Brambleclaw- Change Agents

Given the turbocharged events of Sunset, this seemed like an appropriate subject to talk about. This isn't the first time that Brambleclaw's actions and words have expressed his desire to break from his father's dark past, and yet he still faces the difficult temptations to follow Tigerstar. He faces the same prejudices that real-world change agents do. Brambleclaw demonstrates the challenges that many of these real people do throughout life.

A change agent in the real world is not part of any organization. Here's a quick experiment: Think of your role model. No, seriously, your real role model. A majority of you probably picked a sister, a brother, a parent, or some other family member. A change agent would most likely not say one of these people. They may not have a role model at all. Their main purpose is to not end up like these people who should be their role models. Many grow up in troubled, possibly abusive households. They may have a parent or sibling who has continually gotten into trouble with the law, drinking, or participates in other illegal activities. Many are labeled, stereotyped, and prejudiced as such. And all their life, they spend trying to fix these errors in their own lives, to make sure that if their parent does drugs, they don't; that If they've been hit by a father or a mother, they don't hit their children; or if a sibling ends up in jail for drug dealing, they stay clean of the stuff themselves.

However, the challenges in this kind of position are very hard. If the family lives in an unhealthy neighborhood, the change agent may pick up the label of being a druggie? or a hood rat.? It may not seem that much, but when you have people labeling you as such from all sides, you may conform to their mental image of you, even if it isn't correct. Not to mention that in some situations, temptation may be visible wherever they go. In a family where everyone smokes, a change agent who doesn't want to smoke will find himself with a lot of cigarette packets, ashtrays, and lighters. They may be surrounded by the very things that they are trying to avoid, which makes sticking to their goal all the more difficult.

Brambleclaw is a lot like these change agents. He faces the Clan's prejudice that he will turn into his father, particularly Squirrelflight's and Leafpool's. And although he truly hates being associated with his father, Tigerstar's visits in Brambleclaw's dreams bring up the temptation to follow in his father's dark footsteps. These difficulties are nothing new to him. His father asked Brambleclaw several times to join him in ShadowClan, to follow him, which, considering Tigerstar's apparent power there, would have been very tempting. He faced the prejudice of many cats, no matter how Goldenflower shielded him and Tawnypelt, especially from his own mentor Firestar.

Brambleclaw is not so different from change agents in the real world. They both face temptation and prejudice, which continues most of their whole life. However, as we know, Brambleclaw proved again and again that he was himself, and not his father. Truly, we must give all change agents that chance to live happy, successful lives, out of the shadows of their families' actions.