Mayor Undersee stays with his wife and daughter in the better part of town. He is a lenient leader and often overlooks various rule-breaking that occur in the district. His daughter, Madge Undersee, is one of Katniss Everdeen’s closest friends.
Mayor Undersee Character Profile
- Name: Mayor Undersee
- Age: 40s/50s
- Gender: Male
- Place of origin: District 12
- Physical appearance: Tall and balding
- Skills: Leadership and government duties
- Strengths: Compassionate, friendly
- Weaknesses: Not given any real power
- Loyalties: Unknown
Personality and Physical Description
“When we finish our business at the market, we go to the back door of the mayor’s house to sell half the strawberries, knowing he has a particular fondness for them and can afford our price.”
‘The Hunger Games‘
Mayor Undersee is described as a tall balding man. He is presumably middle-aged as he has a daughter who is 16 years old at the beginning of the events of the trilogy.
The mayor has a passion for strawberries and is always willing to buy some from Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne when they go forging in the Woods. He also turns a blind eye to their poaching activities. This is highly irregular for a mayor of the district as poaching is considered illegal in the districts of Panem. However, the widespread poverty and starvation distressed the mayor and he, therefore, allowed various rule-breaking to occur in the district. The mayor disliked violence and doling out public punishments for any breach of rules.
“Technically, Gale and I could be whipped on a daily basis for poaching in the woods—well, technically, we could get a whole lot worse—except all the officials buy our meat. Besides, our mayor, Madge’s father, doesn’t seem to have much taste for such events.”
‘The Hunger Games’
It is also clear that the mayor did not take any pleasure in the Hunger Games. He is visibly distressed when Katniss, his daughter’s best friend, volunteers for Primrose Everdeen in the 74th Hunger Games.
The Mayor also overlooks the activities at the Hob, which is the black market of District 12 and the source of many residents’ livelihoods, including Katniss Everdeen, Gale Hawthorne, and Greasy Sae.
Mayor Undersee’s Family
Mayor Undersee has a wife, Mrs Undersee, who has terrible migraines and is confined to her bed most days. The two of them have a daughter called Madge Undersee. Madge is the same age as Katniss and one of her closest friends in school. Madge is the person who gives Katniss the Mockingjay pin to be worn as a token in the arena. the pin once belonged to Madge’s aunt, Maysilee Donner.
Biography: The Mayor of District 12
Not much is known about the early life of Mayor Undersee. He has been the mayor of District 12 for many years before the events of the trilogy and continues to be so until his death in ‘Mockingjay.’
As the mayor of District 12, he sits at the head of the regional government. His office is the Justice Building in the town square. He is responsible for carrying out all the government affairs assigned to him by the Capitol including ensuring that the required coal quotas are met by the coal miners of District 12 each month.
Mayor Undersee is also in charge of conducting the Reaping Ceremony for the Hunger Games. On Reaping Day, the mayor starts the speech that details the history of the nation and the origin of the Hunger Games.
District 12 is generally the laughingstock of the rest of the nation. This upsets the mayor and he tries his best to remedy this reputation on television. However, his attempts are foiled by Haymitch Abernathy, the drunken mentor of the tributes of District 12. The Mayor’s speech is followed by the drawing of the names by Effie Trinket, the district’s escort.
Mayor Undersee continues to be present at various Hunger Games events including the Victory Tour, the finale of which is a dinner party that is conducted in the mayor’s house.
Despite holding the office of the Mayor, Undersee does not possess any real power to influence the district or change its conditions. Mayor Undersee is merely a puppet of the Capitol with limited privileges.
The Mayor’s House
Mayor Undersee lives in a mansion in the better part of District 12 along with his wife and daughter. His house is one of the only houses in the district to have facilities such as a telephone, a good television, hot water, and so on.
Katniss begins to visit the Mayor’s house quite often in ‘Catching Fire’ when she strengthens her friendship with his daughter, Madge. She mentions that she is fond of his house.
The mayor also has two people who work in the house for the family. The two people likely help to cook and clean the house. This is highly unusual in the district as nobody had any maids or cooks in their houses.
It is in the mayor’s house that Katniss first learns of the rebellion amongst the district citizens. She sees an announcer talking about the uprising in District 8 and witnesses an angry mob attacking the Peacekeepers and the buildings in the district. Katniss understands that this uprising is the direct result of her actions in District 8 during the Victory Tour and is extremely upset.
Mayor Undersee’s Death
“Did they find anyone in there?” “Whole family. And the two people who worked for them,” Thom tells me. Madge. Quiet and kind and brave. The girl who gave me the pin that gave me a name. I swallow hard. Wonder if she’ll be joining the cast of my nightmares tonight. Shoveling the ashes into my mouth. “I thought maybe, since he was the mayor…” “I don’t think being the mayor of Twelve put the odds in his favor,” says Thom.
‘Mockingjay’
Mayor Undersee and his entire family were killed during the bombing of District 12 at the beginning of the Second Rebellion. District 12 was razed to the ground by the Capitol after Katniss destroyed the arena and escaped to District 13. Out of a population of 8,000, only around 900 residents were able to escape the bombing. Unfortunately, the mayor and his family were not those among the people who escaped.
Katniss hopes that since Mayor Undersee held a high position in the district, he and his family might have been spared from the bombing. However, this is not the case as the district he had been commanding had given the Capitol too much trouble. Thom informs Katniss of the Mayor’s death.
FAQs
How is Mayor Undersee described in ‘The Hunger Games’ book?
Mayor Undersee is described as a tall and balding man in ‘The Hunger Games’ book. The mayor is a character that has been completely left out by the ‘Hunger Games’ movies. The movies have also cut out the character of the mayor’s daughter, Madge Undersee as well.
Who is the Mayor in ‘The Hunger Games’?
The Mayor of District 12 in ‘The Hunger Games’ is Mayor Undersee. Mayor Undersee is a lenient Mayor. He is described as a fairly just mayor. He is benevolent towards the residents of the district. However, he is simply a puppet of the Capitol and does not possess any real power to improve the conditions of the district.
What does Mayor Undersee do in ‘The Hunger Games’ book?
Mayor Undersee is the mayor of District 12. As such he sits at the head of the regional government in the district and conducts his duties from the Justice Building. As the mayor, his duties also include conducting the activities of the Reaping Ceremony for the Hunger Games. For instance, he conducts the reaping ceremony of the 74th annual Hunger Games, where he begins the proceedings with his usual speech about the history of Panem as a country called North America that was ‘saved’ by the shining Capitol.
