Madge is kind, quiet, and brave. She provides Katniss with much-needed companionship and also helps her in her times of need. Madge is killed by the Capitol, along with the rest of her family, in the Second Rebellion.
Madge Undersee Character Profile
- Name: Madge Undersee
- Age: 16
- Gender: Female
- Place of origin: District 12
- Physical appearance: Fair skin, wavy blond hair
- Skills: Piano
- Strengths: Kind, helpful
- Weaknesses: Ignorant at times
- Loyalties: Unknown
Personality and Physical Description
The mayor’s daughter, Madge, opens the door. She’s in my year at school. Being the mayor’s daughter, you’d expect her to be a snob, but she’s all right. She just keeps to herself. Like me.
Katniss about Madge in ‘The Hunger Games’
Madge Undersee is the teenage daughter of the Mayor of District 12. Although she is brought up in relative wealth compared to the other residents of District 12, she is kind and gentle. She never allows her wealth to affect her attitude.
Madge is a quiet and introverted girl, preferring to keep to herself rather than sit at crowded tables for lunch at school. This is the reason she becomes close to Katniss, as the two of them eat lunch together, away from the rest of the crowd.
Madge’s disposition is sweet and friendly. She is generous with her skills and knowledge, teaching Katniss to play the piano in her house. She is also generous with her material wealth, selflessly giving Katniss her expensive Mockingjay pin, and giving Gale the morphling that she got from the Capitol.
Madge is honest, genuine, and compassionate. She goes out of her way to support Katniss and her family and sometimes even Katniss’ friends. Madge has fair skin and wavy blond hair, as is commonly seen in the Merchant section, which is the wealthier end of District 12.
Madge’s Family
Madge Undersee is the Mayor’s daughter. She lives with her father and mother in the mayor’s house, which is big and extravagant. Even though she is the only child of her parents, she does not have much of a bond with her parents as her father is mostly occupied with his duties as a Mayor while her mother often gets incapacitated by raging headaches. Madge and her family live in a fancy house, and their apparent wealth exposes the class divisions within the district.
Madge’s late aunt, her mother’s sister, is Maysilee Donner, who was Haymitch Abernathy’s fellow tribute in the 50th Hunger Games. The Mockingjay pin that Madge gives Katniss originally belonged to Maysilee Donner.
Madge in ‘The Hunger Games’
Other than Gale Hawthorne, Madge is the closest thing to a friend that Katniss has in District 12. Katniss and Gale sell Madge strawberries on the day of the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games. They know that the Mayor has a particular fondness for strawberries and meet Madge at the back door of her house, where she is wearing an expensive dress. Madge wears a pretty white dress for the reaping, with her hair pulled back with a pink ribbon. Madge’s fine-reaping clothes cause Gale to remark upon the fact that Madge’s odds of being picked for the Hunger Games are slim. Katniss regrets Gale’s statement, as she is close to Madge.
During the Reaping Ceremony of the 74th Hunger Games, Primrose Everdeen, Katniss’s little sister, is picked as the female tribute from District 12. Katniss takes Prim’s place instead. Katniss is allowed a few minutes to say goodbye to her friends and family. She is surprised to see Madge in the Justice Building room during this time. Madge does not cry or become sentimental. Instead, she quickly gives Katniss a family heirloom to wear as a token into the arena. The token is a gold Mockingjay pin that has been in her family since the time of her aunt, Maysilee Donner. The usually quiet Madge also gives Katniss a swift kiss on the cheek, showing Katniss a new side to her personality.
My next guest is also unexpected. Madge walks straight to me. She is not weepy or evasive, instead there’s an urgency about her tone that surprises me. “They let you wear one thing from your district in the arena. One thing to remind you of home. Will you wear this?” She holds out the circular gold pin that was on her dress earlier. I hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but now I see it’s a small bird in flight.
The Hunger Games
Madge and the Mockingjay Pin
Katniss’s Mockingjay pin has a high monetary value, but its significance lies in its symbolic value. The pin marks the beginning of the Mockingjay as the symbol of rebellion. Katniss wears the pin into the arena and begins to be associated with the Mockingjay bird from then on. Madge’s kiss also forces the realization that Madge has been Katniss’s friend all along.
Probably, Madge does not realize the significance of the Mockingjay pin and only sees its face value. This is because she later shares her own opinion with Katniss that the Mockingjay is just a songbird and was never a weapon that was used against the Capitol. However, Katniss looks past Madge’s ignorance and realizes that the Mockingjay is more than just a songbird, and it represents the Capitol’s failure with the jabberjays.
After the First Rebellion, the Capitol left the jabberjays (which could pick up and record the general chatter of human beings, including their way of speech) to die out in solitary in the wild. However, in summary, nobody could have predicted the birds’ survival. The male jabberjays mated with the female mockingbirds to create a whole new species: the Mockingjay. The Mockingjay is a special bird that represents a kind of irony with the Capitol, as the government never intended for them to exist. Katniss calls them “funny birds” due to their ability to reproduce human music.
Madge in ‘Catching Fire’
Katniss becomes the victor of her first Games, using the bow and arrow as her choice of weapons to her advantage in the arena. She and Madge deepen their friendship before the Third Quarter Quell. As a victor, Katniss does not have to attend school any longer. As such, she spends a great deal of time in Madge’s house.
In the beginning, the teenage girls do not know what to talk about, other than pleasantry. After a few false starts, they begin to have private conversations or play the piano. Madge is a great pianist and tries to teach Katniss to play the instrument. During the course of their acquaintance, Katniss deepens the dynamics between her and her female friend by teaching Madge to shoot in the woods beyond the district boundary in return. This brings a sense of normality in a small way in their daily lives.
Katniss and Peeta end the Victory Tour with a party in the Mayor’s house. Thus, for the Harvest Festival Katniss and Peeta are both present in Madge’s house. It is also in Madge’s house that Katniss later discovers that the districts are rebelling against the Capitol. When she is looking for Madge, she happens to notice an update on the television in the Mayor’s study, regarding the rebellion in District 8. This is the first time Katniss is exposed to the idea of the districts rebelling against the power of the Capitol.
Madge gives Gale morphling in a cardboard box when he is whipped severely by the new Head Peacekeeper of District 12. The morphling belonged to Mayor Undersee’s wife and had come from the Capitol. Due to this act of generosity, Peeta Mellark and the others imply that Madge and Gale may be more than friends. However, Katniss insists that Madge’s act of kindness with the box of morphling arose from the friendship she shared with her.
Madge’s Death
Katniss goes back to District 12 at the end of the second rebellion and sees the wreckage of the Mayor’s house in the destroyed district. Thom informs Katniss in front of their house that Madge, along with her parents and two servants, had been razed to the ground by a squad of Peacekeepers. Part of Katniss is deeply disturbed by this news, and she predicts that the remains of Madge will haunt her nightmares from then on.
FAQs
Did Madge have a crush on Gale?
No, Madge did not have a crush on Gale. However, it is worth mentioning that Peeta and Haymitch speculate that Madge and Gale are more than friends, as she gives Gale expensive morphling from the Capitol. This suggests that Madge had an alternate motivation in helping Gale, filling Katniss with jealousy.
What does Madge Undersee look like in ‘The Hunger Games’ book?
Madge is described as having wavy blonde hair in The Hunger Games book. It is likely that she also had fair skin much like the others in the Merchant section of District 12. As she was able to afford expensive clothes, Madge wore pretty dresses on special occasions such as the Reaping Ceremony of the Hunger Games.
Why was Madge not in ‘The Hunger Games’ movie?
Madge Undersee is the only main supporting character that was not in the Hunger Games movies. The character of Madge was not given much screen time on the big screen to save both time and money. In the book series, Madge is important to the overall story as she is the main reason that the pin Madge gives Katniss becomes the symbol of the rebellion. A bit of Googling will provide proof of the importance of Madge as she is the reason behind the Mockingjay becoming the symbol of the new rebellion.
Why did Madge give Katniss the pin?
Madge gives Katniss the Mockingjay pin as she considers Katniss to be her good friend in the first place, and a lesser point is that she wishes Katniss to go into the arena with a token that reminds her of home. Other friends of Katniss in the ‘Hunger Games’ series include Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta, and Plutarch Heavensbee. The leading lady of the storyline, the very girl who defied the Capitol and the most important character, is played by Jennifer Lawrence.
Does Gale end up with Madge?
No, Gale does not end up with Madge. In the book, Suzanne Collins does not mention who Gale ends up with. At the end of the rebellion, he goes to District 2 after he gets a job as an officer while Madge and the rest of her family perish in the Capitol bombing of District 12.
