Character Anaylsis
The story of Watership Down consists of a group of rabbits, but not in the simple sense that humans commonly view them. These rabbits are complex creatures with emotions, logic, religion, and a social structure. Examples are shown in the book, such as when their home is threatened they act in the same fashion as humans would. The rabbits possess real personalities, and these personalities play of each other to create natural-feeling heroics and conflict. These complex characters can speak, making them more human-like; the story is based on their reality, from their perspective. But for them, like our ancient people, numbers are a difficult concept; they cannot count higher than four. Similarly, they have no concept of time, as humans know it; instead they use terms like ‘moonrise’ or ‘sunset’ to plan their days. Each character in this story is a whirl of emotions and thoughts that we find not only comfort in these characters but also a realization of humanity in them. Whether it is from the not so perfect yet “human” chief rabbit Hazel, the ever loyal Bigwig, all the way to the cold hearted, hate filled General Woundwort, each character represents our own emotions that we have inside our souls. Between the struggles of everyday life and the dawn of a New World, the characters develop before our eyes, teaching us more about ourselves than we could ever learn from humans. It is a tale of inner resolution and strength, as each rabbit is faced with its own faith in its bond to Frith, the rabbit lord, and the cunning of their prince, El-ahrairah.
Hazel, the brother of the prophet Fiver, is a very interesting character. He is the unanimously chosen leader of the group. He may be the leader of the group, but unlike in so many other stories, he is not all knowing, and perfect. He is capable of mistakes and he does depend on others for help. He is a much better character than others who are perfect because those that “know everything” there is no surprise or realization to them, but contrary with Hazel, he learns from his mistakes. A person would much rather follow a character that they can relate with rather than a character who cannot be injured or be proved wrong. To add to his imperfection, he is not especially too quick witted or eloquent, but rather has a sort of honest, fair quality that seems to appeal to the other rabbits. A character that has just one or even no flaws is not too interesting because they have no chance for a downfall, or defeat. While Hazel always has a chance for defeat, he can be compared to the underdog. Though he is the chief rabbit, and most of the time composes himself quite calmly, he does show signs of nervousness and fright. In some instances in the story he even seems frightened, and unsure of himself, which can even add to the reason why the readers enjoy him so much, because he needs to be reassured at times that what he is doing is correct. Along with being the caring rabbit who values others opinions openly, Hazel does show instances where he seems selfish. An example of this is when he has already sent out the diplomatic expedition to Efrafa, but yet he decides that it will look amazing if he could retrieve does from the Nuthanger Farm. This was risky, and unnecessary behavior, but his selfishness, can be argued with him just trying to prove himself. Due to his lack of confidence, he must feel that everyone else doubts his leadership qualities. So his “showboating” is probably a way of proving his worth as a leader. There is a thin line between bravery and stupidity, but Hazel is able to stay inline, while at the same time composes himself as a fine role model for rabbits everywhere.
The character Bigwig plays another very important role in the story of Watership Down. Bigwig is a large rabbit who was a member of the Owsla, which is a military organization in each warren, in the original home warren of Sandleford. He is characterized by a furry patch on his head. This could make a reader believe that he is probably very feminine, but in fact he is a very manly rabbit as well as very strong. His hair even comes into play in a scene of the story, because it is a very distinguishable and identifiable mark, which nearly got him into a heap or trouble with the Efrafans. Bigwig is also a very loyal rabbit. This strong since of companionship is nearly unbreakable. If he is given an order, or request, he will go to wide lengths to fulfill these orders, even if it means his own demise. Though his foolishness could be a great loss to the group as a whole, Bigwig can usually get himself out of most difficult situations. He also guards his high principles of life very near and dear to him. When it came down between him and General Woundwort, no matter what the cost was to be, Bigwig held his ground against the monstrosity. Even though it nearly resulted in his death, it was what he believed in. Along with his strong loyalty, Bigwig can also be regarded as the stereotypical brute. Pragmatic at times, he only accepts what he can see and experience, but treats the ‘supernatural’ with disregard, at least on the surface. But in reality, Bigwig has a strong sense of religion and belief. As well as a strong link to his own mortality as shown by his sometimes frightening obsession with the Black Rabbit. Bigwig’s huge contribution to the whole is unsurpassable only by his loyalty, but everything he does is in accordance with his strong religious beliefs, that he keeps only to himself.
The epitome of evil and corruption in the rabbit’s rank is of course General Woundwort of the warren Efrafa. The General is the leader and founder of Efrafa. He is extremely large for a rabbit, which is what adds to his frightening appearance. Every rabbit in Efrafa as well as Watership down fears the Woundwort. Throughout his life, it is said that he killed many other rabbits as well as elil, their predators. This is quite understandable, because he is very fearless and vindictive. This advantage, though can be referred to as a flaw, later in the end becomes his downfall. After the escape of Bigwig and the does from Efrafa, Woundwort’s ego was tremendously hurt, and in order for him to restore himself upon the pedal stool that he believes himself to be on, he had to send out a patrol to capture the defectors. This irrationality was imminent to his demise. Unlike any other rabbit, who would have just left well enough alone, he must have felt that he needed to retaliate in one way or another. This foolishness was characteristic of the General. But along with his unstableness, Woundwort was also capable of some rational thought. He tolerated no dissent within his warren and he ran a tight hierarchy of power. This was a great innovation on his part for all of rabbit kind. Though it must have felt intolerable to the residents of Efrafa, good did exist. There were not any outside interference, thanks to the creation of the patrols. These patrols, devised by the General himself, were a great tool in the survival of Efrafa. The General’s great invention was later borrowed by the Watership Down rabbits, and proved to be quite useful. No one knows for sure what existed in the mind of General Woundwort, but within all the chaos and power hungry rabbit, there was a logical and intelligent creature. Though the General added to the pain and suffering of all the characters, good did come from his presence, and without which, the story would not have had as powerful an impact as it does. The characters that carry an important weight in Watership Down are all complex creatures whose emotions, thoughts, and beliefs create a wonderful atmosphere for the reader. To be able to follow each individual character, and watch their growth and development has an outstanding impact on the story. The real personalities that each character possess, along with the human like interactions between each character’s personality enables us to learn much from them. There are not two egos alike in this story. Whether it is the nervous yet assert and attentive leader, all the way to the ruthless, vindictive enemy, the characters possess the ability to grab us and force us to relate their beings to our own. This story and its characters are not just a bunch of rabbits, but more human then can ever be conceived. These characters teach us about ourselves as well as humanity, and if it were not for their special personalities, all this learning would be lost.
Personal Response
Overall, I have really enjoyed the book Watership Down, its deep analysis of human nature, thoughtful insights, adventurous plot and strong and touching imagery, but I would like to point out a few dislikes that I have after reading this book.
Firstly, the book is overall understandable by the common reader, but there are some parts that leave me wondering, “What’s going on here?”, or “Why is this so?”. Some parts with references to rabbit religion and rabbit history are very confusing, leaving the reader not knowing what is what, due to the lack of explanation in the novel. It is also very irritating to have to continuously look at the footnotes to find out what the author is trying to des cribe. Also, Adams makes use of a lot of make believe “Rabbit language” and a lot of religious history and that leave the reader wondering what the rabbits are saying. Examples like, “Zorn, Zorn!” cried the dreadful squealing voice. I didn’t really like spending half of my reading time trying to look up fictitious words so that I could understand what was going on.
Also, Dandelion’s stories are constantly put in throughout the story. Thus the book combines both Rabbit history and the adventures of Hazel and his group. Well, the purpose of these stories are actually to convey human like characteristics to the rabbits, and convey something like a moral. Adams has certainly achieved a very good effect with this, but I would like to point out that in doing so, the stories interrupt the flow of the main plot, as I do not think this “subplot” has been incorporated very well. It dampens the reader’s anticipation as to what is to happen next, as the mood of adventure and courage is a big drawing factor of the reader’s interest. It is however cut short, and the reader has to listen to stories about the first rabbit El-ahrairah.
Overall however, I would rate this book an 8 out of a 10. Just a reminder, but readers should not be stereotyped against the talking rabbit character portrayed in the book, for this does not limit’s Adam’s skill at descriptive imagery and his interesting plot with its many twists. This is definitely an ideal book to read for the common reader.