I thought it was interesting that Sawyer was back to reading Watership Down (after his journey with Ayn Rand and egoism). as he is looked to as a new 'leader'. The literary parallel of reestablishing their newly formed society after the initial three months is compelling.

Three cheers for the Sawyer Book Club!

Sawyer reminds me of the character Bluebell in "Watership Down". Always cracking jokes, a pretty good fighter in a pinch, sort of a drifter... Maybe he's re-reading it to pick up hints on how to get along with the rest of the "warren"... After all, he just supplied them all with some great "flay rah"! LOL!

What's funny to me is that in Watership down, they go to the "Other" camp to . . . get females to mate with- - -and in this episode, here comes Jack back with Juliet! LOL They do need women since they have a very high death rate on this show!

Sawyer reminds me of the character Bluebell in "Watership Down". Always cracking jokes, a pretty good fighter in a pinch, sort of a drifter... Maybe he's re-reading it to pick up hints on how to get along with the rest of the "warren"... After all, he just supplied them all with some great "flay rah"! LOL!

I need to re-read WD myself.

Emm...didn't Bluebell die? (will you have to spoiler font your answer for those who haven't read it?)

I wonder if Sawyer reading watership down has anything to do with

these potential underground tunnels the others have gone into. A warren anyone??

I wonder if Sawyer reading watership down has anything to do with

these potential underground tunnels the others have gone into. A warren anyone??


Ah, yes! nice little connection there, potentially!

I wonder if Sawyer reading watership down has anything to do with

these potential underground tunnels the others have gone into. A warren anyone??

Agreed. This is a poignant connection in my mind. I do believe there exists an intricate series of underground tunnels (and we've clearly seen proof of this in the hatches on on various maps). I imagine there is an active system of catacombs on this island that have existed since the 4-toed statue.

Anyway, when I reconnected with Watership Down after the first Sawyer sighting, it seems to have some of the more compelling thematic connections to our island mystery and circumstance, down to a rabbit with abilities similar to Desmond's. See http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Watership_Down

Thanks for all the insights. I confess I didn't get farther than thinking, " He's started re-reading things, must be out of new material. It would be nice if Kate brought him back a new book or two from Losteria Lane."

Of course, if she tells him there are lots of books over there, he's going to want to lead an expedition there pronto to go get them! OTOH, maybe if he sees the village, HE'LL have sense enough to suggest the Losties move over there and start living more safely and civilized. Might be a good way to stretch those new leadership muscles Hurley's got him building. :biggrin:

What episode was it when we 1st saw Saywer reading Watership Down?
Is this the 1st time we have seen him reading the same book twice?

I like to think that Watership Down has some significance. Its about finding a new home, who will lead, and of course there is Fiver who can see the future. I personally always thought that was a reference to Walt but now with Desmond I don't know.

In fact there are alot of similiarities between lost characters and Watership Down Characters in my opinion.

What episode was it when we 1st saw Saywer reading Watership Down?
Is this the 1st time we have seen him reading the same book twice?

I like to think that Watership Down has some significance. Its about finding a new home, who will lead, and of course there is Fiver who can see the future. I personally always thought that was a reference to Walt but now with Desmond I don't know.

In fact there are alot of similiarities between lost characters and Watership Down Characters in my opinion.

It was Confidence Man. I think was only something like 3 or 4 episodes after they found the caves.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/watership/characters.html

Jack is Hazel (leader)
Walt/Desmond is Fiver (see the future)
Sayid is Bigwig (Fighter)
Locke is Captain Champion (tracker/Fighter)
Claire is Clover (had a baby)
Kate is Dandelion?
Hurley is ?
Jin is ?
Sun is ?
Charlie is ?

Wow, didn't even think of the Fiver - Desmond connection. That is one of my favorite books and I like the idea of parallels. I know it has been discussed before so it's interesting to see it again.

I think one could draw more parallels here like the others being one of the societies encountered along the way in Watership Down. I can't remember which one but there was one place where they infiltrated in order to bring back females?? I think that's why...I have to read again to remember what happened exactly but I'm sure there are many parallels that could be drawn here. They had a rather militant warren as I remember.

I see the parallel with Sawyer and Bluebell because wasn't Bluebell the storyteller??

Very interesting this...

Dandelion was the storyteller and the fastest sprinter. and Efrafa was the warren that was infiltrated to free the females and all others who wanted to live in a free society. There was another warren in the story that "our" rabbits encountered. These "other" rabbits welcomed them with a con. Telling them it was a beautiful place with mystical properties. When in fact, the warren was a very dangerous place. The rabbits here were being trapped and harvested by men. In order to ensure their survival, these "other" rabbits figured that Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, and co. would fall victim to these snares, so they were conned into staying. When Bigwig found himself ensnared, he struggled and made the situation worse by tightening the noose around his neck. The Watership rabbits (actually of the Sandleford Warren) had a brilliant thinker named Blackberry. He discovered a way to free Bigwig, by digging the peg out of the ground, or at least gnawing through it. Bigwig nearly dies. But for a moment they all believe he has died. And during this time "our" rabbits get some answers out of the native bunnies. The rabbits finally regroup and hit the road again. but not before they take a helpless fat-*** bunny with them. You see, the trapper/farmer was fattening these bunnies up with old veggies from his garden. Anyway, the first time we were introduced to the smoke monster, I thought of these snares. I read Watership Down countless times as a teenager. You can imagine my delight when we saw Sawyer reading that very book for the first time! I think this book was the biggest form of inspiration for this whole series. And there are probably many many other connections we have yet to see. Near the end of the story, the main nemesis, General Woundwort discovers that Bigwig isn't the actual leader of this warren. Perhaps there is something in this? Hazel, at one point, is wounded very badly and left behind during a mission. He later returns to his warren with a story of how he was "repaired" and sent home. Perhaps something there also? You know, now that I keep thinking of the smoke monster, perhaps it has more in common with the dog that is loose in the woods and trailing that rattling chain. Remember? While the rabbits are looking for a way to cross a small stream, they are startled by the discovery of a dog loose in the woods, trailing the rabbits. In fact it was Dandelion who made the discovery. and Blackberry who discovered a way across and into the beanfield. They floated on a RAFT! well, a sign. But a raft, to bunnies. I could sit here all night and find similarities. But what does it all mean? are the answers to this show's mysteries hidden in that book???

What if the Losties, seeing it as a safe place to live, move in to otherville only to find out that it is a trap? Maybe the Others need a someone to be "harvested", and put on this elaborate show of leaving to con the Losties into relocating.

Speaking of Watership Down parallels, Ben must be Woundwort, the leader of the Efrafans. He kept a close watch on all of his rabbits, making sure that none of them left his warren. His leadership was so oppressive that some of the does had been planning an escape for some time, prior to Bigwig's arrival. It seems that Ben is using fear and intimidation to keep his people under his control. If given a chance to escape, I bet there would be a handful who would gladly leave the group or the island.

The issue of fertility plays out in the novel, too. Sandleford rabbits needed does to mate with to establish and ensure its legacy. The does they had previously "saved" from a farm were weak and depressed, which meant that they weren't able to mate or conceive. The Others have kidnapped kids and pregnant women and recruited fertility doctors. Does this mean that the Others are infertile or sterile?

Nice post spacefrost, I remembered that magical warren but was trying to draw the parallel - with the farmer and the sacrifices. None of the rabbits in that warren ever talked about it and when Hazel and the others tried they pretended they didn't exist.

Very interesting parallels can be made but the same could be said for some Stephen King books as well. I noted that in "Not in Portland", the book they were debating was a Stephen King book. Thought that was interesting and I haven't found a thread about that recently. There were a few a long time ago.

If I were actually on the island, I would have thought it was due to a shortage of reading material. However as a fan watching the show, I think it must be a clue to the nature of the show when they make it obvious that he is reading WD a second time. Especially since it fits in so well with the events we see.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/watership/characters.html

Jack is Hazel (leader)
Walt/Desmond is Fiver (see the future)
Sayid is Bigwig (Fighter)
Locke is Captain Champion (tracker/Fighter)
Claire is Clover (had a baby)
Kate is Dandelion?
Hurley is ?
Jin is ?
Sun is ?
Charlie is ?

Great link!! Thanks. The parallels from the book and the show are astounding. I'm going to have to dig my old paperback up. Haven't read it since high school.

Sun = Hyzenthlay?
Hurley = Buckthorn?
Charlie = Pipkin?

Kate would be Strawberry. There's the obvious "tastes like strawberrys" but also he escaped his warren and left the rabbit he loves because of the risk of being captured.

I would think that Charlie would be Dandelion since he is a story teller of sorts (musician) and is fairly small.

I think Locke would be BigWig since he could be mistaken for the leader. I think Sawyer is just rereading it because he is like me, he ran out of reading material, he must read something, so it's either read the front section of the phone book or reread what I have until I get the next delivery from the jungle (as in amazon). There are a lot of books that have a correlation to Lost.

so it's either read the front section of the phone book or reread what I have until I get the next delivery from the jungle (as in amazon).

I wonder if they have a free trial of Jungle Prime?:biggrin:

There have been nods towards Watership Down before - Juliet being marked for helping the Losties / stepping out of line.

Maybe Smokey is El-ahrairah

And another Desmond-Fiver reference comes to mind with the ever-famous Bunny. Long live the Bunny!