Raid on the Camp - Summary Essay

 This story. Just wow.

I forgot how brutal the ShadowClan attack on the WindClan camp was from when I last read this. And I forgot how many cats were named in it. It’s unusual for a short story to have more than one or two named characters, but I think it’s a smart move here.

As soon as something is given a name, you form a stronger connection with it, so naming all these characters makes this battle seem all the more devastating and brutal. 

It took me a while to pin down a theme for this one. Sure, it was a deadly fight, but did it really say anything?

The naming of the characters actually plays a part here too. Several of the interactions are between closely related cats, and for the ones that weren’t, having names made them seem closer to one another as well as the reader—the theme’s family.

This might seem a completely out of place theme for a story like this. It does seem an odd fit, but after thinking about it a little, you can see the many things it is saying about family. If you’re having a hard time seeing any, I point out a few in my essay below. 

The central theme in Raid on the Camp is family. People in families often form close bonds they don’t share with others. People feel more ready to fight for family, and the strength of a family can help you to carry on in the face of adversity. Mudclaw throws himself ‘into the thick of the fighting’ pg. 31 to protect the Clan. Ashfoot promises to fight if Morningflower will defend his son. Knowing that many of his clanmates survived this attack gives Tallstar the strength to stand up to Brokenstar and deliver a message of defiance.

There are no real main characters in the short story. None of the individual characters appears for a third of Raid on the Camp, and so, aren’t relevant enough to be considered main characters. Several do appear often enough to be considered minor characters, but not leading. All the other characters in the short story are only incidental.

The main situations follow: Thrushwing sounds the alarm when enemies invade WindClan camp while Stoneclaw is killed. WindClan sounds their warrior yowl and fights back. Ashfoot asks the pregnant Morningflower to protect his kit instead of fighting. Howls of rage and fear can be heard. The injured Thrushwing fights and many WindClan cats lay dead. Deadfoot and Tallstar decide to abandon Camp. Tallstar promises this isn’t the last of his Clan, and Brokenstar promises to find them wherever they go. WindClan flees.

Let me know what you think and thanks for taking the time to read this.

Alice B Hutley

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