Chokes you to death. And when Peeta came back from the Capitol in Mockingjay, what did he do?
Katniss and Peeta’s failed reunion could be referred to as Katniss getting strangled by her pearl.
