Watership Down Thesis

“Watership Down” is an adventure book about rabbits written by Richard Adams. The story is a narrative that seems to be explained by one of the rabbits of the story (Shmoop Editorial Team). In “Watership Down” the author uses new terms for the rabbit’s “language”, to make the book more interesting. Furthermore, in the book there is a constant theme of family Watership Down in a commendable story for everyone.

The book “Watership Down” is told in a narrative tone possibly by one of the rabbits, who found Watership Down, the new home of the rabbits, most likely, Fiver or Hazel. The book starts off with Hazel and Fiver, the protagonists, out in their warren’s field eating when suddenly Fiver has a dream of dead bodies lying across the highlands

of their warren. Panicked, Fiver says, “Oh Hazel, look! The field! It's covered in blood!” (Adams 7). It was only a vision, but they went to the chief rabbits to inform him of what Fiver saw. Often times when Fiver had a vision it was true and should be listened to. For example, Fiver had predicted that a flood would come, and it did. Woefully, the chief didn’t heed Fiver and Hazel’s words to leave the warren. Gathering as many warren rabbits as they could, Fiver and Hazel set off on an exhilarating journey to find a new secure home.
On their adventure the rabbits encountered many dangers.

Some of the threats that they encountered were predators, such as dogs and cats. One of the most treacherous things that they happened upon was a warren, called Cowslip’s Warren. At first the warren seems like a great home because there was plenty of food, a multitude of muscular, healthy rabbits, and no beasts lurking about to hunt them. Soon the group of rabbits discovered the truth about Cowslip’s Warren; It was not as tranquil as they believed. Although the warren did seem safe, there were many peculiar things that happened in the “safe” warren. They would carry food with their mouths from a big pile of scraps, rabbits would go missing, they didn’t like rain, and there were bizarre disturbances in the woods of Cowslip’s Warren. Fiver tried to warn his companions that the warren was not safe, but they felt happy and chose not to attend his words. Wistfully, one of Hazel and Fiver’s companions, Bigwig, gets caught in a snare; they were able to free him. Now the eyes of the adventuring rabbits were open. All the strange things that these warren rabbits were doing made sense. The scrape food was left there on purpose to fatten the rabbits. The unusual disorders in the wood was a rabbit trying to free itself from the snare. They were all traps, so that a farmer could effortlessly get food and Cowslip’s warren knew it, but they let it go to be “safe”. Quickly, the rabbits and one of Cowslip’s rabbits escaped before it

was too late.
Soon Hazel leads his companions to a peaceful hill, that they named Watership Down. On Watership Down they run into many problems. Their first dilemma was building a warren. Usually the does would build the burrows for the warren, but sadly they left their old warren without any does. Solving the problem, the rabbits make a decision to construct their own burrows. Furthermore, after they begin to build the warren the rabbits run into another difficulty; there were no does amongst them. Without does Watership Down would not grow to be a huge strong warren. Again, some of the rabbits sat off to obtain some female rabbits. Hazel gets three farm hutch rabbits; one is male the other two are female. Then he sets out to go to a large warren, Efrafa. There Hazel and his companions run into some trouble because of Efrafa’s strict policies of no one leaving the warren. Hazel then made the decision to infiltrate Efrafa and steal some of their does (Fandom). In the end they get all the does that they needed. After Hazel brings the rabbits back home, Efrafa’s general declares war on Watership Down. Dismally, there were nowhere near enough rabbits to protect Watership Down(Chapman), so Hazel leads the weak rabbits away while the stronger ones stay to protect their home. Finally, Hazel leads the rabbits back to their home Watership Down.
In Watership down the writer comes up with new terminology that the rabbit uses. Not only does it give the book distinction it also adds personification, by showing that the rabbits can create thing to make themselves more civilized.
 Elil is a term used for the antagonists of the rabbits, such as a fox (Homba in the book), stoat, weasel, cat (Pfeffa in the book) and owls (Adams 5).
 Flayrah is food that is delightful.; carrots, lettuce and celery.
 Flay ordinary plain food; Grass and green food.
 Embleer means stinking of fox.
 Frith is the rabbit’s god who is the sun. Also, used as Frithrah which mean the lord sun.
 Fu Inlé is used as a time; after moonrise.
 Hrair is any number over four. Rabbits can only count to four (Adams 5)
 Inlé the moon. Could be also taken as darkness, fear or death.
 Marli is a female rabbit. Also, meaning mother.
 M’saion “We meet them” (Adams 478)
 Ni-Frith is a time, meaning noon.
 Owsla are the protectors of a warren. They are the strongest rabbits.
 Rah is a leader, prince, or a chief rabbit.
 Silf means to be above ground.
 Silfay means to feed above ground.
 Zorn means to cause calamity; Murder destroy

These terms make the book more interesting because without them the rabbit would be without a distinction from human language and other books.
Throughout Watership Down an unceasing theme of family is seen (SparkNotes Editors).

The book starts and end with family. There were four different families in the Watership Down. First there was the warren at the beginning of the book. Everyone was happy everything was serene, yet there was a sense of danger and no. No one wanted to leave because it was their home, and they felt safe, but when Fivers had his vision hardly anyone wanted to listen because they felt like nothing could harm them. This family didn’t seem to trust each other. Secondly, was Cowslip’s Warren where everyone seemed healthy and happy, but deep inside there was a great menace (the farmer) attacking the warren. Regardless of the danger Cowslip’s warren faced, they did nothing about it. They were willing to lose members of their family to have food and safety when they knew there were other places to make a safe home. Third, is Efrafa. Efrafa is an extremely strict family. No one was permitted to come or go, and everyone had a mark to identify them. Forlornly, Efrafa is the home that is “safe”, but not lovable. Lastly, is Watership down. It was peaceful, beautiful, and secure. The rabbits of Watership Down learn to work together, even when it was difficult, and they didn’t know what they were doing. Representing a strong, healthy, and happy family, Watership Down is an extremely ideal family to be a part of. They worked to be an amazing family, even when life was difficult. That is what a true family

should be like. Each one of the families used in Watership Down are true representations of everyday families
Watership Down is a book that tells of the adventures of rabbits trying to find a new home. The author of the book used new dictions to make the book interesting and distinct from other rabbit tales. Richard Adams also made the book about different kinds of family. He chose not to build the book with one perfect family, but many families who weren’t perfect. Additionally, they bring a bit of reality to the table, because often times books make families somewhat flawless to hind the fact that families are not perfect but do struggle. Watership Down in a marvelous book for all ages.