Sunrise on the Reaping opens with four epigraphs: one each for George Orwell and William Blake and two from David Hume.
Collins had said at the cover release that the “implicit submission” idea of Hume’s inspired Sunrise and it is clear from the first two epigraphs that her other comments then about propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative that this will be a driving focus of the second prequel. I was delighted of course by the second epigraph from Hume which spelled out his skeptical thoughts about the probability of the coming day’s sunrise because I had explained in my discussion of the second ‘Sneak Peek’ pre-publication release that Lenore Dove’s thoughts about Haymitch’s surety in, the inevitability of a Reaping on his birthday were straight out of Hume.
That’s our first hit, then, a correspondence between text and epigraph; how many more have you counted?
I noted yesterday that the first three epigraphs of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes were in direct alignment with Dr Gaul’s teaching about the state of nature and the need of a social contract to restrain humanity’s violent and selfish behaviors, the so-called “three C’s” of “chaos, control, and contract.” Do we see the Orwell, Blake, and Hume epigraphs about propaganda and a skeptical epistemology line up with the Sunrise story elements in this fashion? In another way?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment boxes below! Spoilers, ahoy!
Sunrise on the Reaping Placeholder Posts:
1: First Impressions — Delight or Dismay?
