Literary Lads That We Love: Haymitch Abernathy
Because sorry, you know every time I see the young'uns of Peeta, Finnick, and Gale being featured and Haymitch being left on the sidelines ignored, I feel compelled to step in and defend just how amazing he is. ;) For lisal825's Literary Lads That We Love meme
( Spoilers for the entire THG trilogy )
( Spoilers for the entire THG trilogy )
Comments 37
Too many people dismiss him as just a hopeless middle-aged drunk who only deserves to expect to drink himself to death in peace, probably because he's not a conventionally earnest, young, attractive figure, or else his damage isn't of the sexy, angsty-brooding variety.
I think physical attractiveness is usually what makes people gravitate to/sympathize with characters- you're so right.
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I think physical attractiveness is usually what makes people gravitate to/sympathize with characters- you're so right.I think unfortunately you're right. I've remarked elsewhere that clearly it's not just having issues--other clearly damaged people like Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, and Annie, are permitted to be romantic figures, because frankly, they're conventionally attractive and they're under 25, so their damage is almost "romantic" in that it's readily depicted as being something that can be addressed and somewhat healed by trust and love ( ... )
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But it might be the way we are psychologically hardwired? Ask a three year old why they chose a kid to play with and they will probably respond "because i like the way he/she looks". We may socialize our little sociopaths into people, but I think maybe we are really that shallow deep down. :/
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I'm admittedly odd in that I've always been interested in adult stories rather than teenagers, even when I was a teenager. ;)
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I think a lot of people need to realize what a blessing his age really is. Could he have pulled off the things he did in the books, if he was 16/17, like Katniss and Peeta, or even in his mid-twenties like Finnick? Likely not. It took years of experience to get there. Peeta didn't even develop the "star-crossed lovers" act without Haymitch's guidance.
You know, when I first read book 1, there were only two places in it that actually made me cry. The first was Rue's death. The second? When Katniss flings herself into Haymitch's arms after she wins the Games. If Haymitch were truly a useless old drunk only around for comic relief, would she have done that? No. She did it because, despite all the flack she's given him, she knows he got them out of that arena, and because he cared about them.
And as for thinking he's incapable of developing a love life and any sort of healing after ( ... )
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Exactly. We see that a 16-y-o Haymitch was brilliant, but also brash. He clearly wasn't wise enough yet to understand that to openly tweak the Capitol was to invite disaster. 40-y-o Haymitch understands that intimately.
And as for thinking he's incapable of developing a love life and any sort of healing after Mockingjay... Do people understand what they're implying when they say that? Life doesn't end when your twenties are over. The books end on the note that life can be good again no matter what, and Haymitch finding that out is every bit as hopeful, if not MORE so, as it is with Katniss and Peeta.
YES THIS x 1000000000000000.
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1) as;lkjfdsa H A Y M I T C H
2) your reasons especially his bravery
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Thank you! I think a lot of people think of him as just being weak and pathetic because of his drinking. But when you think about it, for him to try to defy the Capitol again, for people that aren't even as close to him as family (at that point) or a lover, and given how much he's suffered for it before? He's pretty much one of the bravest chars in the books.
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But yeah, I've seen plenty of "Haymitch is mean/weak/disgusting/a jerk/useless/not shippable with anyone/pointless/such a gross slob/hopeless" etc.
Urge to kill...rising. ;)
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