A Sad, Cold Death - Summary Essay

 You've done it again. You made me cry once more. Erin Hunter, you are the master of sad cat deaths.

I know many fans have cried over the cats dying. I rarely do, though. In fact, I rarely cry during sad moments in any media. And for the longest time, I just thought I didn't.

I understood that other people did, and, if I was familiar with what they were crying about, I understood it was sad. I didn't begrudge anyone for crying over something that was legitimately sad. Yet, I still didn't understand how someone could get so upset over a piece of media. Sure, you get attached to the characters. I often was, but I clearly wasn't connected enough to cry, and I didn't understand how others could be.

Tangent No. 1: Actually, I don't think it was a lack of attachment. I don't cry at funerals either. I think it was partly due to attending my first one before I understood the concept of death. I remember thinking that if I reached under the earth on top of the coffin, I'd be able to pull out my Grandmother, and I couldn't understand why everyone was crying. I guess that experience may have sort of stopped me from tearing up during sad moments. I know they're unhappy. I feel it myself, as much as anyone else. I just don't cry.

I have only cried during a total of four times because of various media. The first was in high school, when, as a family, we were watching the movie Smitty. My mum was forever crying during movies. The slightest hint of sadness, or happiness, or whatever else, and she would be bawling her eyes out. Not this time, though. I cried when the dog was left out in the rain, feeling as bad as the main character. Mum's response was to stop whining because it's not even sad! I complained back that it was. I couldn't believe we'd forgotten about the dog, and left him in the rain. Yes, 'we'. In the short time, I had been watching the film, I had grown close enough to the characters that I felt like an invisible part of the family. To me, in forgetting about the dog, I was as much to v\blame as the boy. Looking back on it, perhaps mum didn't cry in that movie because it was a dog, and not a human, like the characters in the other films she'd cried in. Maybe it was because the dog didn't have a name at this point. Since it was just called 'Dog', perhaps she didn't feel much attachment to it. After all, naming an animal is one of the first ways a person starts to form a bond with it.

Tangent No. 2: I think she may have just started high school when my younger sister bought home a baby wattlebird. She said she had found it on its own and wanted to take care of it because it didn't have a family. About 3-4 days later, she decided to name it Buffy. Mum commented that one of her friends had been worried after learning that she had named it. I continued to call it 'Bird', and told my sister she should do the same. It was a wild animal. We weren't going to keep it forever. It may not have been scared of us after a few hours, because we were feeding it sugar water, and it seemed that its parents hadn't yet stopped feeding it. (I caught a fly and managed to keep it from flying outside the bird's cage for a few minutes. Instead of trying to peck at it from its perch, or flying up to catch it, the bird sat there with its mouth open, watching the fly, and making the noises all young birds make when begging for food from its parents. It seemed to expect us to catch it and force it down its beak, or for the fly to just fly into its open mouth.) It needed to learn to look after itself, and the sooner it could leave, the better. Lo and behold, my sister cried nonstop when it flew away. I felt a pang of sadness, but not much, and just thought 'she should have kept calling it 'Bird".

The second time was when reading Ravenpaw's Farewell. Seeing Ravenpaw's spirit walk away, leaving Barley was awful. I knew that at least they would see each other again, but seeing them get ripped apart like that was so sad!

The third was watching My Little Pony. To be precise, it was the series finale, The Last Problem, that got me. For those of you who know the show, no, I didn't even shed a tear watching Perfect Pear. Every time I see that last episode, I cry outright. It's the moment in the song where the mane 6 dance across the screen and you see all the past characters appearing behind them. And if you haven't watched the show, don't just watch this episode and ask 'How is that sad?' It only has that effect if you've watched the whole series (or most of it), met all these characters and stuck with these ponies through their worst moments.

This was the fourth, and so far, final time. It was reading the last few paragraphs where Mosskit says she doesn't want to leave her mother, but Snowfur explains she must. Actually, it's the exact same thing I cried over last time in warriors. Characters who are so close being ripped apart, and not permanently. If death was just death, I don't think this would get me so much, but the people they love are right there, and they can't be with them!

What's the saddest moment for you in warriors? What was the first scene that made you cry? Any other pieces of media that really get you?

The central theme in A Sad, Cold Death, is indefinite choices. Some choices that people have to make in their lives do not seem to have a right answer, or the correct choice is unclear. These sorts of options can cause people to ponder what is the right thing to do long after. StarClan demonstrates one such discussion. This piece looks at whether or not Bluefur's decision to give up her kits is the right choice. They eventually accept it is her choice, and end the discussion with no definitive answer of what the right choice in that situation is.

The main character in the short story is Snowfur. Through her first-person point of view, Snowfur allows us to hear StarClan's discussion but does not give her perspective on Bluefur's decision. A choice with an indefinite right answer won't allow the protagonist to fill this character role by being 'victorious'. Snowfur offers a solution to an issue StarClan can do something about "We can only make sure [Mosskit] is protected on his journey to StarClan." pg. 77. The antagonist of A Sad, Cold Death is the cold and snow. All the other characters that appear in the story are either minor or incidental.

The situations in A Sad, Cold Death occur as follows. Snowfur recalls how she died. Brambleberry notes the issue that has gathered StarClan. StarClan discusses whether the kit's death is justified. StarClan guesses that Thistleclaw "would lead his warriors to attack other Clans" pg. 76. They accept it is Bluefur's decision and end the debate. Snowfur offers to take care of Mosskit in StarClan. She finds Bluefur curled around her kits at Sunningrocks. Bluefur is mourning Mosskit. Snowfur wakes Mosskit's spirit and convinces him to go with her to StarClan.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this and would love to hear your thoughts on this short story and the rest of Warriors. Fell free to let me know in the comments. Thanks again.

Alice B Hutley

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