Chapter 4: The Departure

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Fu Inlé means 'After moonrise'.

[This post is part of my Watership Down read through. You are welcome to join in at any time; please read my introduction post first.]

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From:

rmc28

This chapter has a bit of an unfortunate opening, starting as it does with throwaway lines about "primitive people" and their inability to act without "a kind of telepathic feeling" flowing through them. Then a very long lyrical paragraph about swallows assembling to migrate, and how this is the "angel that drove the First Crusade into Antioch, and drives the lemmings into the sea" when lemmings don't do that, and the siege of Antioch (and its conclusion!) was a bit more complicated than that.

Luckily we then get back to the rabbits, and some more very effective characterisation of the additions to the expedition. Fiver being much calmer now that leaving is actually happening and then a very sudden outbreak of violence and death threats.

From:

angrboda

I had rather the same reaction to the mention of 'primitive people' and thought it was a load of rubbish, especially considering those same people can probably talk to each other and it has to be a very primitive person indeed to not understand something like 'two days from now' or something similar. It smells of something he thought sounded great but didn't necessarily fact-check much on. (And I'm not buying the "it was a different time" argument in this case. The book isn't that old.)

As for the end of the chapter. I found myself wondering why, when it was made clear that they meant to leave forever, they were still attempted arrested. I expect they were probably meant to made an example of, but even so.

From:

ceb

Cringeworthy, isn't it? He should have stuck with the migrating birds.

I get the impression that Holly doesn't have that much discretion over whether he follows the Threarah's orders. And possibly he just doesn't believe Hazel & co. I mean, if they want to leave, why not just go? Why all this apparent conspiracy and recruitment of Owsla members?

Edited Date: 2015-01-26 22:52 (UTC)

From:

kotturinn

Yes, with a modern adult eye to the 'primitive people'. I must admit I don't remember having the same adverse twitch when I first read the book, and yet, looking at the date I wrote in the front, that was 1974 - when I was 19. I suspect this really is something that changed rapidly in the half generation or so between me and [most of] you, and Richard Adams was born in 1920. I feel in need of oursin's "it's always more complicated".

I still love the flocking birds description though (equally applicable to starlings). Also, with hindsight, the introduction to Silver

From:

rmc28

In fairness, I don't remember cringing at it when I was a child, or even a teenager. (I can't have read it before about 1985 at the earliest, and I probably last read it sometime in the early 1990s).

I do love the flocking birds description.

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Rachel Coleman

a million things I haven't done