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When Maysilee is selected to participate in the Hunger Games, Haymitch describes her as “the most stuck-up girl in town.” With her pretty face, wealthy parents, bullying tendencies, fancy clothes, and stacks of necklaces, Maysilee appears to match Haymitch’s description. However, the more Haymitch gets to know Maysilee, the more it becomes apparent that there is more to her than meets the eye. 

Haymitch soon realizes Maysilee is not stuck-up—she is angry. Maysilee resents that Capitol citizens see the districts as beneath them and repeatedly works to show the Capitol their value and humanity. For example, Maysilee furiously sends the train attendants for plates and cutlery after she, Haymitch, Wyatt, and Louella are brought food. Haymitch laughs at her prissy request, but Maysilee maintains that “if you let [Capitol citizens] treat you like an animal, they will.” Later in the novel, Haymitch realizes Maysilee’s emphasis on manners and table settings and fashion is an intentional campaign to show that those who live in the districts are “civilized” and “appreciate beautiful things,” not unlike those who live in the Capitol. 

Maysilee tragically falls in the arena, but her final moments solidify her rebellious spirit and establish a lasting legacy. Near the end of the book, Maysilee makes Haymitch swear that one of them will win the Games so they can be the “worst victor in history” by “refus[ing] to play their game.” She is one of the many people to inspire Haymitch to fight back against the Capitol’s oppression. As Maysilee dies, she locks her pinky around Haymitch’s and reminds him of his promise. Haymitch takes her advice to heart by destroying the arena’s generator and ultimately joining the rebellion that will go on to topple President Snow, and the Capitol as a whole, twenty-five years later, as depicted across The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. It is no surprise, then, that Katniss’s mockingjay pin, the very symbol of the rebellion, belonged to Maysilee Donner first. Katniss may have been the one to finally defeat the oppressive regime that dominated the districts for seventy-five years, but she did so by continuing the work of people like Maysilee who fought and lost years before Katniss was even born.

Read more about Madge Undersee, Maysilee’s niece who gives Katniss the mockingly pin.

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