Sunrise on the Reaping and the gothic turn of the Hunger Games
Can we read Suzanne Collins in the gothic literary tradition?
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
— ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan Poe, 1845. Quoted in Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping, 2025.
In Suzanne Collins' latest prequel to the Hunger Games series, Sunrise on the Reaping, we finally have the full backstory of Haymitch Abernathy, District Twelve’s only living victor and mentor from the original trilogy. Set during the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell, the novel introduces Lenore Dove, Haymitch's love interest, whose character and tragic fate are entwined with the character of the same name in Edgar Allan Poe's iconic poem ‘The Raven’. It’s been a while since I’ve posted here but I have so many thoughts about Suzanne’s gothic turn, so consider this a return of the repressed (‘the repressed’ being me).
Gothic romance and eternal haunting
One of the most striking examples of the gothic tradition in the novel is the fierce and quite macabre romance in the novel between Haymitch and Lenore. She reveals a desire to end her life and he promises her:
"My ghost will hunt down your ghost and never give it a moment's rest." (p. 112.)
This declaration captures the quintessential gothic theme of love persisting beyond death. Unlike conventional romantic expressions, which focus on eternity in a benevolent sense, Haymitch’s words suggest a restless, eternal love: a love that refuses to die even in the afterlife. This echoes classic gothic romances, such as Wuthering Heights, where ghosts haunt the living due to unresolved passion and vengefulness. Haymitch’s line suggests that even if Lenore dies (which, of course, she does), their souls will remain entangled, doomed to pursue one another beyond the grave. The notion of relentless spirits is a motif found in gothic literature, where hauntings serve as manifestations of unresolved trauma: the return of the repressed. In this way, Lenore becomes Haymitch’s own ghost, one that metaphorically lingers over him long after her death, shaping the bitterness and alcoholism we know him for in the original trilogy.
"Nevermore" and the madness of the gothic hero
Collins makes direct references to Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’ throughout the novel, and has Haymitch describe his interpretation of the poem:
"This big old raven shows up at his house and won't leave and whenever he asks the bird anything, it just says 'Nevermore'—which, as you can imagine, just makes him crazier." (p. 117.)
This line functions as both a casual, childlike retelling of Poe’s poem and a foreshadowing of Haymitch’s own descent into madness. The narrator of ‘The Raven’ is consumed by grief, searching for meaning in the meaningless, and ultimately driven mad by an external symbol of his loss. This directly parallels Haymitch’s experience in Sunrise on the Reaping and beyond: he loses Lenore, his family, and any semblance of control over his fate, leaving him to drown in an endless cycle of mourning and self-destruction. The repetition of "Nevermore" in Poe’s poem emphasises the gothic preoccupation with fate and inevitability, themes that resonate throughout The Hunger Games novels but particularly in the prequels. No matter how much Haymitch resists the Capitol, he cannot escape its grasp, just as Poe’s narrator cannot escape the raven’s cryptic, despairing message.
Haymitch’s grief manifests in his encounters with ghosts, blurring the line between reality and hallucination. One of the most overtly gothic moments in the novel is when he describes being haunted:
"Now that Lenore Dove has said her piece, other ghosts, filled with hate and rage, visit me in the night. [...] The terror bleeds into my waking hours. I start sleeping with a knife in my hand." (p. 212.)
This passage echoes gothic fiction’s obsession with the supernatural and psychological torment. The idea that Haymitch is being visited by angry spirits suggests his growing paranoia and deteriorating mental state. The phrase "terror bleeds into my waking hours" implies that his nightmares are not confined to sleep but they infect his daily life, leaving him in a constant state of fear and instability. This mirrors the gothic trope of the unreliable, haunted protagonist, whose grip on reality slips as trauma consumes them. The image of him sleeping with a knife in hand further cements his descent into madness, as he becomes both physically and emotionally trapped in a cycle of violence and paranoia.
His longing for Lenore also takes on a deeply gothic form:
"I lie on [Lenore's] grave and remain there as night falls, dawn breaks, and blackness descends again. I tell her everything and beg her to return to me, to wait for me, to forgive me for all the ways in which I have failed." (p. 211.)
This moment evokes the gothic tradition of mourning lovers, reminiscent of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, who digs up Catherine’s grave in a fit of grief. Haymitch’s vigil at Lenore’s grave encapsulates gothic themes of undying love, self-recrimination, and the inability to move on. His plea for her forgiveness suggests he sees himself as culpable in her death, another common theme in gothic literature where the protagonist is haunted not just by spirits but by their own guilt. The imagery of nightfall, dawn, and darkness returning suggests an endless cycle of despair—there is no closure for Haymitch, only an eternity of suffering, much like Poe’s narrator in ‘The Raven’.
The gothic grotesque
Another moment of particularly gothic horror in Sunrise on the Reaping is the description of Ampert’s gruesome death:
"Ampert's been swallowed up by the Capitol, and his coffin will hold only these pearly white bones." (p. 143.)
The image of Ampert’s skeletal remains, stripped of flesh by the squirrel muttations, recalls the gothic fascination with the grotesque and the macabre. Here, Ampert’s body is consumed in a horrific way, reinforcing the idea that the Capitol is not just a political oppressor but a monstrous, insatiable entity that (literally) swallows up its victims. The mention of "pearly white bones" (a recurring phrase first spoken by Lucy Gray Baird in the first prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) adds an eerie elegance to the description, transforming his remains into a grim but quite lovely relic—much like the gothic trope of the beautiful corpse.
The concept of being "swallowed up" also metaphorically extends to the Capitol’s broader control over its citizens. Ampert is not just physically consumed; his death signifies the complete erasure of his autonomy, leaving behind nothing but remnants—a fate eerily reminiscent of the many nameless tributes whose deaths serve as entertainment for the consumption of the Capitol elite.
Conclusion
By incorporating gothic themes and imagery, Sunrise on the Reaping amplifies the horror of The Hunger Games while deepening its emotional weight. Haymitch’s story is not just one of rebellion, but one of grief, madness, and undying love, following closely in the tradition of gothic literature’s most tortured male protagonists. If I get around to re-reading the series, I’ll be on the lookout for more to add to this analysis—but for now, I am thrilled that Suzanne Collins is in her gothic era.
Bibliography:
Fred Botting, Gothic, 2nd edn. (London: Routledge, 2013).
Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (New York: Scholastic Press, 2020).
Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping (New York: Scholastic Press, 2025).
Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Raven', in The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. by Thomas Ollive Mabbott (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969), pp. 365–372. Poem originally published in The New York Mirror in January 1845.