With the release of Sunrise on the Reaping, fans of the dystopian series are headed back to Panem to learn more about Haymitch Abernathy’s Hunger Games. While the basics of his time in the arena were (theoretically) known, like what the arena looked like and that he was the Victor, the new book shows just how much the Capitol edits what goes out to its citizens and how they use that propaganda in their favor.
It also introduces readers to new characters, particularly in District 12. Louella McCoy was among the four District 12 tributes in the 50th Hunger Games. She and Haymitch knew each other before the Games, and Louella was someone he saw as a little sister. Though he does his best to protect her, when things go wrong at the tribute parade, Louella and Haymitch are thrown from District 12’s chariot. While the 16-year-old makes it out unscathed, Louella cracks her skull and dies.
It’s a traumatic situation, with the remaining three District 12 tributes still reeling from it as they’re forced to continue with training. However, things change again when Haymitch, called to speak to President Snow because of his actions during the parade, finds out Louella is still alive. But, not really. In her place is a young girl who's been programmed and made to look like Louella, similar to Peeta’s programming in Mockingjay. While she might look the part, her constant repetition of the same phrases shows something isn't quite right, though the Capitol can right that off due to the "injuries" she survived.
The revelation that tributes who die before the start of the Games are replaced by body doubles is a new low for the Capitol. The bar for their depravity was already in the basement, but knowing that even more children have fallen victim to the Capitol’s ways is easily the most jarring and horrific revelation of the book. Mags and Wiress, the District 12 mentors, believe the new Louella, called Lou Lou by Haymitch, is from District 11 because of the bread she reaches for at dinner. Plutarch believes it’s likely her parents have in some way crossed the president, and based on how she attacks food, she’s been kept as a prisoner for a significant amount of time.
So much of Sunrise on the Reaping shows all the acts of rebellion that are still happening behind the scenes, but the Capitol can often cover it up with clever editing and giving themselves time delays on “live” broadcasts. It’s one thing to edit out how Haymitch spends the first several days in the arena, but it’s another to use a child the Capitol has likely been holding captive to stand in for another who died to keep up appearances. While Capitol citizens at the parade should know what happened, it's easy to forget when they are distracted by other media, and Louella's family only believes she died in the Games.
It poses the ultimate questions: how many more tributes have died before the Games ever started and how often are body doubles used? Sure, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes shows several tribute deaths before they enter the arena, but it’s thought to be a thing of the past, now that the tributes are being kept in better conditions, and they weren't replaced. However, Sunrise on the Reaping shows that the control the Capitol has is merely an illusion, one that will be maintained by any means possible, even if it means dooming another child to their death.