"Watership Down"

The point of view used in the book “Watership Down” is third person omniscient. Throughout the story, the thoughts of many of the characters are revealed including Hazel's, Captain Woundwort's, and Bigwig's. On page 54 it says, "Hazel wondered whether to send one of the rabbits to find out." This tells us what Hazel is thinking when he notices a fragrance in the air that is completely now to him.

On page 322 it says, "Woundwort considered again. It was likely enough that this rabbit had been in an Owsla." This quote tells Woundwort's thoughts about Bigwig when the new rabbit first comes to Efrafa and wants to join the warren.

On page 334, Bigwig is thinking about how he is to escape. The test says, "Then the thought came to him, 'What about Blackavar?'". Third person omniscient is the point of view being used because we know the thoughts of many several of the characters.

The main conflict in the book is an external conflict. Throughout the story, the rabbits are constantly struggling for their survival. When Hazel and his rabbits left their warren and arrived at Cowslip's warren, they all thought that it would be safe there, and that their journey had ended. All except Fiver, that is. As it turned out, they were actually putting their lives in danger by staying there because all around them the humans had placed snares to catch the rabbits. So they left and then they came to Watership Down.

This was the real place for them; they would be safe here, or at least for a time. Another conflict soon arose: they hadn't thought to bring any does with them. This was resolved though when they managed to steal a dozen or so willing does from Efrafa. This unfortunately provided them with a whole new problem.

General Woundwort and his Efrafans attacked their warren to try and get their does back. Hazel and his rabbits won through strategy against incredible odds, thus defeating the powerful and evil Woundwort. They all lived quite happily after that, no longer having to constantly worry about their survival.

My favorite parts of the book are when Bigwig is in Efrafa and when he makes his escape. It's an intense and suspenseful part of the story. The reader doesn't get to know the whole plan of action all at once, but it's slowly revealed when Bigwig goes to Efrafa. When he does make his escape, it's full of excitement and the reader had a feeling that they must succeed because Fiver said it would be so.

This part in the story is when it all comes together. Also, Hazel, the main character, changes throughout the course of the book. At the beginning he's just an ordinary rabbit living in an ordinary warren. When he and a small group of rabbits leave the warren to find a safe place to live, Hazel gains leadership. The other rabbits come to trust and respect him and to look to him for direction.

At the end of the story, Hazel becomes the Chief Rabbit of the new warren. At the end of the book, General Woundwort and his rabbits are defeated. The does that were stolen get to stay at the new warren. The ending is very satisfactory, and that's because the rabbits that the reader comes to know and love finally accomplish what they set out to do.

It's satisfying because the reader knows that, once again, good has triumphed over evil. The setting of the story is in the countryside. There are lots of open spaces, farms, rivers, and woods. This makes it so most of the characters are animals. There are only a few humans in the story, and even then they don't play a particularly big role at all. A large majority of the characters are rabbits. Since the setting is out in the open, far from cities and towns, the rabbits are in their natural habitat and they can live their lives as real rabbits, and not something that some human has created.

The climax of the story is when Hazel and the other rabbits are defending their warren from the Efrafans. The whole outcome of the story depends on who wins this final battle. Hazel's band of rabbits put up a good fight, and it pays off. They are able to defeat Woundwort and the Efrafans, with the help of a dog of course.

It never says for sure whether the General was killed or not, but he didn't bother any of the other rabbits again. On a scale of one to five stars, I would give this book five stars. It's such a great book, full of adventure and suspense. Richard Adams pulls us into his wonderful world of rabbits in this tale about finding a safe place to live and to call "home". A group of quick-witted rabbits face overwhelming odds and even death as they fight for their freedom and what they know to be right and good in the world.