45 pages • 1-hour read
Fire and Ice
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Symbols & Motifs
Brokenstar’s “Blinding”
When Brokenstar attacks the ThunderClan camp, he ends up in a fight with Yellowfang. Yellowfang severely scratches Brokenstar, which renders him sightless and therefore helpless and at ThunderClan’s mercy. Brokenstar’s loss of sight symbolizes secrets and deception, reflecting how many characters in the novel are unable or unwilling to see the truth. For example, when Fireheart tells Bluestar that he suspects that Tigerclaw is dangerous and disloyal, Bluestar tells him that he’s mistaken about these concerns. Nonetheless, Tigerclaw continues to exhibit sinister tendencies. Another example is Graystripe’s insistence that his relationship with Silverstream won’t have consequences until he sees the truth during the battle with RiverClan warriors. Even Fireheart, to some extent, deludes himself, thinking that he can keep his visits with Princess a secret.
While Brokenstar’s vision loss symbolizes how characters sometimes fail to see the truth about their own actions and motivations, it also reflects the vulnerability of being unable to know the future. The cats face various threats, including war, disease, and famine: While they strive to make the best decisions they can, they don’t know what lies ahead. Individuals who seem trustworthy may turn out to pose a danger. While Brokenstar’s disability may justly punish him for his attempts to seize power and harm others, it also renders him vulnerable and pitiful. In this sense, it illustrates how all the characters ultimately lack control even when they’re attempting to hold and maintain power.
Names and Naming
When clan society grants a cat a new role, the cat typically receives a new name: For example, when Brackenpaw and Cinderpaw become apprentices, their new names reflect that they’re no longer kits but also not yet full warriors. Likewise, at the start of the novel, Fireheart and Graystripe were recently promoted to warriors and received new names (they were formerly Firepaw and Graypaw). Fireheart’s transition through different names is especially significant because his name was initially Rusty (during his time as a kittypet). When he was adopted into ThunderClan, he received a new name to mark his new identity. A name can also be retracted as punishment: After Brokenstar is injured and taken prisoner, Bluestar orders that he be renamed Brokentail because only clan leaders can use the name with the suffix “star” and he “is no longer a Clan leader” (306).
The motif of naming reflects themes of identity, belonging, and ritual within the novel. A name is a public-facing identity: By using names to immediately convey status within a clan, the motif reflects how importance and visibility of an individual’s role in the clan hierarchy. Community rituals are held to establish new names, signaling that the entire community accepts the change in identity and status. While individuals have their own private personalities, much of their life is based on how their community perceives and embraces them. Names can be taken and given by others, which shows how individuals are deeply embedded in an interconnected community.
Snow
The night after Bluestar loses one of her lives due to illness, Fireheart awakens to find that it has snowed. The snow symbolizes the transition between life and death and the cyclical nature of time. Because she’s a clan leader, Bluestar has nine lives, but she still faces eventual mortality. Fireheart has never seen snow before, so the snow symbolizes how he’ll experience transition and change as he grows older. Snow is fleeting, just like life itself, but also signals a time of scarcity. Snow often occurs during a period that can be hard to endure: Illness and hunger (known as “leaf-bare”) are more likely during the winter months. At the same time, snow is ephemeral, and strikingly beautiful. The novel depicts a challenging period in Fireheart’s life, a time of preparation for transition, just as winter represents a pause before rebirth and regrowth in the springtime. Snow thus symbolizes Fireheart’s increasingly existential mindset as he tries to understand what the future holds for himself and for ThunderClan.
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