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I remember reading the expanded version of this in the super edition Yellowfang's Secret. It feels strange reading it like this.
I knew the story. I knew what was going to happen, and how it was going to end, but something felt…off.
I found it hard to believe Yellowfang and sympathise with her.
I think part of the reason so many warriors books work so well and can have such a powerful impact is because they're told in the third person. First-person can be very powerful too, of course. Just hear me out.
When you're reading a book in the third person, even if you're following a character around, and seeing things from their viewpoint, you're still thinking for yourself. The third person makes you an invisible observer. It feels like you're seeing things with your own eyes and making your own judgements.
In first-person, the character tells you what they are seeing, instead you seeing it for yourself. They are telling you how they interpreted the events. You hear their thoughts far more than in the third person.
I don't know, but the way Yellowfang kept on going back to Brokentail being StarClan's punishment, it made me wonder.
I know the story. I know Brokentail's a bad guy. I believe that he was allowed to live when her other two kits died as punishment from StarClan.
I guess, reading this from a first-person view just made me question it. Is this really what Yellowfang's seeing? Is she sure that's what's happening? Maybe she's just blowing things way out of proportion.
I still love the story, though.
The central theme in A Thankless Kit is nurture vs nature. This is a debate on what has the most significant effect on what a person is like, and what sort of person they will grow up to be. Nurture refers to how they are treated and raised, and nature refers to the genes they carry or being' born that way'. Yellowfang says that because he is mean to punish her, Brokentail is evil by nature. However, she notes several instances that seem to refer to nurture, e.g. 'What kind of life will he have, with…Lizardstripe raising him?' Pg. 70, and 'Raggedstar always thought his son would make a great leader. He was blind to all of Brokentail's faults' pg. 71.
The main characters in this short story include the protagonist, Yellowfang. She tells the story in the first person, giving us a close look at her feelings and inner thoughts throughout the story and Brokentail's life. Brokentail is the main antagonist. He is a punishment on ShadowClan and all of the forest, sent by StarClan after Yellowfang broke the medicine cat code by taking a mate. As the protagonist, Yellowfang must overcome and ultimately defeat Brokentail, her own son. The only other named characters in A Thankless Kit are minor or incidental to the main plot.
The main situations in the short story are: Yellowfang has kits alone in the woods. Two of them die. Yellowfang feels terrified when she sees an intense look of rage or hatred on her surviving kits face. She brings it back to ShadowClan and asks Lizardstripe to nurse him. She eventually agrees as he is the Clan leaders son. Foxheart and the following deputy both die. Raggedstar appoints Brokentail his deputy, believing he would be a great leader. Brokentail claws his way to power and Yellowfang realises he is a monster. Her punishment ends when she kills him. Yellowfang feels like Fireheart is her son.
Thank you for reading. It really means a lot to me when I see people are actually reading these.
Please let me know what you thought in the comments.
Alice B Hutley
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