Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Hump-day jokes aside (and trust us, we've got plenty), the camel—who remains unnamed in spite of Gemma's vote to call her "Stolen"—is a pretty important part of how Gemma interprets her ordeal.
Just as she sees Ty as very much like the Separates, Gemma frequently relates her situation to the camel's after they bring her back to Ty's property. For one thing, the camel's behavior during the capture is an awful lot like Gemma's—she first attempts to fight back. "She moaned and moaned," Gemma describes. "She tried moving […] but you were tightening the rope around her front legs" (43.7).
Gemma herself also fights a lot against Ty—she attempts suicide, threatens to cut out his eye, and physically attacks him on numerous occasions. And yet, his response to her efforts is the same as his response to the camel's: "You're dreaming if you think you're going to get away, girl" (43.16). Um … creepy.
Ty's approach to dealing with the camel even mirrors his dealings with Gemma's rebellion. As he walks her around the pen back at his house, he explains how he's trying to break her down and get her to accept him—the camel, that is, not Gemma. "Baby steps," he says. "Just one tiny thing at a time until she learns to accept […] Once she trusts me and she's accepted me, she'll like it better this way" (47.11, 14). Ty is talking about the camel here, but he might as well be talking about Gemma. He takes the exact same approach to convincing her to accept her new home.
We're not going to touch the debate about whether or not Gemma has Stockholm syndrome, but we will say this—Gemma adapts to Ty in the same way the camel adjusts to being with them instead of her herd. Because of this, the part where Ty lets her go once they make their journey to the car to take Gemma to the airstrip is pretty gut-wrenching. As Ty drives away, "she moved into a lope. She ran beside us" (86.13). While Gemma has spent weeks imagining her escape, the truth is that part of her doesn't want to leave, either. Just like the camel doesn't want to part ways.