Theme and Author's Purpose

I have now completed reading Watership Down by Richard Adams. Having now finished the book I can say that there is true meaning in this novel. The theme of home is wonderful and meaningful creating a whole sense of pride and love for what we have. The entire story is about finding and making a true home. A home isn't just a place to live; a home has community, it has family, pleasure, and protection. The Warren of the Snares had rabbits that felt it was a home but it couldn't be. It wasn't safe and all of the rabbits were sad and scared; they couldn't have a home in that kind of environment. Likewise the warren Efrafa doesn't fit as well. Sure there is protection, there are many rabbits, and there is a community but all of these things aren't true. Everything is dominated by a single ruler and is changed at his whim. There is no pleasure, the families are established, and the community is false. Hazel's group creates/finds a place to live very early on but this place isn't a home, it needs more. It needs females, it needs more rabbits, it needs children, it needs to become not just a place to reside. To truly live happily which was their ultimate goal they needed to take care of all of these problems. 

The whole book is a struggle for this...making a place to live more than a place to live; making a place to live a home.

"In the afternoon they came unto a land/In which it seemed always afternoon/All around the coast the languid air did swoon/Breathing like one that hath a weary dream."

Structure and use of Point of View

I am reading Watership Down by Richard Adams and I have finished forty of the fifty chapters. As you know the point of view in any piece of literature is a huge factor in contributing towards the reaction of the audience, and Watership Down is no exception. The two most used points of view are that of an omniscient narrator, the main characters such as Hazel, General Woundwort, and Bigwig are given places in the novel where the story is told from their perspective but the reason for the omniscient narrator is so important that I am going to focus on that.

If Watership Down had been written specifically from the rabbits point's of view, the book would be quite confusing. They often use a "rabbit language" mixed within their English that makes absolutely no sense to a reader; Elil, Hlessi, Hrair, Hraka, Hrududu, Inle just to name a few of the words. But because these words are natural to the rabbits, they require no explanation to understand the words and in turn use them themselves. However on the flip side if the novel had been written from a human's perspective or at the very least a less than omniscient narrator the book would be much shorter. "Oh those rabbits are doing something...looks maybe like fighting...hmm..." and that would pretty much be it. But because the narrator knows everything it can stop an action at any time and explain everything we need to know in order for it all to make sense.

"The rabbits' anxieties and strain in climbing the down were different, therefore, from those which you, reader, will experience if you go there."

We're no longer restricted to a rabbit's view of the world, and can move between rabbit, human, and anything else when the occasion needs it. So the narrator can tell us what it's like for a rabbit to walk uphill in comparison to a human.

Literary Devices

I am reading Watership Down by Richard Adams and I have finished thirty one chapters. In this novel there are two outstanding literary devices. Both symbolism and anthropomorphism are used extensively through out the entirety of the text. The anthropomorphism is the easiest to catch. Each character in the story is an animal and they all speak, think, and act like developed human beings and encounter the same problems and hardships as them as well.

"I have learned that with creatures one loves, suffering is not the only thing for which one may pity them. A rabbit who does not know when a gift has made him safe is poorer than a slug, even though he may think otherwise himself." 

They have religion, government, wars, pretty much anything a human does in life these rabbits end up doing. However, the symbolism isn't hard to make out but the symbols are quite deep and require a lot of thought to recognize. The individual warrens are a good example of how the symbolism is presented. At first the warrens are seen only as communities; these are where the rabbits live and communicate so they are their societies. But in actuality, the warrens are examples of the different forms of government we see in our world. The Warren of the Snares is a slight example of a socialist development. This is because each rabbit is on equal grounds with any other. As well as that they only have as much as everyone else; nobody has more, nobody has less. The Efrafan warren, discovered in the last few chapters and investigated by a few of Hazel's companions, is a complete Totalitarian establishment. The warren is controlled by a rabbit named General Woundwort, who is also a symbol of latent Communism, and all decisions for the warren are made by himself and advised by very few of his close officers. He has complete control over the entire group and even goes so far as marking each rabbit and assigning them jobs, sleeping arrangements, feeding times, areas they are allowed to go to, mating assignments, etc. The General is everything a Totalitarian dictator is described to be. On the other side Hazel's warren is the complete exemplification of a Democratic Republic. The leader is wanted by the group; he is only in power as long as the rest allow it and desire it. All of the decisions of the leader are made with everyone's benefit at the forefront; no one is more important than the rest when something needs to get done.

Characterization

In the novel Watership Down by Richard Adams I have read through the first twenty chapters. This novel uses implicit characterization to mold each and every character. For example, the main character of Watership Down, Hazel, is very well constructed through his actions. Although he isn't very large, he possesses many of the traits needed to be a great leader. He makes every action and thought move for the benefit of the entire group, he puts his own life on the line for others, he is a quick thinker often making decisions very fast, and above all else he inspires and raises the morale of the other rabbits.

"I think we ought to do all we can to make these creatures friendly. It might turn out to be well worth the trouble."

This quote comes from Hazel right after he saves a mouse. The mouse was being attacked by a hawk and after a quick thought Hazel ran out and guided the mouse into the group's holes. This is different from normal as most rabbits in the novel view all other animals in two classes: enemies or nonexistent. However, I think this was an act by Hazel to get on the good side of others. Hazel is very smart and has proved it time and again, he saves his entire group by getting them out of a doomed warren a couple chapters back, and I believe this was in the benefit of his group. It cost him nothing to help the mouse and if the mouse keeps its word and helps them in the future, then not only was it profit but it gained them future benefits.

The other characters are well thought out as well and are all definitely noteworthy. 

However, being the main character makes Hazel much more round and easier to analyze.

Tone and Diction

I am reading Watership Down by Richard Adams and I have finished the first nine chapters of the novel. The main character Hazel has been introduced, along with his band of compatriots: Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry, Dandelion, Pipkin, Buckthorn, Silver, Hawkbit, Acorn, and Speedwell. These eleven rabbits have left their warren because of a vision of Fiver's that "something terrible is coming". So far the story's tone and setting is very dark and sad but at the same time optimistic. At one point Dandelion is asked to tell a story of El-ahrairah, the Prince of Rabbits, and it follows this exact same point. 

"El-ahrairah, your people cannot rule the world, for I will not have it so. All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed."

The thought first imposed in this quote is awful. "All the world will be your enemy", is a horrible thing to think; yet at the same time, "Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed", seems so wonderful. Rabbits are fast and tricky so this doesn't seem bad at all. 

Be exactly what a rabbit is and survive? 

Absolutely!