Book "Ship Hill" - characters, plot, history

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Probably every lover of children's books that tell about the life of animals, read the work "Ship Hill". Its main characters are ordinary rabbits, forced to leave their usual habitats, looking for a new space for a happy, peaceful life. But they will have to go through serious trials before they can achieve their goal.

History of writing the book

In general, Richard Adams - the author who gave the world the book "Ship Hill" - never dreamed of becoming a writer. It was just that on long trips he entertained his daughters with fictitious tales of the adventures of cheerful, never discouraged rabbits. Those with delight listened to an unusual tale. Over time, Adams realized that a fairy tale novel might be of interest to publishers, wrote down all the invented stories, connecting them with a common plot, and began searching for a company that would be interested in the work.

Alas, the path was not easy. Thirteen times he was rejected by publishers who thought that the adventures of the rabbits nobodyinterested.

In the end, there was a publishing house that agreed to take on the publication. But it turned out to be so poor that it could not even pay the advance to the author. However, he still agreed. The fact that Richard Adams had published The Hill Dwellers flattered him. No one could have imagined that the book would become a bestseller. The book was not only reprinted many times in England, but also received a number of the most prestigious awards.

Storyline

The main characters of the book about the adventures of rabbits are two brothers - Nut and Five. They lived with the rest of the colony in the province of Sandleford and were generally happy. This continued until Piatik had the gift of foresight. In a dream, he saw that the colony would be brutally destroyed. Nut believed his younger brother, tried to convince the head of the colony to leave the habitable places. However, he did not want to hear about it - to leave the usual, safe place because of the dream of some youth.

Then the two brothers decided to leave the colony. They were joined by several more rabbits who believed the pessimistic forecast.

Subsequently, the heroes had to endure many dangers, about which the work "Ship Hill" tells. For example, they met rabbits who lived for their own pleasure, frankly prospering, not afraid of predators. But sometimes one or the other disappeared without a trace. The rest pretended that everything was in order, tried not to mention the missing. The truth was found out by Shishak - one of the companions of Nut. It turns out that the local farmer exterminated the predators in the area and fed the rabbits with oldvegetables. For this, the rodents paid with blood - the farmer caught them with snares. The same did not find the courage to change a safe and satisfying place, preferring to put up with losses. A very noticeable parallel with the work of H. G. Wells "The Time Machine".

Soon the heroes were joined by two more rabbits from their native Sandleford. It turns out that Pyatik's predictions came true. The colony was destroyed for construction - some of the rabbits were poisoned in holes, and the rest were shot, after which the field was leveled with a tractor for a construction site.

During their travels, the rabbits met Kehaara the seagull, which they rescued from death. She told about the location of another rabbit colony. The heroes tried to cooperate with them, but the cruel despot Datura responded with aggression, inflicting serious wounds on the poor wanderers. Then the rabbits decided to go for a trick - they needed rabbits to create their own colony. They started a gamble, the purpose of which was the liberation of the females from the kingdom of cruel Datura.

As a result, their dangerous plan succeeded. However, the rabbits had to endure many more serious shocks, risk their lives more than once, before they could just live, enjoy life in their own colony in the Watership Hills.

Screenings

The book "Ship Hill" turned out to be surprisingly popular. Therefore, it is not surprising that soon after the release, a decision was made to film it.

In 1978, a cartoon based on this book appeared. He received titled "The Most Dangerous Journey", but in our country it was released as "Sailed Ship". The cartoon turned out to be quite successful, received the Saturn award in 1979, and was also nominated for Hugo.

In 2018, a four-episode animated series was released. Created by Netflix and BBC. The plot turned out to be quite impressive - 20 million pounds sterling.

Other names

The original title of the book is Watership Down. But in our country it was published under different names, which caused serious confusion. Of course, the most famous title is The Hill Dwellers by Richard Adams.

But some readers got acquainted with a book called "On Watership Hill", "The Great Journey of Rabbits" and some others.

Edition in the USSR and Russia

For the first time, our compatriots were able to get acquainted with the book shortly after its publication in their homeland - in 1975. It was then that in the British magazine "England", which was published specifically for the USSR, an excerpt was printed, called "Watership Down". The entire book was published in 1988. True, it was greatly curtailed and received a more understandable name - "The Amazing Adventures of Bunnies."

Subsequently, it was reprinted four more times. To date, the book has four publications in our country.

Conclusion

The article is coming to an end. Now you know enough about the world famous children's book "Ship Hill". If you haven't read yether, then spending a few evenings getting to know her is definitely worth it!