44 pages • 1 hour read
Deborah Howe, James HoweBunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1979A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Vampires
Vampire symbolism frequently appears throughout the novel, and it represents Harold and Chester’s deepest fears. When Bunnicula first arrives in the Monroe household, Harold is afraid of how the bunny might disrupt the normalcy in the home. He sees Toby, his closest human, fighting his brother for the right to take care of Bunnicula, and he feels a pang of jealousy. Harold goes along with Chester’s vampire theory because he’s not initially sure what to believe about Bunnicula, and Chester is very convincing. It’s only toward the middle of the novel, after Harold befriends Bunnicula, that his fears about Bunnicula being a vampire fade.
Chester’s fears about the alleged vampire bunny are more persistent. He continually plots Bunnicula’s demise because he’s afraid of what the bunny might do to him, Harold, or the Monroes. He claims that he’s afraid the bunny will suck their blood like a vampire, but the veterinarian diagnoses Chester with stress caused by sibling rivalry. This means Chester was less convinced that Bunnicula would harm the family and more worried that the bunny would take the family’s attention away from him.
Literature
Literature plays an important symbolic role throughout the story. Chester is first introduced as Mr. Monroe’s cat. Mr. Monroe is an English professor, and Chester grew up reading innumerous literary works of every genre. When Harold begins his tale, he points out that Chester was going through a mystery and horror phase when Bunnicula first arrived. He cites this as the possible source of Chester’s feelings toward Bunnicula, as if Chester’s imagination was fueling his observations about the bunny.
The author references gothic horror writer Edgar Allan Poe as a way to signal Chester’s emotional mood when he first meets Bunnicula. This technique happens again when Chester is reading The Mark of a Vampire while concocting plans to end Bunnicula’s life. These literary allusions enhance the plot because they enable the author to borrow themes and motifs from other works, which complicates Chester’s actions. As a character who is reading these literary works, his actions against Bunnicula borrow from the familiar tropes found in these genres.
Food
Food is an important symbol for Harold. He may be a sentient dog who can sing Bunnicula a “lullaby in the obscure dialect of his homeland” (92), but at heart he’s still just a dog who loves food. Harold’s adoration of food speaks to his very nature as a dog, and it also reveals his deepest vulnerability. Harold unwittingly agrees to go along with Chester’s plan to stake Bunnicula because he is promised a raw steak. His sentient nature that desires to do the morally right thing succumbs to his dog nature that’s motivated solely by food.
