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Watership Down
Published 1972
I ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Adams was born May 9, 1920, in Newbury, Berkshire, England. After earning a degree from Worcester College, Oxford, he married Barbara Elizabeth Acland on September 20, 1949; the couple subsequently had two children. At the age of 50, Adams, who worked as a British civil servant and had never published anything, produced a bulky typewriter manuscript. His story about rabbits had delighted his daughters and he was anxious to have it published. Unfortunately, his animal fantasy was turned down by four publishers and four literary agents. Finally a small publishing house, Rex Collings, accepted the manuscript. The 2,000 copies printed by Collings sold surprisingly well. When Penguin reprinted the book in paperback and promoted it as a novel for children, it sold over one million copies. In the United States Macmillan then printed a hard cover edition which became a best seller, selling over 700,000 copies. Adams's unwanted manuscript turned out to be the best-selling Watership Down.
Watership Down is that paradox of commercial publishing, an instant classic. Adams's subsequent novels were eagerly awaited by editors and readers alike. In addition, he compiled, introduced, or wrote several non-fiction works. By the age of 60 Adams had his name on the title pages of ten works and an established reputation as a writer of distinctive fantasy.
In its triumphant passage to classic status, Watership Down won the Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal, but did not meet with unanimous critical acclaim. Many reviewers were confused because the book was marketed in Britain as a juvenile book and in the United States as an adult novel. Is Watership Down then an adventurous animal fantasy for children in the tradition of The Wind in the Willows (1908), or is it a political commentary for adults like the animal allegories of George Orwell (Animal Farm, 1945) and Karel Capek (War with the Newts, 1937)?
The timing of the book also made some reviewers uneasy. Three years before Watership Down made rabbits chic, a Robert Merle novel popularized dolphins as anthropomorphic characters; two years before Richard Bach made Jonathan Livingston Seagull a household name. Critics wondered whether Adams's rabbits were part of a literary fad.
Reviewers who smelled an allegory lurking beneath the surface disliked Watership Down for not making its allegory more explicit. Those who suspected an attempt to capitalize on the novelty of rabbit protagonists were quick to point out Watership Down's literary flaws and obvious lineage. But such reviewers proved to be a minority; most hailed the book for its imaginative creation of a rabbit world, complete with mythology, history, and government, and for its evocation of nature.
Adams's subsequent novels have not achieved the same commercial or critical success. His second novel, Shardik (1974), also created a whole new world, although a human rather than an animal one. With its long and at times gruesome narrative, the novel proved somewhat of a philosophical puzzle. Adams's third novel, The Plague Dogs (1977), returned to animal protagonists and, like Watership Down, created a convincing imaginative world, this time from a canine perspective. Many critics thought that The Plague Dogs saddled its narrative with excessive preaching against the mistreatment of animals; the combination of story and sermon proved less appealing. Adams's fourth novel was a surprise; The Girl in a Swing is an intriguing love story but lacks the exotic characters and locales that Adams's readers had come to expect.
Adams has established himself as a serious author. Watership Down appears on numerous school reading lists. Literary critics are attracted to Adams's use of mythology; his creation of alternate worlds have made researchers anxious to trace his sources. Adams's use of realism in animal fiction challenges the central tradition of sentimental anthropomorphism in children's literature.
II OVERVIEW
Watership Down portrays the issues of survival and trust from a variety of perspectives. The story begins in the threatened rabbit warren, Sandleford. It is an ordinary society, pleasant but imperfect, neither an Eden nor a tyranny. Its doom comes from without, not within; only a half-dozen rabbits, sensing some ill-omen, flee the warren and survive its destruction. Now in a hostile environment, the band, led by Hazel, must rebuild the rabbit community even as it travels. To survive, the group pools its wisdom, and each individual takes responsibility for what he does best: the fastest scouts ahead, the biggest confronts enemies, the most cunning chooses a place to rest.
III SETTING
Adams pays particular attention to the landscape in Watership Down. By providing a detailed map of the land around Nuthanger Farm and frequent descriptions of the countryside and climate, Adams creates a tactile, three dimensional setting, so convincing that eavesdropping on the conversation or thoughts of rabbits seems natural. All of the places in the novel, including Watership Down itself, are actual locations in England. By using specific geographical details, Adams adds a sense of reality to his fantastic tale. In addition, he ends the book with a 'Lapine Glossary' which further recognizes the rabbits as having a culture and language all their own.
IV THEMES AND CHARACTERS
The concern for the environment and the focus on leadership combine to form the central theme of the novel, which is the formation of community. In the leporine world of Watership Down, community is achieved when a group of individuals share a common purpose in life, realize that cooperation is essential to survival, and trust the complementary talents of others.
The wandering escapees of Sandleford encounter two other societies. Cowslip warren at first seems delightful; its rabbits are well-fed and uncrowded. Its bounty is deceiving, however; the warren survives only as a farmer's colony, well-fed in order to provide an occasional, inevitable stew to the man's table. The Cowslip rabbits understand their plight, but lack the will or the wisdom to combat it.
If Cowslip warren is pampered and imprisoned, Efrafa warren is fiercely independent. To preserve itself, however, Efrafa has developed a militaristic, fascist state under the rule of a ruthless, ever-vigilant leader. Efrafa lets no native rabbit leave and enslaves outsiders who wander into its territory.
When the Sandleford refugees establish their own warren at Nuthanger Farm on Watership Down, they preserve the freedom that Cowslip surrendered in exchange for ease, and they create the solidarity that Efrafa could impose only by force. Adams remarked once that he strives to portray an 'animality' which corresponds to 'humanity'; i.e. those ground rules which harmonize the competing interests of the individual and the group. Watership Down argues that cooperation, self-control, and self-sacrifice are as crucial to animality as to humanity.
Because the effort by Hazel's band is a communal one, none of the rabbits emerges as a dominant personality. Together they act as the novel's protagonist. Each represents a skill, talent, or disposition that makes the community flourish. Hazel is a planner, the one who realizes what tasks must be done and has the courage to face up to danger. Bigwig is physically strong and courageous; he provides brawn and is the group's fighter. Fiver is the prophet and seer, sensitive to the omens and premonitions that precede conscious decisions. Holly is the loyal subordinate, ready to lend brain or brawn as circumstances demand.
The rabbits are aided by a seagull, Kehaar, whom Hazel had fed and sheltered when it was injured. In return Kehaar aids in the attack on Efrafa. It is a remarkable instance, to the animal characters, of cooperation between species. Kehaar provides comic relief as well as tactical assistance; he speaks English with an Eastern European accent that must be read aloud to be appreciated.
The one malevolent character is General Woundwort, the tyrant of Efrafa. Having escaped death several times as a young rabbit, Woundwort believes in rule with an iron paw: only constant vigilance, severe discipline, and willingness to inflict pain ensure survival. Woundwort is a terrible antagonist, coming within a hare's breadth of capturing Hazel's band. The hare whose breadth Woundwort cannot overcome is Bigwig, who courageously stymies the General's attack in a dark tunnel.
A final important character appears in the interpolated narratives. Six times the main action pauses while a rabbit tells a tale of El-ahrairah, a legendary rabbit hero. These tales of rabbit heroics against traditional enemies, even against the 'gods,' embody in one character the diverse qualities of Hazel's band. The stories of El-ahrairah form an incremental commentary on the nature of animality: the cunning and courage to face enemies, the wisdom and foresight to flee when cunning is not possible, and the willingness to risk one's self for others when flight is impossible.
V LITERARY QUALITIES
The success of Watership Down results from several stylistic features. The first technique is the use of epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter. These epigraphs, drawn from the Bible, classical literature, English poetry, science, and folklore, serve the narrative function of indicating the direction the action will take. They also serve the thematic function of suggesting the seriousness of the action. If passages from Shakespeare, Blake, and Saint Paul illuminate the tale, then surely it is more than an entertaining story about rabbits. The epigraphs also place Watership Down in the tradition of the 19th-century English novel, which frequently used such epigraphs as a sign of seriousness.
In plot structure Watership Down has suggestive parallels to the Roman epic, the Aeneid. The rabbits' escape from doomed Sandleford, their temporary sojourn at Cowslip, and the battle with Efrafa warren recall Aeneas's flight from besieged Troy, his dalliance with Dido at Carthage, and his warfare against Turnus in Latium to establish a city for the surviving Trojans. Like the epigraphs, the epic suggestiveness establishes Watership Down as a serious literary work.
Animal stories are as old as human imagination. Fables use animals to represent human behavior, and fairy tales often employ animals with magic powers to change human destiny. Other animal stories, such as Anna Sewell's Black Beauty (1877) and Jack London's The Call of the Wild (1903), relate the animal's interactions with human beings, often in sentimental language. Watership Down is distinguished by the remoteness of the human world and by Adams's ability to have his animals' dialogue in human speech, yet remain rabbits in their behavior, instincts, and knowledge. Adams also avoids the didactic tendency of animal fiction; that is, the explicit teaching of human ethics or morals.
VI SOCIAL SENSITIVITY
Adams's tribute to the English countryside is less pastoral than ecological. His account of rabbit habits and habitat reflects the ecosystem of a rural landscape where all living things constitute a delicate balance. If one part of the ecosystem is carelessly destroyed, the whole environment suffers. Adams's offers a positive image of leadership to a society that seems to have lost its ability to accept direction from anyone other than media celebrities, well-groomed politicians, or ideological bullies.
VII TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Why do the rabbits believe that it is necessary to leave Sandleford Warren?
2. Which is your favorite rabbit? Which is your least favorite? Why?
3. Do you feel that the epigraphs at the beginning of the chapters enhance the novel?
4. One of the last chapters in the book is entitled 'Dea ex Machina.' What does this phrase mean? Why is an appropriate title?
5. What purpose do the myths of El-ahrairah serve?
6. What is the Owsla? Is it similar to any governmental office in the United States?
7. What role do humans play in this novel?
8. Compare the warrens, Cowslip and Efrafa. Why do the Sandleford rabbits find them unacceptable?
VIII IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS
1. Watch the movie Watership Down and compare it to the novel.
2. Pick several of the epigraphs and explain how they relate to their chapters.
3. Trust and survival are two primary themes in Watership Down. Explain their relationship. Which rabbit do you think best exemplifies each of these attributes?
4. Compare the rabbit community to human society in terms of power, class, and social structures. Has Adams portrayed the rabbits in only human terms, or does he give them rabbit characteristics as well?
5. Critics have compared Watership Down to Virgil's Aeneid. Read Virgil's work and compare the two.
6. Read another novel that features animals. Is Watership Down more or less realistic? Why?
IX RELATED TITLES AND ADAPTATIONS
Though many readers of Watership Down hoped for a sequel, Adams has so far not obliged them. Perhaps he believes that part of the charm of the story is that it is a unique, imaginative experience of the rabbit world.
In his third novel, Adams explores a different animal world. The Plague Dogs is a novel whose protagonists are two dogs, Snitter and Rowf, who escape from a scientific research station. Loose for the first time in the wild, Snitter and Rowf survive with the help of Tod, a fox who is wise in the ways of stealing chickens and hunting sheep. The two dogs elude recapture until they are reunited with their master in a surprising, happy ending.
These canine heroes are drawn with the same care as the rabbits of Watership Down; readers hope for them to escape as instinctively as they rooted for Hazel's band to find a safe warren. Unfortunately, Adams's canine world is not as fully imagined as his rabbit world. It does not possess the mythology, the psychology, and the politics which created the persuasive reality of the warren. The dogs deal extensively with human beings who remain in the background of Watership Down.
In 1978 Marin Rosen wrote, produced, and directed an animated version of Watership Down. Rosen's script, which condensed the action of the book, focuses on the ecological theme. The sophisticated animation technique avoids the sentimentality associated with Disney animal tales and appeals to adults as well as children. A distinguished cast of actors, including Sir Ralph Richardson and Zero Mostel, provides the voices. The film was more of a critical than a popular success.
Contributed by: Robert M. Otten, Indiana University, Purdue University at Fort Wayne
Source: Beacham’s Guide to Literature for Young Adults. Copyright by Gale Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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