Hunger Games: Why Madge Gave Katniss The Mockingjay Pin

In the first book of The Hunger Games series, a little-known character to movie fans, Madge Undersee, gifts Katniss with her emblematic Mockingjay pin – but why? Throughout the series, the Mockingjay pin is a symbol of revolt and uprising against the oppressive Capitol, and arguably becomes just as instrumental to overthrowing the devious President Snow and his oligarchic companions as Katniss herself. Why then would Madge, daughter of the Mayor of Katniss’ District 12, give her this symbol in the first place?

After all, Mayor Undersee is himself a part of the enigmatic President Snow and the Capitol’s oppressive regime, though a small part of it at that. Madge and her father enjoy privileges unknown to Katniss and her family, as well as the larger populous of District 12. In The Hunger Games film adaptation, one of these poorer District 12 citizens is seen giving Katniss her emblematic pin in lieu of Madge. Why make this change? Why would Suzanne Collins, author of the book series, opt for Madge to be the giver of this gift instead?

The answer to this question may lie in the second installment of The Hunger Games series, Catching Fire, in which Katniss learns that Madge’s aunt, the previous owner of the Mockingjay pin, was a former tribute in the Hunger Games who died, losing the games to prior victor Haymitch Abernathy. Katniss learns that after her aunt’s death, Madge inherited the pin and perhaps longed to pass it onto Katniss when she became a tribute. Alternatively, and perhaps more conspiratorially, it’s possible Madge gave Katniss the pin deliberately to help stoke the fire of a fast-approaching revolution against the Capitol that her family played a role in starting.

When Madge first gave Katniss her Mockingjay pin in The Hunger Games, it’s possible that her reasoning was purely sentimental. In the spirit of honoring past tributes who had fallen in the Games, perhaps Madge simply wanted to honor her aunt’s legacy, and she gifted the Mockingjay pin to Katniss as a kind of blessing on her, in the hopes that her fate would be different from that of her aunt’s. However, it’s also possible that, given her family’s unique position, she not only meant this gesture to be sentimental but politically symbolic.

The mystery of Madge’s intentions in gifting Katniss her now-iconic Mockingjay pin may never be perfectly clear. However, while the film adaptations of the franchise opted for a simpler, more coincidental explanation for the source of the pin, Collin’s subplot involving Madge and her family is far more complex and engaging. It may be time to, in some way, acknowledge the small (or large) role Madge had in bringing The Hunger Games to its conclusion.

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