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Paragraph 1 Maureen L. Patterson Mr. Berens 7th Grade Literature 28 November 2011 Based on the book __Watership Down__, written by Richard Adams, the outskirters’ culture epitomizes a perfect balance between old-fashioned ideas and modern ideas. While the outskirters are tempted to modernize their way of telling their scriptures, they keep faith in their old-fashioned ways. For instance, the outskirters go to Cowslip’s warren and tell their stories. Afterward, they hear what Cowslip’s warren thinks of their stories. On page 100 a random rabbit in the crowd says, “ I always think these traditional stories retain a lot of charm, especially when they’re told in the real, old-fashioned spirit.” As you might notice the rabbit is being patronizing and pointing out the fact that the story was “Old-fashioned,” and that their warren was above that type of story-telling. After a heated conversation, Silverweed, the story-teller of Cowslip’s warren, starts to tell a poem about accepting death, on page 102-103, “… Where are you going stream? Far, far away, beyond the heather, sliding away all night. Take me with you, stream, away in the starlight. …” Notice, going with the stream, far, far away, means going into the unknown; death. Death is something everyone fears but Cowslip’s warren is trying to make it a beautiful and calming experience. By doing this they think that the rabbits won’t be afraid when their time comes. The next few chapters show that death, or the possibility of death, is never to be talked about in Cowslip’s warren. Hiding from a fear doesn’t make it go away.

Paragraph 2

Maureen L. Patterson Mr. Berens 7th Grade Literature 20th of November I. When the outskirters have to learn how to problem solve, they pull out their modern thinking.
 * 1) Context
 * 2) In the chapter, “The Crossing,” Fiver and Pipkin cannot cross the river because they are tired and Pipkin is injured. On top of that, they are being rushed because there is a dog loose in the woods. Then, to save the day, Blackberry pulls out his modern thinking by finding a piece of wood and discovering that it can float and bringing Pipkin and Fiver across the river, on page 37.
 * 3) Evidence
 * 4) “… That’s a piece of flat wood like that piece that closed the gap by Green Loose above the warren-you remember?”
 * 5) Analysis
 * 6) In this passage, Blackberry takes his background knowledge and applies it to save his two friends, Fiver and Pipkin. If Cowslip’s Warren, with the modern beliefs and religion, were to have been in that situation they would have never known how to get out of it. First of all, because they have never seen a river and second of all, since they have never seen a river, they wouldn’t have known that a piece of wood could float.
 * 7) Context
 * 8) The Outskirters used their modern thinking again on page 311. When they needed does from Efrafa they used Bigwig as a kind of spy, to talk to the does from Efrafa, tell them the plan, and get them out of Efrafa and back home to the Honeycomb Warren. They also changed Bigwig’s name to Thlayli. Thlayli means Bigwig in Lapine.
 * 9) Evidence
 * 10) “‘Who are you?’ said Woundwort. ‘ My name is Thlayli’ replied the stranger. ‘Thayli, sir.’ prompted Campion”
 * 11) Analysis
 * 12) This is where Bigwig is being introduced to Woundwort. This is dramatic irony because we know who Thlayli is and what he is in Efrafa to do

Paragraph 3 Maureen L. Patterson Mr. Berens 7th Grade Literature 22nd of November I. In preparation for the future, the outskirters take out their “what if...” thinking so that they’re prepared for the worst.
 * 1) Context
 * 2) For example, when Hazel sees a hurt mouse, he decides to help it. Now thinking toward the future, maybe since they helped the mouse, the mouse would help them. On page 144, Bigwig makes his point of view known.
 * 3) Evidence
 * 4) “I’d like to try standing up to some of these elil. We’re afraid of too many.”
 * 5) Analysis
 * 6) What Bigwig is saying is at they have too many enemies and they need to lower their “thousand enemies” as their god Frith says. Hazel figures out a way too lower these “Thousand Enemies” and that is becoming friends with their enemies.
 * 7) Context
 * 8) On page 182 Hazel somewhat explains why he is nursing the hurt enemies.
 * 9) Evidence
 * 10) “’What’s the idea Hazel?’ said Silver. ‘That’s a savage brute. You can’t make a friend out of that. ‘‘You may be right,’ said Hazel ‘But what’s the good of a blue tit or a robin to us? They don’t fly any distance. We need a big bird.”
 * 11) Analysis
 * 12) The reason why Hazel thinks they need a big bird is because then the big bird can fly up and find out if there are any elil, or enemies around them.

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