Making a Leader

Beginning Paragraph When asked about Watership Down by Richard Adams, most readers say it is a novel about rabbits. Of course, they are right. But the book also describes how calamity creates community, how populations migrate and resettle, how groups tell themselves stories to make sense of their past and to guide them into the future. The wandering warren that eventually settles at Watership Down has many leaders, from the visionary Fiver to the warrior Bigwig to the storyteller Dandelion to the great leader Hazel. But Hazel doesn't begin as a leader. At the start of the story, he is just an outskirter (regular rabbit) out for evening silflay (grazing), but by the end of the story, he is called Hazel-rah, in the same tradition as the great rabbit hero El-ahrairah. Thesis Statement Among many other things, Watership Down shows how an individual with the right vision, grit, and courage can save a whole group and become a great leader.

Topic Sentence Though Hazel begins the story as an ordinary rabbit, his actions set him in stark contrast to the ineffectual leader of the warren. When his neurotic brother, Fiver, has a vision of the warren's destruction, most rabbits dismiss it as another "fit," but Hazel convinces his friend Bigwig to take them to the Chief Rabbit. The Threarah is fat from eating stolen lettuce, and he condescendingly listens about the "bad danger" before dismissing Hazel and Fiver and chewing out Bigwig. Transition Despite the setback, Hazel trusts his brother and makes a fateful decision: " 'Fiver and I will be leaving the warren tonight,' he said deliberately. 'I don't know exactly where we shall go, but we'll take anyone who's ready to come with us' " (23). Hazel's pronouncement immediately convinces Bigwig. These three plus Pipkin, Hawkbit, Dandelion, Blackberry, Speedwell, Acorn, Buckthorn, and Silver have to fight past the rabbit militia, the Owsla, in order to escape. Hazel leads them from the apparent safety of the warren to the great dangers of woods, rivers, farmhouses, and streams.

Middle Paragraphs As they travel, Hazel demonstrates leadership through recognizing the talents that different rabbits offer to the group and relying on them to use their talents. Of course, Hazel trusts Fiver's visions first and foremost and lets them guide the journey. He also relies on Bigwig as the fighter who backs down Captain Holly in their initial escape and braves many dangers. But one of Hazel's most powerful acts of delegation takes a subtle form: Source Quotation " 'Come on, Dandelion, tell us a story. I know you are handy that way. Pipkin here can't wait to hear it' " (34). Hazel is trying to calm Pipkin and the other young, exhausted rabbits, but he is also empowering a storyteller who can help bind the community together and give them a common sense of a heroic destiny. Dandelion's stories about the trickster rabbit El-ahrairah take five separate chapters in the novel. Each time, the story happens at a key decision point for the group. Each time, it gives them hope for the future. Thematic Connection It is said that a community is a group with a common narrative, and Dandelion's stories provide that narrative. They also are precursors to the stories that will be told in the future about the great rabbit hero Hazel-rah.

In addition, Hazel shows leadership through problem solving in dangerous situations. When the group is trapped between a dog and a river, Blackberry discovers a flat piece of wood along the bank and remembers that wood floats. Hazel grasps Blackberry's solution and coaxes the weaker rabbits onto the board, with the strong swimmers Bigwig and Silver pushing them to safety on the other side. In the wilds beyond, Hazel realizes that the rabbits can sleep aboveground in a bean field, hidden by the plants and their sweet scent. Hazel leads them safely across the road where so many rabbits could have been killed. When at last they reach a welcoming warren with plenty of space and food, Hazel listens once again to Fiver's warnings. The warren turns out to be an elaborate trap, with a local farmer providing produce but setting up "silver wires" to snare rabbits—including Bigwig. Hazel and his companions save Bigwig, and they escape that deceptive trap only to find the place they were meant to be: Watership Down. " 'Before everyone goes up to the top,' said Hazel, 'we ought to find out what it's like. I'm going up myself to have a look round' " (131). So Hazel, a kind of Moses of rabbits, leads his people to the Promised Land.

On Watership Down, the rabbits dig a new warren in safety, but Hazel is about to confront the most confounding puzzle they have yet faced. They hear a cry like a cat, but going to investigate find a wounded seagull. Though the bird is abusive and dangerous, Hazel decides they should not let it starve. They dig up worms to feed Kehaar, and he becomes their "eyes in the sky." He also points out to them that their warren has no female rabbits, which means no offspring, which means it is doomed to shrivel and die. To solve the problem, Hazel infiltrates a nearby farm and sets two does free but gets shot by the farmer. Fiver finds the wounded leader hiding in a pipe, and they bring him back, but two does will not be enough. Kehaar tells the rabbits of a huge warren, Efrafa, across the "iron road," and Hazel hatches his most audacious plan yet: " 'It's like this. We can stay here and try to make the best of things as they are, or we can put them right once and for all. Of course there's a risk. . . . But haven't we faced one risk after another, all the way from the warren we left? What do you mean to do? Stay here and scratch each other's eyes out over two does, when there are plenty in Efrafa that you're afraid to go and get?' " (260). The once-mild Hazel has become a visionary leader. He nearly died winning two does for the warren, and now he is willing to risk all again to bring back more.

Hazel is the complete opposite of the Threarah of his old warren. Instead of growing fat on lettuce stolen by others, Hazel has remained a lean leader who leads his own raids. Instead of wallowing in apparent safety and plenty, Hazel faces the hard challenges that confront his community. Instead of ignoring the warnings of those around him and dismissing what they have to offer, Hazel listens and enlists and responds. He is not the strongest or the bravest, the most visionary or the most eloquent—but he recognizes those who are and empowers them to do what they do for the good of all. And Hazel learns. The raid to bring does out of the totalitarian warren Efrafa succeeds only because Hazel makes use of Kehaar, the iron road, and a boat that floats just like the slab of wood they had found before. And when General Woundwort and his Owsla attack the warren on Watership Down, Hazel defeats them in part by using the farm cat that almost killed him.

Ending Paragraph Yes, Watership Down is a novel about rabbits. But it's also about how communities form around leaders with vision and problem-solving ability. Through a series of difficult decisions and daring exploits, Hazel saves his community from the doom of their original warren and war with another warren. As Hazel's leadership grows, so too does the power of all the rabbits around him. He brings out the best in all of them. Perhaps that is the most important quality of an effective leader.