Free Sample Essays > European Literature
Watership Down
“I’m so late! I’m so very, very late!”- This is one of the most recognized phrases said by the peculiar White Rabbit from the well-known story, ‘Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.’ Just like the White Rabbit, the characters from the amazing novel, Watership Down, are of rabbit origin and have the ability to speak in the form of a human. Even though in reality we know that rabbits do not have the capability to speak, the creatures of this story are based on a fantasy and therefore are living in a different time and place than us. But this doesn’t mean that just because it has been set in a different time and place its themes aren’t relevant to us today. Watership Down revolves around the central themes of survival, friendship and belief. All in which are relevant to the issues that we deal with today.
Watership Down is an enchanting-fantasy novel based on real places, which was written in the mid-sixties by Richard Adams. It involves a group of rabbits that seek to settle in a majestic meadow where they will be able to build a new warren. The party of rabbits led by their leader Hazel, faces a multitude obstacles throughout their quest. The explanation for the rabbit’s sudden hunt for haven was due to a forewarning by one of the rabbits reading a notice board, which advertised the clearing of Sandleford Warren (the rabbits previous home) to be used as building land. Throughout their prolonged voyage the rabbits encounter all sorts of inhabitants. They also meet humans like Mr. and Mrs. Cane and their daughter, Lucy, who live at the Nuthanger Farm, a place the rabbits stop by on their journey. This is indeed one fantastic tale of the rabbit race.
In the novel, survival is a major aspect in which it allows the characters and the plot to boldly stand out. The character, Fiver, is the rabbit, which began their quest of survival. His premonition of upcoming disaster led rabbits from his warren to embark on a journey for a paradise field. Like all voyages there are always obstacles to tackle, in this situation, surviving is their key obstacle. The adventures Hazel and his comrades go through can reasonably be compared to as the same as of our civilisation. The humans living on Earth today might be a slight more intelligent then the humans living thousands of years ago, but both generations of humans participate in labour. Working always was and always will be the key point to surviving and achieving your goals no matter what generation you’re in. As for the characters in the story, to survive they had to work hard to achieve what they started out for- happiness. An example of working in the story was when the rabbits began to build a new warren near the middle of the story. Other examples of surviving would be when Hazel and his travelling [next page]