Crowfeather's Trial - Summary Essay

 Sorry about how late this is. Things were busy and a little hectic recently. Hopefully now I can get back to regularly posting.

The first time I read this it took me two days. Well, it was more like one and a bit. I read a few chapters the first day. The second day I was travelling up North. It was a seven hour drive, and at the time, I didn’t have my L’s, so I spent the entire time reading.

I was really engaged in it too. Finally, Crowfeather’s trying to be a good father and mate. You can’t just be with someone because it makes you look good (or in Crowfeather’s case, loyal). Even if that’s the main reason, you should at least put in an effort to treat them right to say thanks. 

Rereading it, I was reminded how much he changed for the better. He finally became a character that I would like to actually meet. I enjoyed him as a character before, but I doubt I would have gotten along with him.

This book also shows why Breezepelt changed. I think what happened to Nightcloud and Heathertail had to happen for Breezepelt's sake. He didn’t become good overnight and I don’t think he ever would have without losing his mother and seeing Heathertail hurt.

The fact that Crowfeather wanted so badly to save Nightcloud, and that he was also hurt by her going missing and possible death showed Breezepelt something. That he’s not alone in the world, and that his father isn’t heartless. Although he hadn’t always shown affection for Nightcloud, he clearly cared about her. I think this showed Breezepelt that he might also care about him. When Nightcloud went missing, presumed dead, and Crowfeather was grieving, that was when Breezepelt finally started to accept his company and attempts at a bond, instead of hissing at him to leave him alone.

Before that, when Crowfeather starts trying to get along with him, Breezepelt rejects these attempts. Losing a cat close to him, and later seeing one hurt, taught him a bit about clan loyalty. The whole Clan wanted to help get rid of the stoats. Realising this helped him to see the value in others.

I just wanted to mention this because I hear a lot of people complain about how in the next series he just seems to wake up a ‘good boy’. There were valid reasons for this change of heart in my opinion. But what do you guys think? Did events in this book cause the change in Breezepelt? Were they enough for the changes we see in him? Let me know in the comments.

The main theme in Crowfeather’s Trial is trust. Trusting yourself is difficult. Subconsciously though, we can often tell things we haven’t realised yet. In these case our gut instincts will try to alert us, we ‘feel’ we know the truth, and we must listen to it. Crowfeather regularly dreams of his dead mother. Crowfeather dismisses the first dreams as nonsense as he is not a medicine cat, but the dream feel real and important to him. When he begins to believe his mother is communicating with him and listens to her, things do begin to turn around for the better.

The main character is Crowfeather. He is the protagonist, and through him we see simultaneous and intersecting storylines of other characters that Crowfeather is not always the focus of. This keeps multiple types of readers engaged throughout the book. These characters in these storylines, although common, are not key or involved enough to be considered main characters in the story. All the other cats and other animals that play a part in Crowfeather’s Trial have only minor or incidental roles in the story.

The main incidents in the book follow. Stoats invade the tunnels in WindClan, and Nightcloud goes missing in an attack on them. Crowfeather tracks her scent to a pool with a large patch of blood and the scent of fox on ThunderClan territory, and assumes she’s dead. Onestar kicks him out of the Clan. Crowfeather learns Nightcloud is alive, and goes to rescue her with Breezepelt. ThunderClan helps windClan drive out the stoats. Crowfeather reconciles with Lionblaze. Crowfeather vows to be a better father to Breezepelt and mate to Nightcloud.

Thank you for reading. I hope to start posting regularly again now that I have more time.

Let me know what you thought of the book.

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