Watership Down 3 Essay, Research Paper

Watership Down

In this story, Richard Adams creates an interesting part of the story when eleven rabbits unite to form a group and flee from their warren, in hopes of avoiding a great tragedy. These rabbits leave their warren without knowledge of why they need to leave their homes. The one thing the rabbits have in common is their faith in Fiver s dreams and visions. Together these rabbits will have to put aside their differences in order to face the danger ahead of them.

The newfound friends are led by a young headstrong rabbit named Hazel who tries to lead with courage and wisdom. While the group travels to their unknown destination they encounter problems like wild animals, but with cooperation they get through their problems. An interesting part is how they figure out a way to transport their injured Fiver and Pipkin across the river to escape the dog. Using his brains, Hazels has the idea to ship the two injured rabbits across the river upon a flat piece of wood. When this act had been done, the other rabbits had a new admiration of Hazel. This new admiration was brought upon, when he had to choose to leave injured rabbits behind he refused and thought of idea to help them across, Hazel has shown himself as a competent, caring, and wise leader.

Fiver is a small rabbit that seems to have the ability to see future visions. It was because of him that the eleven crusaders left to find a new home. He predicted the destruction of the warren long before it was to happen. His character is very strange, he is constantly looking over his shoulder, maybe expecting a hideous monster. When he does not feel totally at ease he will tremble, bolt, or go crazy. He is a good friend to have around, many times he has saved the group with his extraordinary abilities. He had predicted the destruction of the warren and the freakish lifestyle of Cowslip s warren, another is his dream of Hazel trapped in the ditch. Fiver is a reliable and very valuable asset to this group as a friend and as a seer. Without him the group would have died in the warren and would not have had a chance at all.

Another of the main characters is Bigwig, he is strong larger rabbit that was previously a part of the group owsla. He is eager to fight and defend the group and looks out for the welfare of the team. He goes through a lot to make sure that the group remains safe during the journey to a new warren. Like when they arrived at the river, even though they were all exhausted he swam across to check out the other side to be sure it was safe. Some times however he is a little too headstrong, like when they are at the farm to release the four caged rabbits, to do this he had to fight a cat. Bigwig has also taken a lot of beatings like when he was trapped in the wires at the second warren, after almost dying he continues to journey with the rest of the group to again find the perfect warren.

So the eleven heroic travelers embarked on a journey well over their heads. Leaving a life of peace and happiness, they leave because of that one tiny bit of doubt that their only home wasn t perfect in some way, but together they were able to accomplish their goal in finding a new warren, a safe home. They tackled obstacles the average rabbit would just run away from, but instead using what talents and intelligence that was given unto them, they were able to find a safe place, their warren.