The Panem Companion
Page 23
Romulus means, literally, of Rome and as Head Peacekeeper, Thread is the main representative of the Capitol in District 12. Romulus and his brother Remus are the mythical twins said to have founded Rome; Romulus was the more brutal of the two and eventually killed his brother over boundary rights. It is said that, as he slew his twin, he declared, “So perish every one that shall hereafter leap over my wall!” The Hunger Games’ Romulus has Gale whipped for trespassing over the fence that borders District 12.
THRESH
DISTRICT 11 TRIBUTE IN THE SEVENTY-FOURTH HUNGER GAMES
Thresh’s name is connected to the District 11 specialty of agriculture. To thresh is to separate grain from a plant, typically with a flail (a type of tool made from sticks and chain). It can also mean to convulse; to flail; to thrash; to beat. A thresher is a very dangerous piece of farming equipment. Like the names of other citizens in District 11, Thresh’s name may be a comment on slave naming, as discussed in chapter eleven; he is named for his job specialization and does not seem to have a surname.
TIGRIS
CAPITOL SHOP OWNER AND FORMER HUNGER GAMES STYLIST
Tigris’ name most likely comes from her tigerlike physical presentation, but Tigris is also the name of one of the two rivers that formed the Cradle of Civilization, where humanity is said to have begun. In the Book of Genesis, the Tigris is the third of four rivers that branch off the river issuing out of the Garden of Eden; for Katniss and her fellow soldiers, Tigris’ shop proves to be a kind of Eden-like safe haven in the middle of a hostile Capitol.
TITUS
DISTRICT 6 TRIBUTE WHO “WENT CRAZY” IN THE ARENA AND RESORTED TO CANNIBALISM IN A PREVIOUS HUNGER GAMES
The name Titus is most likely taken from Emperor Titus. It was during Titus’ short reign that the Coliseum—the stadium for gladiatorial games—was completed; the inaugural games lasted for a hundred days and were said to be extremely elaborate, including gladiatorial combat, fights between wild animals (including elephants and cranes), mock naval battles for which the theater was flooded, horse races, and chariot races. Titus died shortly after the inaugural games’ end.
TRINKET, Effie
A trinket is a small showy ornament, a mere trifle: something that is irrelevant or easily replaceable, as Effie, with her superficial bluster, initially appears to be.
Effie is a nickname for a variety of names, primarily used in the United States and United Kingdom:
•Euphemia: This is the most likely option for the origin of Effie’s name; it means “well spoken.”
•Elizabeth: Elizabeth means the highest authority is my oath, and has been the name of many public officials and queens.
•Florence: The literal meaning of Florence is prosperous. The most prominent Florence is Florence Nightingale, who was a nurse in battle; Effie is technically supposed to aid and guide the tributes in the lead up to battle in their arena.
•Margaret: Margaret means pearl. This is the least likely source for Effie’s name, although it does recall her (misinformed) statement that coal, under enough pressure, turns to pearls—implying that, put under enough “pressure,” the District 12 tributes could be made to resemble that paragon of Capitol values, Effie herself.
TWILL
ESCAPEE FROM DISTRICT 8
Twill’s name is likely derived from the District 8 specialty of textiles. Twill is a type of textile woven with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs.
UNDERSEE, Madge
The name Undersee is most likely a play on the word oversee, meaning to supervise; while Mayor Undersee is mayor, and thus it is his job to supervise his district, he himself is under the thumb of the Capitol and Peacekeepers, making him an “under”seer.
Madge may come from the Madge Wildfire, a class of coal-burning trains in the British Railways era. Coal, of course, is the specialty of District 12. Madge is also associated with fire: she is the only female childhood friend of the Girl On Fire, and meets her death in the firebombing of District 12.
Madge’s name shares a possible root with both Effie and Mags: Margaret, meaning pearl. In Madge’s first appearance, she is dressed in white, the color of a pearl.
Madge is also the surname of bird expert Steve Madge (which seems appropriate, given that Madge is the source of Katniss’ mockingjay pin), and mollusk expert Edward Henry Madge.
VENIA
MEMBER OF KATNISS’ PREP TEAM
Venia’s name may be derived from the famous Roman phrase veni vidi vici, or “I came, I saw, I conquered,” which is most frequently attributed to Julius Caesar. It’s also possible that Venia is derived from the word venial, meaning “forgivable”; it is the prep team, including Venia, who first show Katniss that the citizens of the Capitol are also, largely, products of their culture, and are worthy of forgiveness despite their complicity in the districts’ oppression.
WIRESS
DISTRICT 3 TRIBUTE IN THE QUARTER QUELL
Wiress may be meant as a female form of the word wire, and thus be derived from the District 3 specialty of electronics/technology. Wiress’ name may also be a portmanteau of “wire” and “mistress,” suggesting that she is a master/mistress of electrical engineering. As Wiress is a part of the rebellion plot, she is technically a “resistance wire” (a type of electrical wire). The idea of wires being connective also has resonance for her character, since she, together with Beetee and Mags, is one of the first people Katniss is interested in allying with for the Quarter Quell. Wire comes from the Latin viere, which means to weave together, further suggesting the bond that she helps to forge between Katniss and the rest of the conspirators.
WOOF
DISTRICT 8 TRIBUTE IN THE QUARTER QUELL
Woof is the term for the threads that run crosswise in a woven fabric, at right angles to the warp threads, or for the texture of a fabric generally, and is most likely derived from the District 8 specialty of textiles.
Acknowledgments
Much like the Mockingjay in the Second Rebellion, The Panem Companion could not have succeeded without the help of people more skilled (in Book Publishing Things, not battle strategy) than myself.
The biggest thanks that I can give, and I’ll say them a million times over, is to Meg Loeb, for spending nights with me making the original version of the “Map of Panem” and the “Etymology of Panem” and for parsing out Finnick Odair Feelings and Cinnalove. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Meg; you are the absolute best and I love you!
I also can’t thank Savanna New and Adam Spunberg of Hunger Games Fireside Chat enough, for noticing the Panem map and inviting Meg and me to be on their very first podcast and for introducing me to Leah Wilson at Smart Pop Books to make The Panem Companion happen. Thank you so, so much! You’re huge assets to the Hunger Games fandom and we’re all lucky to have the Fireside Chat and your enthusiasm!
Massive thanks are also due to Shylah Addante, for her math skillz (with a z) and for her maturity and leadership in the fandom; the staffs of Down With The Capitol, The Hob, Victor’s Village, and Mockingjay.net, for featuring the announcement for The Panem Companion and for their enthusiasm about the project and the map; Liz Soehngen, for explaining science ideas and why my own ideas are Not Real Science; and Eli, Puel, Mith, Ashley Irving, Dan Sabato, Jenn Nguyen, and Katybeth Mannix, for fueling interesting content through essays, discussion, questioning, and enthusiastically engaged reading. Thank you to everyone at Smart Pop (Leah Wilson, Leigh Camp, Heather Butterfield, and everyone else!) for taking a chance on The Panem Companion and taking the book from a fan idea on a Livejournal blog to an actual, physical book—one that’s in the Library of Congress and everything!
Thank you to the Hunger Games fandom, for being one of the loudest, most unabashed, most excited
and energetic fandoms that I’ve ever seen, and for treating your source material with so much love and respect.
And a huge thank-you to my family for supporting me.
About the Author
V. Arrow graduated from Know College in 2008 with degrees in history and creative writing, specializing in twentieth-century pop culture and young adult lit. Under another name, she has previously published at Pop Matters, The One Love, Tommy2.net, and The Hollywood Reporter. She believes that pop culture affects, reflects, and informs all aspects of daily life in Western culture and that it is perhaps the most crucial form of media expression to analyze and discuss.
Endnotes
i.
“A CONVERSATION: Questions and Answers, Suzanne Collins,” Scholastic.com, accessed December 5, 2011, http://www.scholastic.com/thehungergames/media/qanda.pdf.
ii.
Karin Zeitvogel, “Oil will run out 100 years before new fuels developed: study.” AFP, November 15, 2010, accessed December 7, 2011, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jv-QP6noOoD7u3wQqJG3xyvon-2Q?docId=CNG.c3a7214bcfe6083ee696ade4d9402691.6d1.
iii.
E. Rignot et al., Geophysical Research Letters, March 2011, accessed May 13, 2012, http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011GL046583.shtml.
iv.
James G. Titus and Charlie Richman, Maps of Lands Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise: Modeled Elevations along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, accessed December 7, 2011, http://web.archive.org/web/20110602190057/http:/www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/downloads/maps.pdf.
v.
Rob Young and Orrin Pilkey, “OPINION: How High Will Seas Rise?: Get Ready for Seven Feet,” Yale Environment 260: Opinion, Analysis, Reporting, and Debate, January 14, 2010, accessed December 11, 2011, http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2230.
vi.
Michael D. Lemonick, “ANALYSIS: The Secret of Sea Level Rise: It Will Vary Greatly by Region,” Yale Environment 260: Opinion, Analysis, Reporting, and Debate, March 22, 2010, accessed December 7, 2011, http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2255.
vii.
Ibid.
viii.
Steven Dutch, “If You’re Going To Sink California, Do It Right,” Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, July 8, 1998, accessed December 6, 2011, http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/pseudosc/sinkcal.htm.
ix.
Ibid.
x.
Young and Pilkey.
xi.
Jay Hambidge, Dynamic Symmetry: The Greek Vase (Reprint of original 1920 Yale University Press edition), (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2003), 19–29.
xii.
Richard H. Carson, “The Golden Mean: Context: The American Experience,” Planetizen: The Planning and Development Network, January 27, 2003, accessed May 13, 2012, http://troymi.gov/futures/Research/Image%20and%20Feel/Golden%20Mean.pdf.
xiii.
Susan Dominus, “Suzanne Collins’ War Stories for Kids,” The New York Times Magazine, April 8, 2011, accessed June 30, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/magazine/mag-10collins-t.html.
xiv.
Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis Guggenheim, 2006: Paramount Classics, as quoted on “Sea Level Rise,” accessed December 8, 2011, http://ninepoints.pbworks.com/w/page/9497558/Sea%20level%20rise.
xv.
Young and Pilkey.
xvi.
“Senate Vote #21 (May 3, 1921),” govtrack.us, accessed May 4, 2012, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/67-1/s21.
xvii.
Glenn Beck, as quoted in “Fear and Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News,” Media Matters Network, May 21, 2008, accessed May 4, 2012, http://mediamattersaction.org/reports/fearandloathing/online_version.
xviii.
Terry Martin, “The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing,” The Journal of Modern History, 70, no. 4 (1998): 813–861, accessed May 5, 2012, http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/235168?uid=3739664&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21100771631831.
xix.
Suzanne Collins, with Karen Valby and Gary Ross, “Team ‘Hunger Games’ talks: Author Suzanne Collins and director Gary Ross on their allegiance to each other, and their actors—EXCLUSIVE,” Entertainment Weekly, April 7, 2011, accessed June 30, 2012, http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/04/07/hunger-games-suzanne-collins-gary-ross-exclusive/.
xx.
Shannon Riffe, “Why the Casting of The Hunger Games Matters,” Racialicious. March 25, 2011, accessed June 30, 2011, http://www.racialicious.com/2011/03/25/why-the-casting-of-the-hunger-games-matters/.
xxi.
David Freund, “What Our Experts Say: What is the Difference Between Race and Ethnicity?” RACE—The Power of an Illusion, PBS California Newsreel, 2003, accessed June 30, 2012, http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-experts-03-02.htm.
xxii.
Dalton Conley, “What Our Experts Say: What is the Difference Between Race and Ethnicity?” RACE—The Power of an Illusion, PBS California Newsreel, 2003, accessed June 30, 2012, http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-experts-03-02.htm.
xxiii.
Nancy Jervis, “What Is a Culture?” New York State Education Department, 2006, accessed December 31, 2011, http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/grade3/whatisa.html.
xxiv.
Ibid. (Qtd: John Bodley. Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States and the Global System, 1994.)
xxv.
Dr. Grace Kao, “Group images and possible selves among adolescents: Linking stereotypes to expectations by race and ethnicity,” Sociological Forum, Vol 15(3), Sep 2000, 407-430, doi: 10.1023/A:1007572209544.
xxvi.
“What is White Privilege?” The White Privilege Conference. http://www.whiteprivilegeconference.com/white_privilege.html.
xxvii.
Barack Obama, “Economic Speech in Kansas,” Osawatomie, Kansas, December 6, 2011.
xxviii.
G. William Domhoff, “Wealth, Income, and Power,” Who Rules America?, 2012, accessed January 19, 2012, http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html.
xxix.
Ibid.
xxx.
Dorothy E. Roberts, “Welfare and the Problem of Black Citizenship,” 105 Yale Law Journal 1563–1602, April 1996, accessed January 19, 2012, http://academic.udayton.edu/race/04needs/welfare01.htm.
xxxi.
Ibid.
xxxii.
Ibid.
xxxiii.
Sue W, “Four Things You Don’t Know About Peeta,” Forever Young Adult, May 12, 2011, accessed December 16, 2011, http://www.foreveryoungadult.com/2011/05/12/four-things-you-dont-know-about-peeta/.
xxxiv.
Alexandra Guarnaschelli, “s04e01: Extreme Heat and Meat,” The Next Iron Chef, 49:26–49:29, Food Network, October 30, 2011.
xxxv.
Camille Dodero, “We Have Obtained a Copy of MTV’s Standard Real World Cast-Member Contract,” The Village Voice, August 1, 2011, accessed January 30, 2012, http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/08/mtv_real_world_contract.php.
xxxvi.
Camille Dodero, “Meet the Original JWoww and Snooki, Would-Be Stars of Bridge & Tunnel,” The Village Voice, July 27, 2011, accessed January 29, 2012, http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-07-27/news/mtv-bridge-tunnel-original-jersey-shore/3/.
xxxvii.
Dodero, “We Have Obtained a Copy.”
xxxviii.
Matthew Zoller Seitz, “‘Deadliest Catch’: Reality TV’s first on-screen death,” Salon, July 13, 2010, accessed January 30, 2012, http://www.salon.com/2010/07/13/deadliest_catch_finale/.
xxxix.
Allex Conley, “Entertainment News: ‘Real World’ Star Sues MTV Over Alleged Rape: MTV ‘Real World’ Star Raped During Show?” Newzy, via E! Online, October 28, 2011, accessed January 30, 2012, http://www.newsy.com/videos/mtv-real-world-star-raped-during-show/.
xl.
“Why Jersey Shore is NOT Okay,” Amplify, October 14, 2010, accessed April 8, 2012,
http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/YoungStar_OneLove/2010/10/14/Why-Jersey-Shore-Is-NOT-Okay.
xli.
Austin, Cline, “The Ethics of Reality TV: Should We Watch?” About.com: Agnosticism/Atheism. accessed January 30, 2012, http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/phil/blphil_eth_realitytv.htm.
xlii.
Dodero, “Meet the Original Jwoww.”
xliii.
Cline, “The Ethics of Reality TV.”
xliv.
Ibid.
xlv.
Dodero, “Meet the Original Jwoww.”
xlvi.
Marc Lynch, “Reality is Not Enough: The Politics of Arab Reality TV,” TBS Journal, Middle East Centre, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. 2006, accessed 30 January 30, 2012, http://www.tbsjournal.com/lynch.html.
xlvii.
Matthew Labash, “When A Kiss Is Not Just A Kiss: Reality TV Comes to the Arab World,” The Weekly Standard Magazine, October 18, 2004, accessed January 30, 2012, http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/752xbofx.asp?pg=1.