Page Number and Chapter: Chapter 24 page 203
Chapter 25 page 211
Chapter 25 page 216-217
Chapter 25 page 219
Passage from book in Quotation Marks: “The door was made of wire netting on a
wooden frame, with two leather hinges nailed to the uprights and a hasp and staple
fastened with a twist of wire. Four rabbits were crowded around the wire, pressing their
noses through the mesh. Two—Laurel and Clover—were short haired black Angoras.
The other, Boxwood and his doe Haystack, were black-and-white Himalayans.”
“The hutch rabbits seemed at once bewildered and fascinated. Clover, the Angora doe—a
strong active rabbit—was clearly excited by Hazel’s description and asked several
question about the warren and the downs. It became plain that they thought of their life in
the hutch as dull but safe. They had learned a good deal about the elil from source or the
other and seemed sure that few wild rabbits survived for long. Hazel realized that
although they were glad to talk to him and welcomed his visit because it brought a little
excitement and change into their monotonous life, it was not within their capacity to take
a decision and never had to act to save their lives or even find a meal. If he was going to
get any of them down, they would have to be urged. He sat quiet for a little, nibbling a
patch of bran spilled on the boards outside the hutch.”
“The hutch rabbits looked at each other in bewilderment. It was plain that they were
afraid of the great, bristling buck, with his strange shock of fur and his smell of fresh
blood. They did not now what to do or understand what was to be expected of them. They
remembered Hazel; they had been excited by the forcing of the door curious to come
through it once it was open. Otherwise, they had no purpose whatever and had no means
of forming one. They had no more idea of what was involved then a small child who says
he will accompany the climbers up the fell.”
“The pace was frighteningly slow. Boxwood and Clover seemed to have grasped that
there was some sort of urgency and clearly doing their best to keep up, but the other two
rabbits, once they had hopped into the yard. Sat up and looked about them in a foolish
manner, completely at loss. After a good deal of delay, during which the cat left the
woodpile and began to move stealthily round toward the side of the shed, Blackberry
managed to get them out into the farmyard. But here, finding themselves in an even more
open place, they settled into a kind of static panic, like which sometimes comes upon
inexperienced climbers exposed on a sheer face. They could not move, but sat blinking
and staring about them in darkness, taking no notice of Blackberry’s coaxing or Bigwig’s
orders. At this moment a second cat—Hazel’s tabby—came round further end of the
farmhouse and made toward them. As it passed the kennel the Labrador woke up and sat
up, thrusting out its head and shoulders and looking first to one side then the other. It saw
the rabbits, ran to the length of the rope and began to bark.”
“He spoke almost gaily, but Dandelion could see his dilated eyes and the slight trembling
of his front paws. He himself was now sensing something peculiar—a kind of
luminosity—in the distance. He looked round for the cats and saw that, as he feared, both
were crouching in front of the farmhouse a little way off. Their reluctance to come closer
could be attributed to Bigwig: but they would not go away. Looking across the yard at
them, Dandelion felt a sudden clutch of horror.”
Method(s) of Characterization Used: Character’s actions
What the character thinks
Physical description
How the other characters treat and interact with him
Inference about the Character: This is the character’s actions, the character’s thoughts,
physical description, and how the other characters treat and interact with him. “He spoke
almost gaily, but Dandelion could see his dilated eyes and the slight trembling of his front
paws. He himself was now sensing something peculiar—a kind of luminosity—in the
distance. He looked round for the cats and saw that, as he feared, both were crouching in
front of the farmhouse a little way off. Their reluctance to come closer could be attributed
to Bigwig: but they would not go away. Looking across the yard at them, Dandelion felt a
sudden clutch of horror.” Haystack was very terrified and tensed up when he saw the cats
crouching in front of the farmhouse. He was terrified because he has never been in the
open before actually facing and seeing the cat, searching for him and the other rabbits.
“but the other two rabbits, once they had hopped into the yard. Sat up and looked about
them in a foolish manner, completely at loss. After a good deal of delay, during which the
cat left the woodpile and began to move stealthily round toward the side of the shed,
Blackberry managed to get them out into the farmyard. But here, finding themselves in an
even more open place, they settled into a kind of static panic, like which sometimes
comes upon inexperienced climbers exposed on a sheer face. They could not move, but
sat blinking and staring about them in darkness, taking no notice of Blackberry’s coaxing
or Bigwig’s orders. At this moment a second cat—Hazel’s tabby—came round further
end of the farmhouse and made toward them. As it passed the kennel the Labrador woke
up and sat up, thrusting out its head and shoulders and looking first to one side then the
other. It saw the rabbits, ran to the length of the rope and began to bark.” Haystack was
so curious about the outside world that he just had to sit up on his hind legs and see what
it was like, but he didn’t know that there were cats and a Labrador ready to pounce on
him from behind. When Haystack did realize there was elil behind him, he immediately
was stricken in fear and just stood there like his feet were glued to the ground, blinking
and staring at the other rabbits to help him and Laurel. “The hutch rabbits seemed at once
bewildered and fascinated. Clover, the Angora doe—a strong active rabbit—was clearly
excited by Hazel’s description and asked several question about the warren and the
downs. It became plain that they thought of their life in the hutch as dull but safe. They
had learned a good deal about the elil from source or the other and seemed sure that few
wild rabbits survived for long. Hazel realized that although they were glad to talk to him
and welcomed his visit because it brought a little excitement and change into their
monotonous life, it was not within their capacity to take a decision and never had to act to
save their lives or even find a meal. If he was going to get any of them down, they would
have to be urged. He sat quiet for a little, nibbling a patch of bran spilled on the boards
outside the hutch.” Their lives are planned out, so when they were presented the
opportunity to escape their dull life they took the opportunity without really taking time
to think about the consequences that they would face if they did choose to leave, which
they did. “The hutch rabbits looked at each other in bewilderment. It was plain that they
were afraid of the great, bristling buck, with his strange shock of fur and his smell of
fresh blood. They did not now what to do or understand what was to be expected of them.
They remembered Hazel; they had been excited by the forcing of the door curious to
come through it once it was open. Otherwise, they had no purpose whatever and had no
means of forming one. They had no more idea of what was involved then a small child
who says he will accompany the climbers up the fell.” Haaystak and the three other
rabbits were obviously thinking that Bigwig was some physco because of his physical
appearance and they didn’t trust him with a safe escape from the warren. I mean
seriously, what if there was a guy standing in front of you with blood all over his body,
the scent of blood was the first thing you smelled, he was huge in size, and his hair was
messed up and told you to follow him to escape a place you were trapped in, would you
trust him or some guy who is level headed, clean, and calm? “no notice of Blackberry’s
coaxing or Bigwig’s orders.” They were obviously frozen in fear that all the other rabbits
telling them to come towards them were just a blur in their mind, so the other rabbits
ended up leaving them with the elil. I think that Bigwig, Blackberry, Boxwood, and/or
Clover should have ran out to them and pushed them or something instead of leaving
them with the elil that could have killed them. “The other, Boxwood and his doe
Haystack, were black-and-white Himalayans.” Both of these rabbits could have been
found in the same warren, bought from the internet from somebody selling these types of
rabbits, etc. I think that Haystack will prove to be kind of a help, but more so a hindrance
to the group. When he moves his foot or trembles in fear, one or more of the rabbits could
see that and know that something is wrong, but the way he freezes up in fear will not help
the group at all because something could be coming towards him and kill him, so they
could be one rabbit less then their original amount. Another possibility could be that
while he is frozen in fear one of the rabbits tries to save him, and he could be saved, but
the other rabbit could get hurt. Eventually, I think that Haystack will get used to the elil
as they progress further on in the journey, but for now he should just try to remain calm.