Favorite Quote: "'No one must ever ask where another rabbit was, and anything else that could make ever ask where another rabbit was and anyone who asked 'Where?'--except in a song or a poem--must be silenced. To say 'Where?' was bad enough, but to speak /openly of the wires--that was intolerable. For that they would scratch and kill" (129/130).
Watership Down's cast of characters is comprised of rabbits, many different ones with different personalities and roles. It chronicles the journey of a small group of rabbits as they journey away from their warren after one of them, Fiver, has a premonition of the warren being destroyed.
Fiver is an interesting character, one whose insight into situations and early warnings of danger are not taken seriously by others. Nobody listens to him until it's almost too late, and it is slightly reminiscent of our own society, where we find that many times, dangers are overlooked and situations unconditionally accepted when we find ourselves grounded in a comfortable spot.
Fiver is the only one who suspects the overabundance of food and luxury of the warren they join temporarily, and the others accept the warren's strange behaviors in favor of staying in a comfortable place. One of their number is almost killed before they listen to Fiver opening their eyes to the sinister nature of the warren, the wonderful conditions supplied by Man in order to fatten the rabbits for harvesting by way of snares.
However, the rest of the warren seems to know about these snares, and instead of attempting to escape from the situation, they semi-accept it, letting themselves fall into a state of denial, defending their attempts to dismiss the situation, their cowardice by fighting tooth and nail against anyone trying to bring it to light. (see Favorite Quote at the top)
Humanity feels the effects of these kinds of actions as well. People unquestioningly accept comfort and ease of living with a dangerous disregard for any hidden strings, later impacts that may show up. And, when the horrible truth comes to light, when they almost die, choking themselves on a snare they run themselves into, they go one of two ways. The rabbits of the warren choose to accept their situation as is, lying to themselves to try to get back to the way of live they once had before the snares. But, this is self-destructive. They lose their identity, obsessively trying to deny what's going on around them and losing themselves, who they are in the process. But, in Fiver's group, they have another option. Reason is like a slap in the face, waking them up to realize that they can't accept this way of "living," and they decide to choose the unknown and possible hardship rather than the madness of living knowing of the possibility of impending death every day.
Rabbits are an interesting form for the characters to take. As in Fire Bringer, they mirror human behavior, perhaps more human than we ourselves see others as. The author's choice to use animal characters over human characters allows for more flexibility and an easier to see commentary on human behavior. Oftentimes, when one reads a book about humans, one subconsciously sees the points the author makes about human behavior, but when animals are used, these stick out much more, allowing for the author's intended point to be delivered much more clearly.
The writing style is very enjoyable. Starting out, it is very much like the format of a true story. One told out loud, one told to children before bedtime. There is just a unique quality around these types of stories. Situations are recurring, the characters on the journey encountering a problem and figuring out how to overcome them to run into another problem. It's an out-of-the-frying-pan- into-the-fire type of format. But, then this novel gets more serious. When the little band steps into the new warren, the tone shifts to a much more serious one, where the stakes are much higher, and the lessons to be learned much more profound.
At first glance, Watership Down may seem like a childish type of novel, but on closer inspection, it reveals itself to be full of profound ideas, teaching of the dangers of snares, both those external placed and those self-imposed.
Rating of the book so far: 10/10 (Yes, it really is a great classic!)
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