Watership Down- an Analysis of the Places and Their Leadership

Richard Adams novel, Watership Down, is the account of a group of rabbits trip to search out a new location to inhabit. After escaping the Sandleford Warren because of one rabbit's instincts, nearly a dozen rabbits cross virgin country. Along the way, they run across a few other warrens. These places exhibit a completely different way of living to the fleeing group. What they learn is vital when they develop their own warren. From these places they manage to collect some rabbits to increase their size once they reach a resting point at their final destination. Each of the places they encounter is set up differently. These warrens contain a distinct and unique social system, belief and leadership role.

Sandleford warren is the first location presented in the story. An Owsla, or group of strong and clever rabbits exercising the Chief Rabbit's authority, governs the warren. The Owsla is rather military in character. When one of the rabbits, Fiver, comes across some prized Cowslip, the Owsla hurry over to confiscate it for themselves, saying, "Cowslips are for Owsla- don't you know that? If you don't, we can easily teach you" (Adams 14). The Chief Rabbit of Sandleford, Threarah, gained his position by strength, level-headedness, and a certain self-contained detachment. He resisted all ideas of mass emigration and enforced the complete isolation of the warren. The rabbits leave their warren in search of a new home not only because they believe Fiver when he tells them that something bad will happen to the warren, but also because the think they can make a better home somewhere else (Adams 24).

The very moment that Hazel and the other rabbits encounter Cowslip's warren, they realize there is something unnatural about the rabbits. They have no fear of other things, appeared detached and bored, unusually groomed, and gave off a particular scent. Also, not one particular rabbit is considered a leader. They cannot really have a leader because no one can offer them protection from the dangers they face. The mystery behind this warren is that a human controls it. He shoots all the enemy animals in the area, puts out good food for the rabbits, and then snares them for their meat and skin (Adams 122-3). The rabbits are aware of the snares, but choose to pretend life is okay, because they cannot escape their inevitable deaths. The motto of the snare warren's inhabitants is, "Rabbits need dignity and, above all, the will to accept their fate" (Adams 108). The warren of snares could be considered socialist because all the rabbits there are equal and no one has anything more than anyone else.

Efrafa can only be explained as a totalitarian warren with General Woundwort clearly being the dictator. His military regime leaves the majority of his subjects unhappy. The entire warren "is organized to conceal its existence . . . the Owsla have every rabbit in the place under orders. You can't call your life your own: and in return you have safety- if it's worth having at the price you pay" (Adams 238-9). All dwellers of the warren have a marking that distinguishes them from other groups, controlling their time above ground. They also must defecate in a specific area and then conceal it. There are more rabbits than the warren can hold, with the majority of females unable to reproduce because of the overcrowding. All rabbits aspire to be in the Owsla and the Council because of the privileges and they have the best of everything (Adams 240). Woundwort maintains his power over the warren through fear and force, which, in the end, causes his great downfall.

The rabbits reach the Watership Down early on in the story, where they decide to remain and set up a government with the will of the people being the deciding factor in regulations. After discovering they are doeless, Bigwig convinces the does of Efrafa on the wonders of Watership Down, telling them " . . .we mate with whom we chose and dig our own burrows and bear our litters alive . . . and tell stories in the Honeycomb and silflay whenever you feel like it. It's a fine life, I promise you" (Adams 334). The guidance and authority of Watership Down is compiled with Fiver being the vision, Bigwig