Tuesday 27 November 2012

An Ur-Text about violence

We think we understand the world

We think we can control it
Why does he want it? This is never explained.
every painful failure of my life
The 'good' rabbit hides. He surrenders to violence and hides. He didn't even get his own carrot in the first place. His mother gave it to him. Goodness is weakness it seems.
and then, like the wrath of an indifferent god..


This is a man with a gun. This is a man with a gun. This is a man with a gun.

Beatrix Potter understands violence too well.
 THIS IS A STORY FOR CHILDREN. FOR CHILDREN!!!

But what is left after an act of violence?How can we know what happened? War destroys memory as well as flesh.

The 'bad' rabbit escapes with minor mutilation. The good rabbit still gets nothing. The hunter, who wanted a rabbit, gets a carrot.

1 comment:

  1. Watership Down.
    Watership. Down.
    That marks a kid for life. Kids don't read subtext, think about things as much. Not as much as seeing the bleeding flayed souls of mutilated rabbits clawing at each other in the dark, crushed spaces of what remains of the Warren, as the cruel yellow claws of The Machine relentlessly reaches down to rip and tear.
    Made me the man I am today!

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