Volume 13 Number 4 Article 23

6-15-1987

Watership Down:The Individual & Society

Randy C. Welch

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Recommended Citation Welch, Randy C. (1987) ":The Individual & Society," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 13 : No. 4 , Article 23. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol13/iss4/23

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Additional Keywords Adams, Richard. Watership Down—Social and political aspects

This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol13/iss4/23 Page 48 MYTHLORE 50: Summer 1987 Watership D own:The Individual & Society Randy C. Welch

In Watership Down, Richard Adams weaves first discovering him - but that was to save a number of themes into the fabric of the the gull's lif e in order to benefit the whole story, one of the most pervasive being warren later by solving the crucial problem society's treatment of individual talents. of finding mates. The rest of the time, he Each of the four warrens that Adams describes holds the reins of power loosely, encouraging affects individuals in distinctly different d isc u ssio n and t o le r a t in g d is s e n t , and ways and only one, Watership Down, truly relying on persuasion and consensus formation appreciates and fosters the unique gifts of to arrive at group policies. He leads by its members. example, not force, as Blackberry te lls him: "You go in front and take the risks first." Hazel-rah incorporates this ethic as (Richard Adams, Watership Down. New York: part of his leadership style and therein lies Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., 1972, p. his success. He relies on the talents of 137.) He is the first to begin digging the other rabbit»s when he knows his own to be Honeycomb and the first to forage insects to inferior. Unlike most leaders, he does not feed Kehaar. have a problem with pride or a runaway ego. When the initial embassy goes to Efrafra, Yet another of Hazel's personal traits Hazel readily concedes its leadership role to that makes him a good leader is his openness Holly, who is more impressive in appearance to change. The Threarah's conservatism led and as a speaker. He depends upon to his downfall while Hazel's open mind Blackberry's superior mind to devise a trick enhanced his success. Saving a mouse and a to fo il Woundwort, Bigwig's immense strength seagull was a revolutionary idea scorned by to defend the warren, and of course Fiver's ordinary rabbits, yet Hazel saw it as an in s ig h t to g iv e him d ir e c t io n . It is innovation which could benefit his community. significant that when Hazel deviated from As it proved, each rescue played an essential this policy, disaster ensued: ignoring r o le in e s t a b lis h in g and co n tin u in g the Fiver's warning against the Nuthanger raid warren. Without them there would have been nearly cost Hazel his life. no does and no early warning of Woundwort's sneak attack. Hazel was also willing to use Hazel is an organizer. Only he can keep innovations such as boats even though he did the rabbits together on their migration when not understand them. He was a pragmatic several times they would have scattered, such rabbit, adopting techniques old or new as as at the river crossing or in the common. long as they served the common good. His He directs the rabbits' activ ities because he approach was an eclectic one: copying has the courage to take the initiative. He Cowslip's great burrow and Woundwort's hole shows this early on by proposing the concealment practices as useful inventions recruitment of a large-scale departure from while rejecting the grimmer aspects'of both Sandleford rather than simply clearing off so c ie tie s. with a few friends. He does so out of a feeling of responsibility that if he is Such is the interplay of society and escaping a catastrophe, he must help others individual: Hazel's g ifts as a leader shaped to do so too. Responsibility, of course, the society of Watership Down, which in turn always marks a good leader. encouraged the expression of the individual gifts of its members. Without Hazel's Another mark of a good leader is his exceptional a b ilitie s, Watership Down and its protection of the weak. Early on Hazel rabbits would not have been exceptional resolves to protect the rights of the either. And i f his rabbits had not been smallest rabbits, Fiver and Pipkin, against a talented, Hazel's leadership would not have bully like Bigwig. When Strawberry first been successful. joins the troupe, Hazel protects him against the others' hostility until he can establish In contrast, General Woundwort was a his own niche. He does so again with very effective leader but not a good one, Groundsel and the other surrendered since he benefited neither the commonwealth Efrafrans. nor the individual growth of his subjects. To be sure, he gave them protection and long Hazel's concern for all individuals lives, but their lives were without freedom, under his authority manifests itself again in excitement, or fulfillment and on the whole his attention to their injuries. He takes it seemed without purpose. Woundwort was more upon him self to remove Pipkin's thorn and interested in rabbits as a quantitative clean Buckthorn's and Holly's wounds. He measure of his success as a leader, while cares not only about his community's social Hazel chose a qualitative scale of how happy, health but its physical health as well. free, and compatible his rabbits were.

Hazel's rule is lax and tolerant, Woundwort, like Hazel, was an organizer, allowing his rabbits great personal freedom. but he carried this propensity to extremes Only once does he coerce his subjects - and organized every facet of a rabbit's life, forcing them to dig a burrow for Kehaar after whereas Hazel organized rabbits only on a MYTHLORE 50: Summer 1987 Page 49

temporary basis to meet some pressing need and it either discouraged or warped like building a shelter. Woundwort was individual talents towards this goal. obsessed w ith c o n tr o l and determ ined Leadership was one stifled talent since, as precisely when and how a rabbit could eat, Fiver pointed out, a leader must keep his sleep, pass hraka, or show his nose above p eople from death and the ra b b its had ground. His system of o ff ic e r s , se n tr ie s, willingly accepted death in return for and runners was remarkably efficient and prosperity and did not want anyone to lead reveals his talents as an administrator. His them back to san ity and l i f e . Cowslip and courage was unquestionable as he demonstrated his rabbits attacked Holly's survivors for by fighting elil without hesitation, their association with Hazel, since Hazel had including taking on a dog after being torn up led Strawberry and his own folk away from the by Bigw ig. And though he was a fr a id of warren after revealing its folly. Leaders Bigwig and his supposedly greater Chief who could see the truth and act on it were to Rabbit, Woundwort was doggedly determined to be crushed at a ll costs; even asking "Where?" defeat them when other rabbits wanted to run hinted at the warren's awful truth and such away. Using his courage, Woundwort led by inquiry was also stifled automatically. example as well as by coercive administration. Other talents were encouraged in perverted forms to glorify the warren and Yet whatever his talents, he was a mask its folly. The rabbits were proud of bureaucrat gone wrong. Hazel's g if t s made their mosaics and singing and dancing even Watership Down a healthy society while though these were unnatural for rabbits. Woundwort's s t if le d Efrafra. Individual Their wisest folk and visionaries were so abilities at t'he pinnacle of a power twisted by the warren's dark secret and their hierarchy are crucial in determining how own moral sellout to materialism that they other individuals behave. Woundwort found, used their talents to justify and exalt the but perhaps never admitted to himself, that warren, not denounce it. Only Fiver, an coercion and oppression breed good servants outsider, could use his insight to see but not good leaders. While his rabbits were through the deception. His counterpart, eager to excel as soldiers, they were Silverweed, worked to conceal and glorify it. t e r r i f i e d of him and a fr a id to take any initiative. The does' initiative to depart Cowslip's society, like the others, and alleviate the population problem was harnessed individual talents to serve its own categorically rejected and later punished. goals. His warren pursued delusion, Groundsel fe lt deeply inferior to Woundwort Woundwort's fostered authoritarian and thought that he had failed the general repression, and Hazel's promoted freedom. rather than the reverse. When Nelthilta The Sandleford Warren was something of a mix revealed the breakout plan, Captain Chervil between Efrafra and Watership Down and had was primarily concerned with protesting his the goals of limited freedom and limited innocence in the matter rather than control. The problem with the Threarah's suggesting an immediate arrest of Bigwig. so ciety was that i t was too old, tr a d itio n - When General Woundwort had lost three bound, and top -h eavy. There was l i t t l e officers, he found it very d ifficu lt even in appreciation of younger rabbits in the Owsla a very large warren to replace them. and none for ou tsk irters. The Threarah was too old and cautious, half-believing Fiver's The episode of the fox killing a doe prophecy but too worried about preserving his after the Efrafran escape illustrates the authority to leave. Conceivably, he could stifling nature of Woundwort's system have dispersed most of the warren in small exceedingly well. Blackavar, talented as a groups that would not have attracted e l i l and tracker and more experienced than any other could have settled safely elsewhere, but that rabbit present, strongly advised against would have entailed a loss of power which he stopping in fox-prone country but was found unacceptable. overruled by Hazel. After a fox materialized and caught a doe, Bigwig tried to tell Adams does not delve deeply into the Blackavar that he had been right all along, Sandleford social network, and it would have yet Blackavar had purged the advice from his been unfair to blame the Threarah for having mind in what Hyzenthlay described as a common a sick society like Efrafra, but the Chief Efrafran practice. Quite contrary to Rabbit did fa il to value the outskirters who Watership Down, Efrafra did its best to stamp later proved to have outstanding abilities out nonconformity and s t if le the individual. once given the chance to express them. Adams carefully constructs the Watership society so Cowslip's Warren was stifling in a that each rabbit has an important role to d if f e r e n t way s in c e i t had no p h y sic a l play and fits into a niche in the social coercion or administrative control structure. fabric. The achievements of Hazel's rabbits Its oppression operated strictly through are attributable to pioneer vitality and psychology and was self-imposed by every c r e a tiv ity , a young colony lik e Carthage or rabbit. Woundwort's oppression had the U.S. outgrowing and overshadowing the psychological effects, but these were by­ accomplishments of its fatherland. This products of a crude system of brute force pioneer success is due to the joy of a unlike the sophisticated nets of deception at newfound freedom, a readiness to change, and Cowslip's Warren. the need to pull together with each member's input. Such an ethos allowed Hazel to become The warren of snares was c h ie f ly the natural leader of the exiles, and he occupied with maintaining its self-deception, perpetuated that ethos at Watership Down. Page 50 MYTHLORE 50: Summer 1987

What had been a couple of rebel Owsla and a religion, and history. Bluebell was similar pack of harried yearlings became the founders to Dandelion in providing relief in tense of a dynamic, indomitable new state. moments, especially with humor. Bigwig was a mere sentry for the Strawberry played an important role as Threarah but became captain of the Honeycomb arch itect of the Honeycomb, the warren's Owsla and defeated Woundwort when even his wonder. He showed the Sandleford survivors former superior, Holly, probably could not that cultural contact can bring in new, have done so. Silver was Bigwig's second-in- better ideas and probably made them more command, a r e li a b l e o f f ic e r and sturdy willing to accept the Efrafrans and hutch supporter who had been teased and mistreated rabbits. Knowing firsthand the difficulties in the Sandleford Owsla. Buckthorn was of fitting into a new society, he took it another sturdy fighter and follower to back upon h im s e lf to help Boxwood make the up Bigwig: every general needs his troops, adjustment. He was also an eloquent speaker and Buckthorn was noted also for being decent for the embassy to Efrafra and spoke well and straightforward, a kind of model citizen about the need for rabb.its to be natural and that every society needs. Together they cooperate with each other since he knew formed the brute force to support authority personally how dreadful an unnatural way of (Hazel) when times were tough and rabbits lif e could be. became rebellious as Hawkbit and his friends were in the common. L ittle mention is made of Boxwood but Blackavar is noteworthy as a tracker, an Holly was part of the Honeycomb Owsla important ski11 for rabbits. In sum, each but also played the role of senior statesman. rabbit used his special talents to help the He was well-respected by all the rabbits for others and improve their society. That is his natural authority, tracking ability, why it survived the Sandleford zorn, passed judgment, and experience in command and was through Cowslip's deception, and cheated and chosen as leader of the embassy to Efrafra. defeated a terrible general all without a Other respected advisors were Blackberry and single buck casualty. Watership Down's Fiver. Blackberry, a mere outskirter at success stands in clear contrast to the Sandleford, proved to be exceptionally shortcomings of the other warrens and is brilliant and provided the society with Adams' statement that the best society is one clever plans like Bigwig's spy mission in which protects and values the individual. It Efrafra and the use of boats. Fiver was both induces people everywhere to ask: are we intelligent and intuitive, providing the cheating outselves by stifling or ignoring society with the insight to see through the creative gifts of our own "outskirters"? Cowslip's deception and with visionary goals like reaching Watership Down to build a new and better home, though at Sandleford he was dismissed as only a runt. Together the intellectuals helped their people solve their problems through new policies (having bucks M ythlore Art Portfolio dig for themselves) and technological innovations (using boats). By identifying Over the years Mythlore has published a large closely with Hazel and accepting his amount of highly praised fantasy artwork. Few people authority, they helped to legitimate his rule are inclined to cut up their issues of Mythlore in with brains while Bigwig's Owsla legitimated order to frame these pieces for their walls. Therefore it with brawn. Mythlore has begun a series of portfolios reproducing various pieces on quality paper suitable for framing. Rabbits such as Pipkin, Hawkbit, and A limited number of portfolios are now being offered Acorn provided the rank-and-file which every containing copies signed and numbered by the artists. society needs since not everyone can play Indian chief. Pipkin in particular was Signed portfolios are $25. devoutly loyal to Hazel and provided him with Unsigned portfolios are $15. unquestioning support when he needed it, such as on the scouting mission to Nuthanger or Included in the first portfolio are the following when Hazel fir s t proposed digging burrows on p ieces: Watership Down. Yet though followers, the rank-and-file made worthwhile contributions "Meditation of Mordred" (Williams) by Sarah of their own. Hawkbit discovered the safety Beach (from ML39) of the chalk holes on the downs which, saved "Trothplight at Cerin Amroth" (Tolkien) by Paula the rabbits from the elil at night, and Acorn DiSante (from ML45) proved especially adept at grubbing insects "The Mistress of the Silver Moon" (MacDonald) by to feed Kehaar. Pipkin, besides being loyal, Nancy-Lou Patterson (from ML21) proved an expert at compassion and therapy by "Till Wre Have Faces" (Lewis) by Patrick Wynne soothing Holly's anguish in the chalk holes. (from ML39)

Every rabbit had some forte that aided Each portfolio comes in a folder with Patrick the society. Dandelion's exceptional speed Wynne’s "Triskelion" (from ML35) printed on the made him useful as a scout, and his story­ cover. The artwork is reproduced on 9X12" sheets telling ability provided entertainment Please specify whether you want a signed or unsigned during tense moments in addition to keeping portfolio. Suggestions for future portfolios are alive the rabbits' culture, since stories encouraged, as they are designed for members’ enjoy­ were the repositories of their wisdom, m ent.