Analysis of Watership Down by Richard Adams

The title of this book is Watership Down, and it was written by Richard Adams. The story is about a group of rabbits who run away from their warren, or their pack, after learning that their lives were in danger. These rabbits listen to the forewarning of one inferior rabbit with big powers, this rabbit can predict the future. After hearing the forewarning of the aforementioned rabbit, Fiver, the group runs away from their warren, with Fiver’s brother, Hazel, as their chief on a perilous journey.

As they went on this journey a major theme through the book was deception. The rabbits constantly told stories about El-ahrairah, or the “Prince with a Thousand Enemies”. The “Prince with a Thousand Enemies” was a rabbit folk hero, who was constantly tricking animals and other things. The rabbits used him as their inspiration to constantly use deception.

Fiver is Hazel’s younger brother. He is a small, timid rabbit with wide, staring eyes and a nose that constantly twitches. Fiver has the ability to sense things other rabbits can not, he can predict the future. Due to that, he is frequently in a nervous state, but he still manages to guide the group in the proper direction, regardless of how he is feeling. Fiver also has the ability to sense danger when others can not. At one point, the pack felt as though they were safe with a new warren in an exposed place, but Fiver ended up saving them from certain death. Fiver constantly sticks to his instincts and does not change his mind, due to other people’s opinions. He is definitely an important asset for the warren.

Overall, I did not like Watership Down, due to the fact that I constantly felt weighted down reading it. When I started the book, I expected a light, adventurous story, but at som...

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...ent many of us started to regret leaving the warren. Even though the story may seem insignificant, that was the moment when I truly started to doubt myself and my leadership skills. That was the moment when I realized I was not fit to lead the pack. This was when everyone started to count on one another.

As we advance in this journey, I learned that even though I was the chief, I could not always save everyone all the time. I grew into someone that didn’t think they new everything, I grew into someone who learned something new everyday. As we went on this journey, I constantly struggled with myself, but as we advance in this new journey, I constantly learn to cope with myself and my problems, and help others.

I did not read this book to its full capacity, but I read roughly 25% of the book. This report was written using information from the part that I did read.