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Holly Tupper

Mrs. Kim

Literature and Composition

8 May 2019

Watership Down

Countless fictional works of literature have parallel meanings that tie together with

Christian scripture. For example: The Chronicles of Narnia has quite a few allusions to the

passion of the Christ, but we are not focused on those multiple works. Instead, we are focused on

the literary masterpiece of Richard Adams, Watership Down. The rabbits in this story are

involved in an Exodus as great as the one in God’s Word, and their leader, Hazel, must learn to

trust and obey during tumultuous times just as Moses did.

As the book begins, in the Sandleford Warren, we are briefly introduced to our up and

coming young leader, Hazel. Adams describes him as having a, “Shrewd, buoyant air about him,

and he looked as though he knew how to take care of himself” (4). Hazel was one of five rabbits

of the several litters in the warren, and we aren’t introduced to any of his other siblings except

for the smallest one, Fiver. Fiver is a peculiar, nervous rabbit that constantly has visions of the

future, “He sees far beyond what most rabbits see” (SparkNotes Editors). The story will show a

major development of these particular characters. Throughout their adventures, Hazel and Fiver

prove their worth in extraordinary ways.

The very evening that we are introduced to our main characters, Fiver tells his brother of

the horror that is to come upon their entire warren. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s coming. Oh,

Hazel, look! The field! It’s covered with blood!” (Adams 7). Hazel doesn’t believe his brother

about this danger, and he reassures him that it’s just his imagination, but the next morning Hazel
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has to wake Fiver up from a fretful dream, “Fiver, wake up, you silly fellow!” (Adams 8). Not

mere seconds after being roused from his deep slumber, Fiver tells Hazel an urgent message,

“We’ve got to go away before it’s too late” (Adams 8). These accounts relate to the story of the

burning bush that’s found in the Bible. “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of

fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. The Lord

said, “I have come to rescue them from the land of the Egyptians and bring them into a good and

spacious land. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharoah to bring my people out of Egypt” (New

International Version, Exod. 3: 2, 8, 10). How does this make a connection you ask? Fiver is a

metaphor for the burning bush in the Bible story. As God speaks to Moses of what is to be and

how they must leave, Fiver also tells Hazel of the danger to come and that they also must leave.

Not only is Fiver a metaphor, Hazel is also one too. Hazel is the anthropomorphized version of

Moses. Moses led his people out of slavery to the promised land, and little does Hazel know that

he will soon be leading his people to a new home.

Furthermore, seeing how Fiver is dead set on believing danger is coming, Hazel

eventually takes Fiver to speak to the chief rabbit about his vision. Sadly, the Chief doesn’t

believe them and chews his guard's, Bigwig, head off for letting them in to speak to him. Soon

after, while Hazel and some friends are eating in a field, the guard rabbit, Bigwig, comes

traipsing into their space. He then asks them, “You’ll be leaving the warren?”, and Hazel replies,

“Fiver and I will be leaving the warren tonight. We’ll take anyone who’s ready to come with us”

(Adams 13). Bigwig immediately decides to join them on their adventure, but later that evening,

after persuading as many rabbits as they could to join them, Captain Holly caught up with orders

to arrest Bigwig. Hazel suddenly stepped in and intervened with the situation. “Go, or you will

be killed” (Adams 19). The natural-born leader inside of Hazel is beginning to make an
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appearance, and the band of eleven, scared rabbits set off into the night towards the great

unknown.

Now, all eleven rabbits: Hazel, Fiver, Pipkin, Hawkbit, Dandelion, Blackberry,

Buckthorn, Speedwell, Acorn, Silver and Bigwig have entered the woods, and they have come

upon a crossroads where danger could lie around the corner. Hazel, himself, steps up to the task

and goes to make sure the path is safe. “he always risks his own life rather than those of the other

rabbits” (SparkNotes Editors). He then tells Dandelion, “You’d better wait here. When I get to

the bend I’ll stamp. But if I run into trouble, get the others away” (Adams 21) Hazel got to the

end of the path and stamped to let them know it was safe. Dandelion arrives and says, “Well

done. Running our risks for us are you- like El-ahrairah" (Adams 21). For Hazel this was high

praise since El-ahrairah was like the “Robin Hood” of the rabbits. Once they got through this

small bump in the road, many larger bumps were to be crossed in their future.

After numerous trials throughout their long and exhausting journey, the rabbits learned to

trust in each other. “They had come closer together, relying on and valuing each other’s

capacities” (Adams 110). This innate trust between all of them played a big part in helping them

find a new home, and soon the bucks found what they were looking for all along. Watership

Down. Fiver told them of the down, (he had an inkling of where they were going), and Hazel has

successfully led them to their own promised land, just like Moses did for the Israelites, but too

soon danger was to come again to their home.

In the Bible, Moses led the enslaved Israelites out of Egypt, from the dirty hands of the

Pharoah, and it turns out that there is a “Pharoah” in the rabbit’s world as well. This rabbit is

called Woundwort, and he is just as callous as the Egyptian Pharoah. “his restless desire of

power after power” (Adams 275). Sound familiar? “The Egyptian King is the principal villain of
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the Exodus story... the Pharoah of Moses is cruel and vindictive” (Isbouts). This is exactly how

this ‘Woundwort’ behaves towards the rabbits. Eventually this despicable “Pharoah” leads an

attack on Hazel’s warren, and this invasion tests the strength of the warren to the core.

Varied occasions have led up to causing this invasion, but we are not going to focus on

those occurrences. Hazel’s perseverance and leadership is what matters most during this

equation. When the rabbits found out that Woundwort was coming to attack them, all hell broke

loose. The whole warren was terrified and no one believed they would survive to see a new day,

but Hazel said, “Yes, we shall” (Adams 384). In the eye of this storm, Hazel kept his little head

straight upon his shoulders. “Like an obelisk towards which the principle streets of a town

converge, the strong will of a proud spirit stands prominent and commanding during the art of

war” (Clausewitz). Hazel’s then comes up with a wonderful plan to save them all. “Their leader

wasn’t particularly large or fierce, but he was wise” (McIntosh). Not far from home lies a farm

with a dog tied to its pen (he knows this due to passing the farm en route to the down). While

Bigwig stays behind to defend their warren, Hazel will go release the dog from its pen and

Dandelion and Blackberry will lead it back to the fight. Amazingly, the plan works and the

warren is saved from the clutches of the evil “Pharoah”. The rabbits are then overcome with joy

after they drove Woundwort away from the warren and as the years pass, Hazel’s warren thrives

upon Watership Down.

As the rabbits adventure finally comes to a closure, Hazel has gone from a normal rabbit

to a respected leader of many. Just as Moses started out thinking he was not the man to lead

God’s people, so did Hazel believe at times he couldn’t lead his friends to safety. Even though

Hazel believed this, he pulled through and led his friends to a new home. Amazingly, both Hazel

and Moses led their people to the promised land, and they persevered through times of terror
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even when it felt like the sun wouldn’t rise. With fictional animals included, it turns out that even

the smallest of creatures can make an impact on the world around them.
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Works Cited

Adams, Richard George. Watership Down. Scribner Classics, 1996.

Clausewitz, Carl von. On War. Translated by J. J. Graham, vol. 1, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner

& Co., 1918.

Isbouts, Jean-Pierre. “We may now know which Egyptian pharaoh challenged Moses.” National

Geographic, National Geographic Partners, LLC., 28 December 2018,

nationalgeographic.com/culture/people-in-the-bible/pharaoh-king-punished-god/.

McIntosh, Will. “Watership Down: Teenage boys don’t read books about bunnies – do they?”

The Guardian, Guardian News & Media Limited, 27 March 2016, theguardian.com/childrens-

books-site/2016/mar/27/watership-down-richard-adams-will-mcintosh.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Watership Down.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d..

Web. 10 May 2019.

The Bible. New International Version, Zondervan, 2011.