The Panem Companion

by V. Arrow

  Proprietary figurative name.

  The most straightforward meaning of Foxface’s name is the one that inspires Katniss to name her Foxface in the first place: her face looks like a fox’s. As per traditional Western fable tropes, she is also “clever as a fox” or “sly as a fox.”

  Foxberry is another name for the lingonberry, but this is not the only connection in our culture between foxes and berries. Aesop’s fable “The Fox and the Rowan Berries” also pairs the two, and is a possible origin for Foxface’s name:

  The fox who longed for berries, beholds with pain

  The tempting clusters were too high to gain;

  Grieved in his heart he forced a careless smile,

  And cried, “They’re sharp and hardly worth my while.”lxxxviii

  Related proverbs: “Sour, said the fox about rowan berries” (the origin of the phrase “sour grapes”) and “The fox says of the mulberries when he cannot get at them; they are not good at all.” Foxface, too, found that berries were not good (given that, instead of feeding her, the nightlock berries she eats poison her).

  GLIMMER

  DISTRICT 1 TRIBUTE IN THE SEVENTY-FOURTH HUNGER GAMES

  To glimmer is to shine faintly or unsteadily; to give off a subdued unsteady reflection; to appear indistinctly with a faintly luminous quality. This name suggests the District 1 specialty of luxury goods but may also reflect both Glimmer’s beauty and her early death in the Games.

  GLOSS

  DISTRICT 1 TRIBUTE IN THE QUARTER QUELL

  In the verb form, to gloss is to make attractive or acceptable by deception or superficial treatment; the noun form means a surface shininess or luster; a cosmetic that adds shine or luster; a superficially or deceptively attractive appearance. Both definitions seem appropriate to the popular Career from District 1, and suggest not only District 1’s luxury goods specialty but also the brutality that lies beneath the Career tributes’ surface appearances. A gloss can also be a brief notation explaining the meaning of a word or wording in a text, suggesting perhaps that Gloss’ characterization provides a brief explanation of the culture of Careers or of victors.

  GREASY SAE

  DISTRICT 12 RESIDENT

  Proprietary name.

  Interestingly, the name Sae is a folk derivation of Suzanne. Greasy Sae is there from the beginning of the series, is one of the few citizens of District 12 to escape to District 13 successfully, and is among the first to return home, following Katniss and Katniss’ journey to its end. Could Greasy Sae be a subtle way for Suzanne Collins to insert herself into the story?

  HAWTHORNE

  The last name Hawthorne may refer to American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, who often dealt with the theme of the inherent evil and sin of humanity and whose works often have moral messages. Gale’s black-and-white worldview and deeply entrenched moral code are similar to those reflected in Hawthorne’s works.

  Hawthorne may also refer to a genus of shrubs and trees also known as hawthorn or thornapple, which has fruits with stone seeds similar to the ones in peaches and plums but also bears thorns. Like his possible namesake, then, Gale Hawthorne can provide sustenance and sweetness—if you can get through the harsh exterior first.

  The giggling fangirl in me insists that I also share the traditional Scottish saying, “Ne’er cast a cloot til Mey’s oot,” which basically boils down to “Never take your clothes off until the hawthorn’s in bloom.” Gale did kiss all those girls on the slag heap, after all . . .

  Gale

  A gale is a very strong wind, and here, in the case of Gale Hawthorne and his revolutionary tendencies, may refer to the winds of change.

  Another possible point of origin for Gale’s name is Richard Nelson Gale, a British soldier who served in both WWI and WWII. He famously came away from his war experience with a distrust for weapons-heavy battle strategy—something that, of course, Gale shows expertise in, but that proves to be his undoing, as it ultimately severs his ties to Katniss.

  Alternately, Gale may come from nightingale. Traditionally in Western literature, nightingales have represented sorrow or lament.

  A nightingale appears in the Middle English debate poem “The Owl and the Nightingale.” In the poem, the nightingale, who is either the antagonist or the antihero, continuously insults the owl, despite being of a lower class and appearance—key characteristics of Gale’s. The poem itself offers no concrete resolution for the argument the two birds have in the poem, much as in Mockingjay, there is no concrete resolution to Gale and Katniss’ story.

  Unmated male nightingales sing most loudly at dawn—just as Gale most often hunts, with Katniss, at daybreak—as a way to mark and protect their personal territory and to attempt to attract a mate.

  Hazelle

  Hazelle may be derived from hazel, a genus of flowering shrubs. Unlike most other plants, hazel plants are either specifically male or specifically female. The plant has some medicinal uses; extracts from its bark and leaves are soothing and restorative, used in after-shave lotions and lotions for treating bruises and insect bites. In the same comforting vein, Hazelle is the only positive mother figure in the Hunger Games series, and one of the few adults that Katniss professes to respect.

  Posy

  Posy’s name is not actually a flower, the way Rue and Prim’s are. However, Posy’s name is still aligned etymologically with those of the other young girls in the Hunger Games: posy is a term for a small bouquet.

  Posies have existed in some form since at least medieval times, when they were carried or worn around the head or bodice to mask the unpleasant smells of the time, and are mentioned in the macabre children’s rhyme “Ring Around the Rosy,” which is about the mass death of the black plague. Katniss recounts that Posy suffered a very serious illness in early childhood, which could be the inspiration for her name.

  The meaning of posies in the language of flowers is symbolically to create happiness wherever they go, which does indeed seem to be Posy’s role as a precursor to the idea of “the new Panem” or a post-war Panem, especially in Mockingjay.

  Rory

  Rory means, literally, the red king in Irish Gaelic. One potential derivation for Rory’s name is Rory O’Moore, an Irish activist and the principal organizer of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. After having more than 180 family members killed by English forces, Rory O’Moore became an enemy of Queen Elizabeth I of England, head of Ireland’s governing body at the time; Rory himself isn’t mentioned much in Mockingjay, but his brother spearheaded the migration from District 12 and helped to plan and execute attacks on the Capitol, which certainly ties the Hunger Games’ Rory to the rebellion.

  Vick

  Vick may be short for Victor, which is really interesting, all things Panem being considered.

  However, it’s also possible—and perhaps more plausible—that Vick is derived from victual, meaning food supplies or provisions of food. Victual stems from the Latin victus, or sustenance, which would certainly have had great value in the Hawthorne family.

  HEAVENSBEE, Plutarch

  “Heavensbee” is a portmanteau and proprietary name. In southern vernacular, the phrase “Heavens be!” is a mild expression of surprise. But the name could also come from a line in the “Life of Pericles” (part of Parallel Lives), written by Heavensbee’s namesake, the historical Plutarch:

  Diopeithes introduced a bill that those who did not recognize the gods, or who taught theories of the heavens, be prosecuted.

  A Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Platonic philosopher best known for his Parallel Lives and Moralia, the historical Plutarch was born to a Greek family under the name Ploutarchos, and was renamed upon becoming a Roman citizen. This may suggest that the Hunger Games’ Plutarch came from somewhere outside the Capitol and took a Capitol name to avoid suspicion as he plotted the Second Rebellion; more likely, however, it is the historical Plutarch’s work, not his background, that served as the inspiration for the Hunger Games’ character.

  The historica
l Plutarch focused most of his adult life on pointing out the moral deficiencies and inadequacies of Roman officials. His best-known work is Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, many government officials, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving Lives contains twenty-three pairs, each with one Greek Life and one Roman Life, as well as four unpaired single Lives—including Lives of Caesar, Coriolanus, Romulus, Cato, and Brutus. Plutarch was not concerned with the accurate recording of history so much as the influence of character, good or bad, on the lives and destinies of men.

  Similarly, the Hunger Games’ Plutarch worked to expose (and depose, in the case of Coriolanus Snow!) corrupt officials. He did this much in the same way the historical Plutarch did: just as Plutarch was interested in preserving and telling people’s stories through popular writings (i.e., the Lives), Plutarch Heavensbee is interested in displaying and telling people’s stories through reality TV programming (the Games, his proposed singing show).

  JACKSON

  SHARPSHOOTER FOR DISTRICT 13 SQUAD 451

  Jackson’s name is most likely taken from Andrew Jackson, whose nickname was “The Sharpshooter.”

  LAVINIA

  THE REDHEADED AVOX GIRL IN THE HUNGER GAMES

  Lavinia means, literally, woman of Rome. Lavinia is a character in Virgil’s Aeneid, the only daughter of the king.lxxxix The prospect of her marriage to Aeneas, which would merge the Trojans and Romans, is opposed on both sides and causes a war; the capture of Lavinia and the boy she is running away with is Katniss’ first real brush with the tensions between the districts and the Capitol that later lead to war.

  A Lavinia also appears in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and she suffers the same horrific fate as the Hunger Games’ Lavinia: she is captured during a “royal hunt” and violently attacked. To prevent her from being able to tell of what she endured, her tongue is cut out. Lavinia later writes the names of her attackers in the dirt using a stick held in her mouth.xc

  LEEG 1, LEEG 2

  DISTRICT 13 SOLDIERS; PART OF THE STAR SQUAD

  Leeg is a contraction of the Old Dutch lithag (which itself stems from the Proto-Germanic liþugaz); in Dutch, lithag means “empty, hollow; listless, lethargic.”

  However, a more likely origin, given Leeg 1 and 2’s positions as career soldiers, is league or legion, possibly from Roman Legion, a part of the Imperial army formed of elite heavy infantry and recruited exclusively from Roman citizens. A singular soldier of the Legion was called a legionary. Legionaries underwent especially rigorous training; discipline was the base of the army’s success, and the soldiers were relentlessly and constantly trained with weapons and especially with drill.

  LEEVY

  DISTRICT 12 COAL MINER

  The name Leevy is likely a derivative of levy but may also derive from Leah. A levy is a legal seizure of property to satisfy a tax debt; it’s also a military term meaning to conscript troops for service, which may relate to the conscription of Seam adults to work in the mines. Leah means weary.

  LYME

  COMMANDER OF THE REBELS IN DISTRICT 2

  Lyme may derive from Lyme disease, a bacterial infection spread through tick bites. Left untreated, symptoms can involve weakness or paralysis of the joints, heart, and central nervous system; Lyme’s name may reflect the effect on the Capitol of the crippling blow it suffers at the battle at the Nut, under Lyme’s command.

  MAGS

  Mags may be a nickname for Margaret (or Margarita), which means pearl. Madge’s and potentially Effie’s names also share this same root, and Peeta gives a pearl to Katniss as a symbol of his affection (and possibly in wry recollection of Effie’s misguided statement during the Seventy-fourth Games that putting coal under pressure creates a pearl) in Catching Fire . . . making the pearl—a beautiful, rare thing hidden in an ugly, hard-to-open, hard-to-find package—one of the Hunger Games’ most-used symbols, alongside fire, berries, and roses, and, of course, the mockingjay.

  In traditional Western literary tropes, the pearl is used to symbolize wisdom, integrity, and spiritual guidance, an apt association given Mags’ longtime role as mentor for District 4 and her steadfast calm during the Quarter Quell. In astrology and Eastern symbolism, the pearl is a lunar symbol, also representing water and women.xci (Also interesting to note: rural American folk wisdom states that for every pearl present on a woman’s wedding day, the husband will give her a reason to cry.)

  Because Mags’ weapon of choice (besides napping!) is the awl, a sharp, needlelike instrument, and/or the fishhook, it is possible that Mags’ name came from Goethe’s poem “Margaret at her Spinning-Wheel,” about a woman who sings of lost love:

  The world’s wide all

  Is turned to gall.

  Alas, my head

  Is well-nigh crazed;

  My feeble mind

  Is sore amazed.

  My heart is sad, . . .

  I’d sink in death!

  MARTIN

  MURDERED CHILD FROM DISTRICT 11

  Martin, derived from the Latin Martinus, means son of Mars or servant of war. Based on the literal meaning, Martin is an unlikely name for the murdered, disabled child that Rue once knew in District 11. However, as discussed in chapter eleven, the name Martin may have been chosen more for its historical connotation; it also belonged, most famously, to Martin Luther King, Jr., who represented and stood peaceably for the ideals that the Capitol, and their so-called Peacekeepers, has erased from the nation of Panem. Like his possible namesake, Martin was murdered for resisting oppression—Rue recounts that Martin was killed for taking a pair of glasses they were given to assist in their work, and Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated while on a trip to support African American sanitation workers who were striking in Memphis.

  MARVEL

  DISTRICT 1 TRIBUTE IN THE SEVENTY-FOURTH HUNGER GAMES

  A marvel is something that evokes surprise, admiration, wonder, or astonishment. Marvel’s name, as with Glimmer, Gloss, and Cashmere, denotes his status as a citizen of District 1 by obliquely referencing their district’s specialization in luxury: the goods produced in District 1 are meant to be “marveled” at, or admired.

  MASON, Johanna

  DISTRICT 7 TRIBUTE IN THE QUARTER QUELL

  Although Mason generally refers to stonelayers when derived from French, the Old English mason means to make. Considering that Johanna is from District 7 and their specialty is lumber and forestry, it’s unlikely that the connection to stonemasonry is the inspiration for her last name. Given her involvement in the Quell plot and the Second Rebellion, it is more probable that her surname refers to the Freemasons, an international fraternal organization sometimes referred to as a secret society.

  Freemasonry “uses the metaphors of operative stonemasons’ tools and implements . . . to convey what has been described by both Masons and critics as ‘a system of values and beliefs veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.’”xcii They are also dedicated to the principles of liberty, equality, and the pursuit of truth, just like Panem’s rebels—like Johanna.

  Another potential origin is the mathematical Mason’s Rule, which deals with the transfer of equilibrium in a branch of engineering and mathematics called control theory.

  Johanna is a German name, and is different from the English Joanna in both origin and meaning. Joanna means God is gracious. Johanna, however, means God is merciful or God’s merciful gift—ironic, given Johanna’s original Games strategy, as related by Katniss: show no mercy.

  One possible inspiration for the name is Johanna Sigurðardóttir, the current prime minister of Iceland. When she was sworn in to the office on February 1, 2009, she became both Iceland’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay head of government of the modern era. Back in the 1990s, when she lost a bid to head the party, she lifted her fist and declared, “My time will come!”—a phrase that became a popular Icelandic expression.

  “Visions of Jo
hanna” is also Bob Dylan’s most critically praised song, which one critic described as “stranded between extremes—total freedom and abject slavery.”xciii

  MELLARK, Peeta

  Mellark is likely a portmanteau and proprietary name. It could find its origin in lark, a type of songbird, which could relate to the pointed mention in The Hunger Games that, when Katniss sings, “all the birds stopped to listen.”THG301 In old Europe, lark tongue was considered a highly prized delicacy; certainly Peeta’s speech is of high value to the rebellion. Additionally, the Oxford English Dictionary lists Mell as meaning, to speak, talk. Of birds: to sing. Suzanne Collins has stated that one of Peeta’s intrinsic gifts is a “facility for language,”xciv and that speech is “how Peeta navigates his world.”xcv

  Interestingly, it should be noted that larks have traditionally been used in Western literature in several of the same ways as mockingjays are in the Hunger Games trilogy—in particular, as harbingers of change or markers of ingenuity. Western literature also uses the lark to symbolize merriment, as the lark sang hymns at the gates of heaven and announced the coming of the day. Because of the bird’s boundless energy, the lark is also used as a symbol of hope, happiness, good fortune, and creativity—all things that Peeta symbolizes in the Hunger Games series!

  Peeta is a homophone for pita, a type of bread—appropriate given that the Mellark family’s vocation is baking, in which Peeta personally seems to take a genuine interest. Peeta is also a Dutch derivation of Peter, meaning the rock, which is a role that Peeta plays for Katniss. Despite Katniss’ best efforts, she does indeed need his grounding to stay alive, sane, and—eventually—happy.