Yma

“The detail of Lenore Dove giving Haymitch a flint striker shaped like a "C" absolutely destroys me, because there is no "C" in Haymitch's name-it was never really meant for him; it was meant for a covey. And that makes President Snow's observation about the Covey feel so much darker. Yes, they love you. Yes, they care for you. But ultimately, they will always choose themselves and their own survival. Haymitch is close enough to be loved, but never quite enough to truly belong. The tiny birthday gift says so much without saying anything at all: it becomes a symbol of the Covey, of Lenore Dove.

The connection between Lenore Dove and Edgar Allan Poe's "Lenore" feels especially haunting. Poe's poem centers on the death of a beloved woman and the grief of the person left behind, and that feels painfully fitting fir Lenore Dove and Haymitch. Lenore dies, but she doesn't simply disappear from Haymitch's life- he carries her memory with him, even years later, Poe's Lenore becomes immortal through the grief and memory if those who loved her, and Lenore Dove feels like the same kind of haunting presence in Haymitch's story: gone, but never truly forgotten.”
― Suzanne Collins