Fire and Ice

The character of Cloudkit develops The Power of Familial Ties as a theme. Fireheart immediately feels a bond with the tiny kit because they share a genetic relationship, and the circumstances under which they meet likely heighten this bond. The deterioration of the friendship between Graystripe and Fireheart has serious consequences for Fireheart’s sense of belonging in the Clan. Graystripe has always been his closest friend and ally, and when Fireheart becomes uncertain of whether he can trust him, he feels increasingly alienated and lonely. His desire to spend time with Princess shows that he craves someone with origins similar to his own, and Cloudkit will directly mirror his experiences as a cat born a kittypet who ends up living as a warrior.

Cloudkit enters Fireheart’s life just after Fireheart loses the role of mentor because of Cinderpaw’s injury. He’s devastated by this incident and blames himself. He finds Cloudkit a surrogate mother to nurse him (a female cat who has lost some of her own kittens to disease), but Fireheart becomes a surrogate parental figure too. Cloudkit represents another step in Fireheart’s maturation and in his developing knowledge of challenge and complexity. At first, Fireheart thinks that Cloudkit will simply offer him the chance to feel connection and belonging. However, he underestimates the challenge of taking full responsibility for a young kit, especially a headstrong and stubborn one like Cloudkit. Like Fireheart, Cloudkit doesn’t fully belong in the clan, and many other cats are cruel to him. Cloudkit’s fluffy white fur symbolizes how he appears to be a pampered housepet who won’t transition successfully to clan life: “Even Fireheart couldn’t deny that Cloudkit’s soft, snowy pelt looked out of place beside the other kits” (264).

Cloudkit becomes a member of the clan because his mother, Princess, makes an unusual decision. She decides that she wants him to grow up to be a warrior rather than a domestic cat, even though this decision likely means that her contact with him will be infrequent or even nonexistent. In a sense, Princess’s decision provides an unusual take on the theme of Loyalty to Community Versus Individual Destiny because she decides to betray her kittypet identity and honor the potential she can see in her son. Princess can’t give up her stable life as a domestic cat but passes her dreams and ambitions along to her eldest son: Cloudkit’s status as her eldest son reflects the ancient tradition of primogeniture, in which the firstborn son often becomes the heir to resources, status, or power. Especially since Fireheart no longer has a clear successor after Cinderpaw is injured, he can adopt his nephew as the successor and heir to his skills as a warrior.

The likelihood of Tigerclaw’s being confirmed as the antagonist increases in this section of the novel. Much of the narrative is suffused with a general sense of tension and suspense derived from a foreboding sense that conflict will eventually erupt: Since many cats are keeping secrets and betraying one another, it seems clear that open confrontation and conflict will eventually occur. However, it isn’t clear what form that conflict will take or whether Tigerclaw truly poses a threat. Princess hints at the suspicion that Tigerclaw may have been trying to lure Bluestar into a trap when Cinderpaw was injured; Fireheart wonders if Tigerclaw deliberately harmed Cinderpaw and whether he plans to hurt Cloudkit. However, Fireheart can’t confirm any of these suspicions, and this uncertainty (along with his inability to know whom he can trust) creates dramatic tension.