Hunger Games: Mockingjay Ending (SPOILERS)

[quill_begotten]

When I came across a thread asking about which books have made you cry I couldn't help but remember how the ending to the Hunger Games series left me feeling really depressed. Did this happen to anyone else? After speeding through the books in a couple of days and spending all my free time to read them I couldn't help but feel like I just wanted to go back to sleep and forget that I'd just spent all my time reading the series to end up feeling so morose. Maybe it was childish of me to feel so let down but I always find myself highly effected by a character's struggles and downfalls. I hated the fact that Peeta had changed and that things weren't ever going to feel the same again. I hated that he was no longer his old self by the end of the book and I hated how it left me feeling. Katniss and Peeta ended up together, which was supposed to be a happy thing but it just wasn't the same. And after all the violent deaths of people they cared about it gave me the sense that in the end they were together but would never be able to truly be happy together and the world is just a dark depressing place so don't get your hopes up. I don't know if I'm making sense here it's harder to say than I thought it would be. Maybe what I can't understand is why it was essential for Peeta to go through all that he went through, forget Katniss, and end up so changed? To me it feels like at least if he had ended up the same person he was before he was taken and tortured that they would have felt like they had more of a reason to live and want to be together. Maybe that wasn't the point?

Can someone help me wrap my head around this because I could never understand the point of ending the book like that. I felt like throughout the book there was supposed to be this feeling that the little people, the ones getting pushed around, could prevail. That even if there wasn't exactly "hope," there was a sense that they're going to make it through because there's someone out there fighting for the people and standing up for what's right. But in the end Katniss loses her sister, friends, and loses the Peeta that she used to know and there's a feeling of the world is just a screwed up place and we'll always have to be on guard against anything that it might shove in our faces because even though we made it through some horrific times already there will always be more. Maybe that was the whole point to begin with? Maybe I need to reread the series more in depth this time? Am I missing something? Can anyone help me to understand and appreciate the ending instead of cursing its existence?

[Booklover22]

As we know life is not fair. I believe that is what the author was portraying. I felt the same way you did, but I know I wouldn't have loved the series if there were not any disasters that made me cry. It seemed more real to me this way. I also believe that Peeta being tortured is the reason Katniss chose him instead of Gale. Hope this helps you feel different.

[alex_]

Wow. I thought I was the only one that felt depressed about the ending. I literally wanted to cry and wished I have never read the series. The ending is just terrible, I mean she loses everyone her sister, mother, Gale, and more. Even though her and Peeta are together and they have a child, they can't forget the past and even though they are there for each other, it isn't enough. I agree with you that's a depressing ending, I mean what did the author want us to take away from this. Maybe Katniss, Peeta, and everyone else who fought this war were the sacrifice, so that future generations can live a happier and brighter future. To me the ending conflicts with the idea that pain is temporary, because how it ended sounds like Peeta and Katniss will never get over the war, until their deaths. I love the first two books, but the last half of the third book is so hopeless, it's unbearable to read.

[quill_begotten]

Wow. I thought I was the only one that felt depressed about the ending. I literally wanted to cry and wished I have never read the series. The ending is just terrible, I mean she loses everyone her sister, mother, Gale, and more. Even though her and Peeta are together and they have a child, they can't forget the past and even though they are there for each other, it isn't enough. I agree with you that's a depressing ending, I mean what did the author want us to take away from this. Maybe Katniss, Peeta, and everyone else who fought this war were the sacrifice, so that future generations can live a happier and brighter future. To me the ending conflicts with the idea that pain is temporary, because how it ended sounds like Peeta and Katniss will never get over the war, until their deaths. I love the first two books, but the last half of the third book is so hopeless, it's unbearable to read.

This is exactly how I felt about it, I felt like I had wasted all that time getting swept up in the story then felt over the top depressed when it all ended. I'm pretty sure I actually just curled up in a ball in my bed and stayed there for the rest of the day. The whole thing about Peeta and Katniss seeming like they'd never forget the past and be able to actually enjoy anything in their lives because of all the horrific things they'd witnessed and gone through was just like the final straw that shattered any hope that was left. Yes, it definitely didn't end with the message that pain is temporary, it ended with the message that life is mostly pain and the best you can do is strive to survive, which is futile anyways because at some point you'll die of sickness or old age even if you're not killed. Maybe you're on to something there about them being the sacrifice, Katniss was the "face" of the rebellion and volunteered herself in the beginning to save her sister so from the start she was already one to sacrifice herself for others. I can't remember feeling like future generations were going to have such a better life though. Maybe my disappointment at how their lives turned out is overshadowing my memory of other events. Didn't Snow die and he smiled at Katniss or gave her some sort of sign when they were executing him? Was that not as if to say there's always going to be people taking charge like him and continuing a cycle built on the same type of systems for selfish measures? Or am I just completely off track here, my memory is foggy in this area.

@Booklover22 I agree that when things are more realistic it gives them more credibility, etc. but the end of a book is the final connecting message as well. Other things that happened in the books were realistic, but ending the series in that way seems to me like it must be for more reasons than just to be realistic. Why exactly, however, is what I don't understand.

[pagenumber394]

I loved Mockingjay the most.

Life is not always fair. Things do not always turn out the way we want them too. I think it is real, raw, and dark. My heart broke so many times during this book.

What they did to Peeta was pure savage. What they did to Prim was just soul crushing.

There is evil in the world, and this book did not shy away from that fact.

[quill_begotten]

I loved Mockingjay the most.

Life is not always fair. Things do not always turn out the way we want them too. I think it is real, raw, and dark. My heart broke so many times during this book.

What they did to Peeta was pure savage. What they did to Prim was just soul crushing.

There is evil in the world, and this book did not shy away from that fact.

This is true! Maybe personal history plays a part in how one feels about sad endings. I think I like to feel that people have hope for brighter futures because of my own experiences in childhood, and I guess for me that holds true for book characters as well.

[Reprah68]

Very depressing ending. Makes me wonder if the author has experience in war zones or with PTSD. The traumatic events could not lead to anything else but scared individuals. The whole culture was one of strife and lack of control of one's environment or fate. While at first I felt betrayed by the third book - also having read the series straight through- upon reflection I think I might need to re- read without the anticipation of seeing what happens next and reach deeper into the events. I also believe this is written for young adults, who love torment and angst in their readings.

[quill_begotten]

@Reprah68
That's an interesting observation, I wonder if she does have any military experience or associations. I think a reread is in order for me too!

[Reprah68]

I checked out her biography and it appears her father was deployed to Vietnam. Very telling.

[quill_begotten]

I checked out her biography and it appears her father was deployed to Vietnam. Very telling.

Wow! I definitely want to check it out again. Knowing that should help me put things into perspective.

[RussetDivinity]

I heard a lot of people complaining about the ending, and I didn't really understand why. Now that I've read this post, their complaints make more sense, but I still think the ending was satisfying. Maybe and Katniss and Peeta didn't get a happily ever after, but this series wasn't a romance series. It had romance in it, but it was (to me, at least) much more about the struggle to survive. After going through so much and losing so many, I don't think either of them could really have a proper happily ever after. That would have thrown me off, while seeing the two of them broken but still surviving fit more with the feeling of the series. After all, a theme I found in the books was about trying to survive the worst because there's the hope that there will be a better future but also because surviving is just what humans do.

And in the end, there was hope. Katniss made a better world for her children, and in the final scene, the children are dancing and carefree in a way she and Prim (and Peeta and Gale and Rue and all the others) were never able to be. The ending can be depressing, but there's still hope in it.

[kingston_bailey]

The ending... you are not alone

[mandap24]

I heard a lot of people complaining about the ending, and I didn't really understand why. Now that I've read this post, their complaints make more sense, but I still think the ending was satisfying. Maybe and Katniss and Peeta didn't get a happily ever after, but this series wasn't a romance series. It had romance in it, but it was (to me, at least) much more about the struggle to survive. After going through so much and losing so many, I don't think either of them could really have a proper happily ever after. That would have thrown me off, while seeing the two of them broken but still surviving fit more with the feeling of the series. After all, a theme I found in the books was about trying to survive the worst because there's the hope that there will be a better future but also because surviving is just what humans do.

And in the end, there was hope. Katniss made a better world for her children, and in the final scene, the children are dancing and carefree in a way she and Prim (and Peeta and Gale and Rue and all the others) were never able to be. The ending can be depressing, but there's still hope in it.

I think you make an amazing point! I strongly agree that this book was about surviving not romance. I feel like some disappointed with the ended looked too much into the romance than instead of the survival of the characters.
To me the ending fit perfectly, it's not what the reader particularly wanted (especially with Prim) but it was so real and it's hard to get that out of young adult books these days. I thought Collins did an amazing job that way.

Seeing that she had family in Vietnam does give some insight into why she took the series in the direction that she did. War doesn't have happy endings.

The ending message does seem that there is hope. The older generation suffers to make the world a better place for future generations, I think this is a great symbol of the true aspirations societies should have in their foundations.

[RMcCain]

Having a out doors family that does live in the woods and understands hardships of many different kinds loved the books. My children even played parts out minus the killing on other people but would go out and make forts and fish and even learn how to shot a bow. Life isn't all fun and games. My family as a whole realized we take so much for granted . I love the books even though I was like ( oh no they didn't ) in many places in the book. Absolutely loved the books.

[Hannaa_Campbell]

I thought it was a perfect ending. Like the ending to 'Breaking Bad'. I, personally, wouldn't change a thing. However it was a very... emotional book, to say the least. I can certainly see where you are coming from, though. Nice review of the book by the way, very well written