Watership Down Lesson Plan

Bunny Brutality

Kind of Activity:

Classwide Discussion

Objective:

Discuss the use of violence in the novel.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.7

Structure:

Captain Holly's account of the massacre at Sandleford Warren may be very disturbing for some readers. Even in an otherwise pretty violent book like Watership Down, Holly's story stands out as especially horrific. In this Classroom Activity, students should try to make sense of why Richard Adams might have included such a graphic scene. Why, for instance, did he not have Captain Holly give a vague or ambiguous account, enough to know that the rabbits were exterminated but not a blow-by-blow replay of the...