Mockingjay, published in 2010 by Scholastic, is the third novel in Suzanne Collins’s bestselling Hunger Games series. The series follows the life of Katniss Everdeen, an adolescent girl living in the futuristic dystopia of Panem. Mockingjay focuses on the civil war between the 13 districts of Panem and the oppressive government of the Capitol. Through Katniss’s experiences in the war, Collins explores cycles of oppression, the meaning of love in wartime, and the power of propaganda.

Like its precursors in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay achieved massive commercial success. It was adapted into two films in the corresponding film series: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014) and Mockingjay Part 2 (2015). Mockingjay was named a 2010 Best YA Book of the Year by Kirkus and Publishers’ Weekly.

This guide refers digital version of the 2010 Scholastic Press edition.

Content Warning: Mockingjay contains graphic depictions of violence and war. This guide also contains discussions of sexual exploitation, suicidal ideation, and drug and alcohol abuse.

Plot Summary

Mockingjay begins during a war between the 13 districts of Panem and the Capitol. Katniss Everdeen, whose subversive actions during the 74th and 75th Hunger Games catalyzed the rebellion and the subsequent war, surveys the rubble of her home in District 12. The coal mining District 12 has been leveled by a Capitol firebombing attack that killed most of its population. Katniss’s childhood best friend, Gale Hawthorne, managed to save many people. The survivors of the bombing have been taken in by the neighboring District 13, the rebellion’s epicenter.

Katniss feels immense guilt at the knowledge she indirectly brought on the attack. She still struggles with traumatic memories of her time in the Hunger Games, where she had to kill several people in self-defense and watched countless others die. Katniss’s friend, love interest and fellow victor, Peeta Mellark, has been captured and imprisoned by President Coriolanus Snow.

Katniss returns to District 13, where she lives with her mother, her little sister, Primrose “Prim” Everdeen. Seventy-five years before the events of Mockingjay, District 13 led an unsuccessful rebellion against the Capitol. The district went underground when it became clear that the rebels would lose the war. Now, it’s run by President Alma Coin, a ruthless leader dead set on overthrowing Snow and installing a representative democracy. Coin recognizes the rebels’ need for a shared symbol to unify the districts against the Capitol. She asks Katniss to take on the role of the Mockingjay, the televised face of the rebellion. Katniss hesitates due to her history of being manipulated by the Capitol’s government but eventually agrees. In exchange for her cooperation, she negotiates terms should the rebels win the war: immunity for Peeta and the right to kill Snow herself. As she navigates her new role, she confides in Gale.

Katniss worries for Peeta, who is still in the Capitol. In televised propaganda interviews, an increasingly haggard Peeta begs for a ceasefire, warning that the war could destroy all of Panem. Katniss suspects that Snow is having Peeta tortured and wonders whether his words are scripted by the Capitol.

As the Mockingjay, Katniss begins to film propaganda pieces or “propos” highlighting the Capitol’s cruelty and the districts’ resilience. The propos fulfill their goal of uniting the districts but provoke vengeance from Snow. In his next interview, Peeta warns District 13 of an upcoming attack by the Capitol, allowing them to go on lockdown in time to avoid casualties.

Katniss is too worried about Peeta’s fate to perform her Mockingjay duties, so Coin organizes a rescue mission to the Capitol. The mission is a success, but when Peeta returns, the rebels learn he has been subjected to a form of memory conditioning called hijacking. The Capitol has brainwashed Peeta into perceiving Katniss as a deadly threat, and upon seeing her, he attempts to kill her. With the help of his medical team, Peeta slowly begins to recover his memories. Meanwhile, Katniss learns that Gale is planning out increasingly brutal war tactics, notably a double bomb designed to lure in medical responders and then kill them.

Katniss journeys to District 2, the only district still allied with the Capitol. Gale devises a plan to attack the district’s military epicenter, which involves heavy civilian casualties. Despite Katniss’s reservations, the plan succeeds, and the rebels take District 2. Coin reluctantly lets Katniss join the final rebel mission to the Capitol. She is placed on a squad that includes Gale, Peeta, and Katniss’s friend Finnick Odair. Katniss plans to defect from the group to hunt down and kill Snow.

In the Capitol, the group encounters streets rigged with deadly booby traps, a tactic reminiscent of the Hunger Games arenas. They eventually reach the heart of the battle in the city center, but Finnick and several other members are killed along the way.

As Katniss and Gale set out for Snow’s mansion, chaos breaks out, and Gale is arrested by Capitol police officers known as Peacekeepers. Katniss continues alone. Outside Snow’s mansion, a group of children has been formed into a human shield. Capitol hovercrafts appear and drop bombs on the children. Katniss recognizes her sister Prim among the crowd of people rushing to help. A second round of bombs detonates, killing Prim and knocking Katniss unconscious.

When Katniss awakes, suffering from severe burns, she learns that the war is over. Snow has been captured, and the rebels have won. Coin steps up as the new president of Panem, canceling the democratic elections that she promised earlier in the novel. Katniss visits Snow in the lead-up to his execution. Snow tells her that it was the rebels, not the Capitol, who dropped the bombs that killed Prim. Coin has been using the Mockingjay as a tool to distract him, wasting his resources and distracting him from the real threat in the districts.

On the day of Snow’s scheduled execution, Coin announces that Panem will hold one final Hunger Games. As a punishment for the Capitol, all of the tributes will be the children of Capitol citizens. Katniss recognizes Coin as a tyrant. When the time comes for her to execute Snow publicly, she instead kills Coin. Katniss is briefly imprisoned but freed after a public trial in which her friends argue that the trauma of the war deranged her.

Gale is installed in a powerful role in the new rebel government. Katniss severs her relationship with him entirely, realizing she does not need his cold, vindictive nature in a partner. She returns home to District 12, reuniting with a fully de-conditioned Peeta. They rekindle their romance.

Mockingjay concludes with an epilogue set 15 years after the rebellion. Katniss and Peeta have two small children. The Hunger Games have been banned and are now taught as a cautionary tale. Katniss and Peeta still suffer from the long-term effects of their trauma, but they survive by remembering the goodness in the world.