Catching Fire Lesson Plan

What are mockingjays? How do they function as a metaphor?

Mockingjays are a crossbred bird -- half mockingbird, which are naturally occurring, and half jabberjay, which were birds bred as intelligence gatherers by the Capitol that backfired as a weapon and were used against their creators. The jabberjays outlived their usefulness, but they survive as Mockingjays, which are a synthesis of natural and engineered animals that are able to put both sides of that heritage to use. Katniss and her fellow Games participants are similarly engineered by the capitol as a weapon to quell rebellion. But the capitol may have miscalculated, as Katniss' story is about taking the power...