Post 13 ; Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed reading and doing my final project on Watership Down. To me, it's a classic story that everyone should get a chance to read and enjoy. This was a story that I really enjoyed when I was little; I didn't have the novel, but I watched the movie and it was amazing to me. Back then, seeing things and characters like El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé were confusing to me and I didn't understand what they meant or stood for. But now, having the opportunity to do a project on this story and now understand what I didn't know before was a great experience; I now understand what the meaning of those characters are. I hope anyone who reads this blog has an opportunity to watch the movie; I'll include it at the bottom of this post.

In conclusion, I hope I did a good job with this project. When I first started off with this project, I noticed that I  spent most of the time just summarizing the story. But as I progressed, I started writing more about what any questions I had about a certain part, or even just my thoughts on the story. Hopefully I improved my posts enough over time to leave a positive impression!

Watership Down- Full Movie (Youtube)

Post 12 ; Chapters 48-50 (Epilogue)

The Nuthanger Farm

Chapter 48: Dea ex Machina

Back at the Nuthanger farm, Hazel is squealing from the cat and is about to kill him until Lucy, a girl who lives on the farm, stops it and rescues Hazel. She takes Hazel up to her room and puts him in her dresser drawer, and waits until the doctor for her mom comes. When the doctor shows up, Lucy shows him Hazel, and is told that he has only minor scratches and will be fine. Hearing this, Lucy lets Hazel back outside, where he runs off back to the warren between Hare Warren Down and Watership Down.

Chapter 49: Hazel Comes Home

Because Woundwort fought with the dog, many rabbits were escape with their lives. The Efrafan rabbits come under Campion's order, and retreat back to Efrafa. Other animals hear about the defeat of Woundwort, and pick off several of the retreating Efrafans, including Vervian. Some Efrafans are too afraid to go back and surrender to the Honeycomb warren. The group has begun to think Hazel is dead until they see him coming back from the bottom of the hill. Bigwig recovers from his wounds and Hazel tells them the story on how he escaped. 

An aged Hazel (foreground) years later with the established warren

Chapter 50: And Last

The setting fast forwards to the middle of October. Several does have litters of kittens, and the Efrafans have surrendered and coexist happily with each other. Hazel proposes his old idea on building a warren between Honeycomb and Efrafa so the warren doesn't become overcrowded. The kittens grow up and more stories of El-Ahrairah are told as time passes.

Hazel encounters the Black Rabbit of Inlé, signaling his time to move on

Epilogue

The epilogue is written to show the reader what happens with everything in the end. The setting is now several years later, and there are several new warrens around Watership Down filled with rabbits. Hazel lives longer than all the other rabbits, until one day in a cold morning in March, he is visited by the Owlsa, The Black Rabbit of Inlé. Hazel leaves his body and follows the black rabbit into the fields. Hazel looks back one last time to see his dream prospering and knowing that everything there will be okay.

Hazel's spirit follows the Black Rabbit of Inlé to his new life after death


Comments/Questions

I'll admit that I was sort of disappointed when there were no surprises in the end of this story. Something like Woundwort actually being alive or the continued rivalry between Honeycomb and the Efrafans to continue the story. I think that Woundwort being alive certainly would have been a cool plot twist. But, I understand why the story ended like this.

I would have liked known how the warren progressed after the fight with Woundwort. How quickly did the rabbits settle into their new home now that they were safe? And how would the Efrafans led by Campion regrouped after losing their leader. It shows in the future that the two sides got along fine in the end but again, it would have been cool to see what happened in detail once Woundwort was gone.

The ending with Hazel going off with the Black Rabbit of Inlé gave me chills; it was one of the most powerful events that I've ever seen or read in a book. I also watched the ending of the movie and felt the exact same way. This leaves me wondering that it is possible there is some sort of life after death; I'm not religious at all, but it's fascinating to think of the possibility of living once again once your physical body dies and leaves this Earth.

This concludes my blog posts for my project but I'll have one more extra one up tomorrow. Thank you for reading all the way up to this point about Richard Adams' classic story Watership Down, and I hope that this was a blog that really got you into the story!

THE END

Post 11 ; Chapters 46-47

Bigwig defends the other Honeycomb rabbits from Woundwort

Woundwort prepares his assault on the rabbits of the Honeycomb warren, leaving two of his sentries outside. He breaks in, and sees Fiver lying on the ground, sleeping after becoming lost in a trance. Woundwort thinks he is dead so he ignores him. On the other side of the warren, Bigwig and Holly are coming up with a plan to defeat Woundwort. Bigwig decides to bury himself underneath and wait for Woundwort to get near. Woundwort sees a newly made wall and breaks through it. Just at that moment, Bigwig bursts out from underground and bites Woundwort's leg. They fight for a while, giving each other harsh bites and scratches.

Woundwort (top) and Bigwig in a bloody and violent battle

The dog chases one of Woundwort's sentries

Back outside, Dandelion and Blackberry are trying to get the dog's attention to follow them back to the warren.  At first the dog isn't interested in them, but they eventually get it's attention and starts following them. Back in Honeycomb, Woundwort and Bigwig continue their fight. Bigwig isn't afraid to die because he knows his body will be an obstacle for Woundwort to get around. They both lock onto each other and start pushing each other backwards. When Woundwort starts losing his strength, Bigwig injures his nose and it starts bleeding, causing Woundwort to not be able to breathe. He lets go of Bigwig, who has fainted due to his injuries. Woundwort leaves Bigwig and assigns Vervian, a sentry, to kill him, but refuses because he is too scared. Bigwig is barely conscious, and tells Woundwort that he will not move for anything because the chief rabbit has told him to stay, which confuses Woundwort because it was thought to be that Bigwig was the chief. Above ground, Woundwort starts making a new plan until he sees two rabbits followed by a dog chasing them. Campion screams to everyone to run, and all the rabbits except Woundwort disperse. He stands his ground and shouts out "dogs aren't dangerous! Come back and fight!" That is the last time anyone has heard from Woundwort. Presumably, the dog won the battle.

Woundwort and the dog charge at each other for the final battle

Comments/Questions

It was interesting to me that Woundwort was the only one fighting for Efrafa. I thought the sentries would at least help Woundwort with the fights, but I guess Woundwort thought they would be better off standing guard. I think that Woundwort has too much pride to ask for assistance from his sentries. He could have easily have beaten Bigwig with their help.

I would have liked to have known the details of Woundwort and the dog's fight. The dog is clearly much bigger and stronger but Woundwort is a beastly rabbit who knows how to fight. I think in the end the fight was close but the dog eventually overpowered the weakened Woundwort. Even though he was clearly a ruthless tyrant, I still admire Woundwort's bravery in going up alone against the dog after all his sentries ran off in fear. He was a true leader and a strong fighter.

I wonder what happens after this point in the story? Do the Efrafan's join up with Honeycomb to unite as one big warren? Or do they call for peace and leave each other alone? Either way I see the story ending well for the Honeycomb warren.

Post 10 ; Chapters 43-45

Woundwort with his sentries

Chapter 43: The Great Patrol

At this point, the story goes backwards a little to show how Woundwort reacted to Hazel and the group's escape. He felt that the reputation of his authority has taken a huge dent, and was obsessed with finding the group. After their escape, he assigned patrols out to the area where they had run into the fox before. Eventually the patrols found out where the Honeycomb warren was, and that's when he was going to go to the warren until Hazel showed up and offered a peace agreement between the two sides. Part of the agreement included making a warren between Honeycomb and Efrafa with rabbits from each side living in it. Woundwort likes the idea at first, but realizes that he is a dominant leader of his warren, and balks at the idea. He then tells Hazel to go back and return all the does they took, or else he will kill him as well as the rest of the bucks.

Chapter 44: A Message from El-ahrairah

Woundwort and his sentries begin their assault on the Honeycomb warren. He orders two sentries to dig out the holes blocking entrances. The sentries are worried that Keharr may attack them again, but Woundwort insists he is not nearby. Inside the warren, a sentry is mauled by Blackavar and left injured, and Woundwort realizes that they have to dig through the warren from the top. Meanwhile, Fiver screams as he becomes lost in another trance; he talks about a dog running freely outside. Hazel realizes that there was a dog back at the farm, so he tells Blackberry and Dandelion to come with him to go back to the farm.

Fiver becomes lost in a trance

Chapter 45: Nuthanger Farm Again

Outside the Honeycomb warren, Woundwort and his sentries hear Fiver's unearthly scream. They become frightened and think there may be something else down there with them. They stop digging, and tell a story about a great bird who once turned into a rod of lightning. Woundwort is barely able to keep the sentries on the job. Meanwhile, Campion spots the three rabbits running away, but Woundwort tells him to let them go. He also tells the sentries to keep digging. Meanwhile, Hazel and the others reach the farm and spot the dog leashed to a pole. They take turns gnawing the rope and looking out for other predators until Dandelion stamps the ground to warn Hazel that the cat is nearby. The cat pounces at Hazel, startling the dog, and breaks free from the leash, chasing Dandelion. Unfortunately, the cat has captured Hazel.

Hazel is captured by the cat

Questions/Comments

It was interesting to find out that Woundwort at first liked Hazel's idea of having a warren between Honeycomb and Efrafa. In theory, it would have been; a warren mixed with rabbits from both warrens would have created a bond between the two sides and possibly no violence. Instead, it looks like there will be a huge fight in the bear future. To me, it's a shame that they couldn't come to terms with each other.

I wonder why Woundwort's sentries got frightened when Fiver screamed? If I were them, I wouldn't have thought there was something else inside the warren. I would have thought the scream was because of the digging outside by the sentries. I can't think of anything that could have been underground to scare Fiver like that.

Woundwort telling Campion to let the three rabbits go was interesting to me. From Campion's perspective, they were clearly up to something suspicious but it was weird to see Woundwort let them go so passively. Woundwort must be confident with his abilities and his sentries to win the battle.

I think that letting the dog free is a huge risk for the group; it isn't fighting for either side and could even go for the Honeycomb rabbits. They must think that it would go for Woundwort out of everyone since he looks the most fierce and dangerous.