Watership Down French word for rabbit. "Watership Down" has been described as an allegory, with the labours of Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, and Silver "mirror[ing] the timeless struggles between tyranny and freedom, reason and blind emotion, and the individual and the corporate state." Adams draws on classical heroic and quest themes from Homer and Virgil, creating a story with epic motifs. The book explores the themes of exile, survival, heroism, leadership, political responsibility, and the "making of a hero and a community". Joan Bridgman's analysis of Adams's works in "The Contemporary Review" identifies the community and hero motifs: "[T]he hero's journey into a
Freefolk Freefolk Freefolk is a village in Hampshire, England. It lies to the west and almost directly alongside the village of Laverstoke; the two villages are separated by the River Test. It is about east of Whitchurch and west of Overton on the B3400 road between Basingstoke and Andover. In the village is an inn named the "Watership Down", known locally as "the jerry". Built in 1840, it was called the Freefolk Arms but was renamed in honour of local author Richard Adams and his book "Watership Down", which took its name from the down about to the north of the