[ SECRET POST #3616 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3616 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #517.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Book club - November discussion for Watership Down!!!

[tabaqui]

I'm not in the book club, but i've read Watership Down every year - sometimes twice a year - since I first read it way back as a teen. And i've loved it fiercely ever since, not only as a wonderful and interesting and emotional story, but as the book that introduced me to some amazing poetry.

I love the language of the book; the dense descriptions of plants, water, weather. I love the mythological way the rabbit history is told, and how the storytellers all seem to speak in a slightly more formal and 'fairy tale' way when telling a story.

I love how similar, but how very, very different, the animals are. Things that would bother humans a lot are shrugged off, and things we take for granted (like clouds. The passage where they're first climbing the down, and see the clouds...that's just so amazing, and beautiful, and other-worldly....) are strange and new to them. The bridge over the Test river! The road! Just so neat.

I think the does didn't come away when Hazel and the rest did because does are not the ones, in rabbit life, that wander. Lone rabbits or a group of young, male rabbits may do that, but does need and count on the safety and security of the warren to make dens and carry, and raise kits. A doe wandering away from the warren and trying to live out in the open would be extra-vulnerable if she were carrying or had babies.

I think we got a doe's perspective very neatly from the Efrafa does; they wanted to dig their own homes, and choose their own mates, and raise their kits in peace. They had their own secret, internal lives, that revolved a bit more around warren life and babies than the males, even though the males were as eager to start families as the females were. They were brave and sensible when they escaped, and even though their senses and knowledge had been blunted by their restricted lives, they still learned quickly and had enough instinctual knowledge to keep them going.

Even though anthropomorphized, they're still *animals* - reproducing enough to maintain and continue the warren and the species is still the main goal. And that never bothered me.

Re: Book club - November discussion for Watership Down!!!

[(Anonymous)]

hey, you post in the book club thread, you are in the book club! :p

Re: Book club - November discussion for Watership Down!!!

[tabaqui]

Yay!
*pins on badge*

Re: Book club - November discussion for Watership Down!!!

[diet_poison]

yeah there's no formal membership or anything. anyone is welcome to read the book for the month whenever they like :)

Re: Book club - November discussion for Watership Down!!!

[(Anonymous)]

I think the does didn't come away when Hazel and the rest did because does are not the ones, in rabbit life, that wander. Lone rabbits or a group of young, male rabbits may do that, but does need and count on the safety and security of the warren to make dens and carry, and raise kits.

Excellent point, and one that had completely escaped me! He actually states in the story that Mr Locksley tells us that it's the males who wander, too. I just hadn't joined up the dots.

Re: Book club - November discussion for Watership Down!!!

[tabaqui]

Yes! Another book I really want to get - the rabbit book by Mr. Locksley!

Re: Book club - November discussion for Watership Down!!!

[diet_poison]

ah, wonderful comment! I like the descriptors you use here. And yes, the poetry was very good!

Excellent point about the does!

Do you have a favorite character or favorite arc?

Re: Book club - November discussion for Watership Down!!!

[tabaqui]

Of them all, I loved Fiver best. Poor little Cassandra rabbit, sleeping out all night in the rain, knowing without being believed. He found love and home and happiness, in the end, and that was lovely.

I very much enjoyed his and Hazel's friendship, as well, though sometimes Hazel was a bit of a prat.

I loved Kehaar, too - wild, wandering, courageous fellow! And even though the stealing and fighting with Efrafa was exciting, I liked them becoming canny rovers, learning to live without a warren discovering their own flaws and talents, the most.