How is tension built in chapter 1 of Watership Down? CAND 6

CANDIDATE 6

How is tension built in chapter 1 of Watership Down? 

Negative imagery and language is used to create tension in Watership Down. Although the opening scene appears peaceful, there is an underlying sense of unease and expectation. For example, the opening sentence, “the primroses were over” shows how beauty and peace can die- we see by this opening sentence that something is about to come to an end, which creates tension as the scene appears to be peaceful- we know that whatever is going to happen hasn’t happened yet, and there is little indication to when it will.

“Pale yellow” is described to be “fading”, implying that hope a happiness will fade away. “half-chocked” is a very negative way to describe the amount of flowers there are at the band- and flowers are usually seen to be pretty and innocent, whereas already there have been two pieces of negative imagery involving flowers. This also could be forewarning for Bigwig getting trapped in the snare.

The rabbits are very uneasy, as shown by how they “sat upright” “with erect ears” and how the rabbits run to safety when Fiver startles despite knowing there is no danger. Despite this, to the reader there seems to be no danger- the reader doesn’t know who or what the rabbits enemies are and at this point the rabbits seem to know more than the reader (like the opposite of pathetic fallacy). This creates tension.

Tension is also created where fiver is uneasy- “there’s something queer the warren tonight, although I can’t tell exactly what it is.” And later where he has the vision of the blood field. These extracts of danger and confusion create tension as to the reader the situation appears safe and peaceful.

When the reader is shown the sign, the sentence “All the colour faded from the sky” is used to show how the peace and hope has gone- it joins the end of the chapter with the beginning, with the primrose sentence to show that the characters are now in danger. The situation is now swapped- pathetic fallacy is created as the reader reads the sign and the characters are not. It puts the reader on edge as we know there is danger near, but even Fiver (the most prophetic of the rabbits) does not know what will happen and when. Tension is created in the first chapter by the characters knowing more than the reader, and vice versa. This creates tension due to our inability to warn the characters- we are merely observers of the danger coming to pass.