De Capítulo 2 do primeiro livro :
To the everlasting credit of the people of District 12, not one person claps. Not even the ones holding betting slips, the ones who are usually beyond caring. Possibly because they know me from the Hob, or knew my father, or have encountered Prim, who no one can help loving. So instead of acknowledging applause, I stand there unmoving while they take part in the boldest form of dissent they can manage. Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone. All of this is wrong.
Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don’t expect it because I don’t think of District 12 as a place that cares about me. But a shift has occurred since I stepped up to take Prim’s place, and now it seems I have become someone precious. At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me. It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals. It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love. [-Katniss' Narration]
Por isso, é efetivamente usado para dizer adeus .
No primeiro livro, quando a pequena Rue morre, ocorre a cena a seguir :
A few steps into the woods grows a bank of wildflowers. Perhaps they are really weeds of some sort, but they have blossoms in beautiful shades of violet and yellow and white. I gather up an armful and come back to Rue’s side. Slowly, one stem at a time, I decorate her body in the flowers. Covering the ugly wound. Wreathing her face. Weaving her hair with bright colors.
They’ll have to show it. Or, even if they choose to turn the cameras elsewhere at this moment, they’ll have to bring them back when they collect the bodies and everyone will see her then and know I did it. I step back and take a last look at Rue. She could really be asleep in that meadow after all.
“Bye, Rue,” I whisper. I press the three middle fingers of my left hand against my lips and hold them out in her direction. Then I walk away without looking back.
Então, Katniss faz esse símbolo e, como mostra o filme, os primeiros tumultos e protestos do levante contra o Capitólio começam.
A partir de então, o significado do gesto muda completamente e torna-se um símbolo da revolução - efetivamente, um caminho para os cidadãos dos distritos se despedirem da força autoritária e do poder do Capitólio.O apito que o acompanha é o barulho que os zombeteiros fazem. Do Wiki dos Jogos Vorazes :
A mockingjay is a bird that was created through the mating of jabberjays and female mockingbirds. When Katniss wore a pin with this bird on it in the 74th Hunger Games, the Capitol was angry. They believed it would result in an uprising because the Capitol saw the mockingjay as a failure. This is why Katniss became "The Mockingjay" and led the rebels in Mockingjay.