The Rabbit Hole

Depending on how deeply you look into my thesis it can appear to be contradictory to itself. I say that the novel is not an allegory but explain how through personifying the rabbits as themselves the readers are lead to believe that it is an allegory. Does that not, in essence, just make in an allegory?The answer is no and only through reading my essay could you receive a full explanation on the idea. For now, however, you only have my wonderful outline to look at.

Example: ” The novel has epic elements, which parallel those of other works, especially The Odyssey.” http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8274%28198703%2976%3A3%3C56%3AHFOAYA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage Example: “Rabbits (say Mr. Lockley) are like human beings in many ways. One of these is certainly their staunch ability to withstand disaster and to let the stream of their life carry them along, past reaches of terror and loss” (p. 73).Example: “His animals share the faculties of language, hindsight, and foresight with human beings, and almost nothing else. They keep all their instincts and all their wildness: they just talk to each other.” http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/watership-down-richard-adams/300280/Reason 2: Humans constantly kill animals and remove them from their homes in order to expand cities but in this instance it is sad to the reader because he is personifying the rabbit as himself.Example: “Some of the factors placing pressure on the rabbit population in general are…loss of habitat to building and succession of growth”http://www.hunting-directory.co.uk/beagle/rabbitstudy.html

Example: “They believed that the warrens represented human governments (a democracy and a dictatorship), with human-like religion (the sun god who is the creator of all things).” http://www3.isrl.uiuc.edu/~unsworth/courses/bestsellers/search.cgi?title=watership+down Example: “All other elil do what they have to do and Frith moves them as he moves us. They live on the earth and they need food. Men will never rest till they’ve spoiled the earth and destroyed the animals.” (p. 151)Reason 3: Because the reader continues to personify the rabbits as people throughout the story he views it as an allegory.Example: “Let’s get one thing straight: Watership Down is not about rabbits. Anthropomorphic fiction, where animals and other beings are given human characteristics is always really about humans.” http://www.mayfieldiow.freewire.co.uk/watershp/wdwiab.htm

Example: “Adults will see that General Woundwort and his slave-warren Efrafra bear more than a passing resemblance to a military dictator (e.g. General Franco) and a slave-state (e.g. Sparta), and might even go so far as to start shifting uncomfortably in their armchairs and muttering “Allegory” to themselves under their breath.” http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/watership-down-richard-adams/300280/Conclusion: Reword thesis…yadda yadda yadda…