Blast! It seems I have forgotten that I needed to make a blog post on Thursday! I thought I'd already started the chapter 18-23 discussion and that we were on the next section, that appears not to be the case. I deeply apologize for the delay.
So here we have some interaction between the rabbits and other species around them. I thought it was a bit of an interesting shift on the author's part: the last few chapters had them dealing with other rabbits; now we've moved to other populations. I also liked the lingua franca of the field, that the field mouse and Kehaar both used. It makes sense that there'd be some form of communication between the species, I thought, since species often work together, or compete, or otherwise affect one another. The thing is, though, there isn't a real human equivalent: humans only really interact with other humans (in that other animals don't really have any sort of language). Dunno why I found that interesting, I just did.
Also...did anyone else find Holly's story to be incredibly chilling? The hair stood up on the back of my neck when he first came to the down, and in my opinion, one of the more powerful lines in the book is "It wasn't I who tried to arrest you, Bigwig--that was another rabbit, long, long ago." You never really realize just what sort of torment species go through when their habitat is destroyed until you see it from their point of view (well...a dramatized, somewhat anthropomorphic point of view).
The next hardship we're going to be seeing coming into play is breeding. This has been touched upon in the last chapter, but the warren's in need of does. We'll see how they handle that in the next few chapters.
Next reading: Chapters 24-29 for Sunday, September 27th. See you next time!
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5 comments:
I was intrigued that as freaked out as the rabbits were by the changes in habit of the rabbits at Cowslip's warren, they were quite open to making changes themselves, digging their own holes and whatnot, and trusting Hazel in his reasons for trying to communicate with other creatures. Kehaar was especially interesting, and it was in this instance that I was most reminded of Redwall. The creatures of Redwall are always taking in wounded animals and birds, and then using them to learn of other lands or other species. I felt bad for Holly, and I wonder if he'll end up with PTSD at some point from his experience, he seems more moved by it than Bluebell.
I had been wondering about how they expected their warren to survive long without does, and now it seems we get to find out.
I think it's interesting that Bluebell uses humor and light-heartedness to deal with stress and trauma. Not only does it help him cope, but I believe Holly credits Bluebell attitude to his survival. I've read many times that not dwelling on the negative and trying to focus on the positive aids in our survival during stress and trauma. It's a attribute I would like to have more of.
I really enjoy the fact that they are reaching out to help other creatures. True, they're doing it in hopes that at some point the other's may be able ot help them, so it's not a very altruistic reason, but it's cool anyway. I seem to remember that one concern was what if nothing ever comes of their help and their efforts are wasted. And the answer was basically "Oh well." They didn't feel the need to take it out on the mice, for example, if the mice never ended up helping them.
I thought of this section in a different way. It actually surprised me that the rabbits had nothing to do with other species such as mice. They're really very similar in many ways. The other rabbits seemed sort of cold-hearted in their aloofness. It makes me a little curious about what real animals are like. I'm probably giving them way too many human characteristics in my mind.
We got to hear some more of the rabbit's stories. I have to admit that when I first read this book I got a little impatient with these. They're actually quite good and well-told but I wanted the action.
Re: the aloofness. What I attribute that to is the relative isolation of their old warren, not to mention the fact that it was more well-established. An established warren is a more self-sufficient, autonomous entity, and thus other creatures don't factor as much into the rabbits' daily lives. When they're on their own, however, they don't know the area as well as the other animals, and their warren is still in its infancy. Hence, they need to branch out and find more resources.
I agree with Debra about the stories, though I find some more interesting than others. My favorite is coming up either in the next section, or the one after it.
I really enjoy the stories, but I think that's because now that I've read the book a couple of times, I feel like I can savor the story more instead of the curiosity driving my impatience for the action. I like thinking about how they work into the current events in the rabbits' lives.
I am a little behind on the reading, so I won't be able to comment on the next section yet, but hopefully I'll be caught up tomorrow. It was a busy weekend. :)
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