Sunday, January 23, 2011

Warriors - Thoughts on Grieving

Some thoughts on grieving from Warriors: Bluestar's Prophecy. This post contains spoilers, so if you haven't read this book and plan to, you may want to wait to read this post.


Chapter 10 is about grieving. Bluepaw has been grumpy and rude to her clanmates. She is not wanting to do her work and when she does work her abilities are subpar. She is stuck in grieving and I can very much relate with the manner in which Bluepaw grieves for her mother.
She stomped farther into the bracken, trying to ignore the guilt pricking at her pelt. It wasn't Snowpaw's fault she felt so angry. Every morning since Moonflower had died, Bluepaw woke with the same hollow sadness opening like an old wound in her belly. It should be her mother helping her through the snowdrifts not Sunfall. If Moonflower were still alive, she could help Bluepaw to learn how to hunt so that she didn't appear so stupid in front of her denmates. Why wasn't she there?
Bluepaw remains angry with no hint of accepting her mother's death. Her anger spills out on any cat who tries to interact with her. A little bit later in the story, Bluepaw's mentor, Sunfall tries to help her find a bit of peace in her anguish by telling her,
"Warriors die in battle. It's a fact. But they do not leave us. They join StarClan, where they find old friends and kin, and there they watch over us."
Bluepaw glanced through the branches at the darkening sky. Silverpelt would be out soon. Was Moonflower really there, watching? Her heart ached with wanting to believe it was true.
There certainly is some comfort that comes from believing in life after death. However it seems the comfort is no match for the fear of loss and resulting anger at the loss. It's nice to think that one day there will be a reunion in heaven, but the waiting, the anguish until that day is too much.

Bluepaw is able to find greater hopefulness and the heavy weight of her grief lesses a bit. She carries on. In time she loses many more loved ones. How she carries on, I cannot fathom.

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