Sunrise on the Reaping

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of violence, death, and alcohol abuse.

Haymitch Abernathy is the protagonist of Sunrise on the Reaping. Familiar to readers of the original trilogy as Katniss’s hardened mentor, Sunrise on the Reaping delves into Haymitch’s youth, his role in the Second Rebellion, and how the trauma of his own Hunger Games shaped him into the troubled adult he would become.

While The Hunger Games presents a selfish and closed-off Haymitch, the Haymitch of Sunrise on the Reaping starts out as a kindhearted and selfless young man. Haymitch supports his family by brewing white liquor, though he does not drink himself. He recognizes the deep injustice of the Hunger Games but is conditioned into implicit submission, accepting the indefinite continuation of the Capitol’s rule. On the day of his 16th birthday, Haymitch is reaped into the second Quarter Quell.

In the lead-up to the Games, Haymitch alternates between despair and anger. After accepting the inevitability of his own death in the arena, he finds a sense of purpose in protecting the weaker tributes. Haymitch begins to fight back publicly against the Capitol’s exploitation of the tributes through a series of defiant acts.