fred_mouse

I'm rereading Watership Down, for any number of reasons, one of which is 'because it is time to'. I had remembered the commentary on social structures, and the way that things are dreadful and then dreadful, and then dreadful some more, albeit in a cheerful manner. What I hadn't remembered was the in-my-face racism. There are two that I've noticed:

1. "Rabbits, of course, have no idea of precise time or of punctuality. In this respect they are much the same as primitive people, who often take several days over assembling for some purpose and then several more to get started. Before such people can act together, a telepathic feeling has to flow through them and ripen to the point when theay allknow that they are to begin" (followed by then talking about flocks of birds beginning their migration.

I was startled. The implication that these people are primitive because they don't act in the way that the culture of the author does is one that I found hard to avoid.

2. "...a rabbit can no more refuse to tell a story than an Irishman can refuse to fight."

I think I reacted worse to this than to the first. In part this is because the first had primed me, but also, the first is a nebulous 'they', whereas this is a specific racial/cultural grouping that is being denigrated.

I have lots of thoughts about this, but none of them particularly coherent, so I'm not going to write them all down - maybe if I can condense it all into a clear thought (or two) I will. I also have lots of questions: is this typical of Adams? Is there overt racism in his other books? (I'm going to reread, but if someone else has already noticed?). Is racism a common evil in anthropomorphic fantasy? I was expecting that it wouldn't turn up, because the story isn't about people. doh. Has this been corrected in later printings of the book? Is there any kind of systematic record of racism in literature? I'd be fascinated to have a look at something like that. I'm tempted to start such a record - for every book I read to note how many racist statements I encounter. Except, how likely am I to notice all of them? I'm certainly learning a lot reading the details of RaceFail09, and other commentary on racism, but I can't imagine that I'm particularly reliable at spotting racism yet.

There were other questions, but they have escaped while I put these ones down on pixels....