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Coriolanus could sense the audience beginning to warm up to his tribute, no longer bothering to keep their distance. People were easy to manipulate when it came to their children. So pleased to see them pleased.
In this passage from Chapter 4, Coriolanus is pleased with the reaction that the parents of the young children surrounding the monkey cage have to Lucy. As she charms the children, he’s watching the parents, who already seem unusually warm and responsive to her. His attitude toward her here clearly displays how self-interested Coriolanus is, even at this early point in the novel. He has always known that manipulation is one of his most powerful tools; seeing that Lucy is also able to exert it makes him feel even more ambitious about her possibilities as a tribute. As he recognizes this key vulnerability—his audience’s affection for their children—Coriolanus is aware that he could use Lucy’s beauty and charisma to gain influence over the people who watch the Games. She might not be the strongest or fastest tribute, but being the most sympathetic and charming could get her even further.
What he wanted to say was, Your life is over, young Junius; accept it. But that seemed likely to bring on more confidences that he lacked the energy to field. The sudden absence of responsibility in his life — to his studies, his family, his very future — had sapped his strength. Even the tiniest of tasks seemed daunting.
Coriolanus experiences a devastating sense of grief and disorientation upon his arrival at the Peacekeeper barracks in Chapter 21. Moments like this passage show that he’s not only upset to have been transferred but has in fact begun to lose hope and purpose. He doesn’t think there’s any way to distinguish himself in this situation and feels that he’s failed utterly. Coriolanus is his ambitions and dreams for the Snow family: with these gone, he has nothing to drive him forward.
The italicized thought he “says” to Junius here is really directed toward himself, as he and Junius are now moving toward the same dull, unremarkable future. In his willingness to cheat as a part of striving for control in the Games, he didn’t account for the idea that he might be caught. He’s experiencing a deep loss of self here as he tries to accept his new, “peaceful” life in District 12.
A few weeks ago he was a schoolboy, but now he had the uniform, the weapon, the status of a man. And even the lowest-ranking Peacekeeper had power conveyed on him by his association with the Capitol. He stood up straighter at the thought.
This passage from Chapter 22 comes from Coriolanus’s first official assignment as a Peacekeeper on duty, as he and Sejanus watch over the hanging of Arlo Chance. Coriolanus has come a long way from his initial despair at becoming a Peacekeeper. Always vulnerable to the seduction of power wherever he can find it, he’s decided he will make the best of things in District 12. He’s planning to do officer training and become a military leader like his father; any opportunity to control others appeals to him. He’s begun to enjoy the Peacekeeper uniform and his ability to threaten and oppress people. His physical reaction to the thought of being linked to the Capitol is a direct response to the perceived elevation in his social standing that it gives. Even though Coriolanus looks like all the other Peacekeepers around him, any Peacekeeper still has absolute authority over a District person. As long as he feels that he’s better than someone else, Coriolanus can move forward.
