The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies

The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit written by Beatrix Potter is a tale following a young mischievous rabbit who loves getting into all kinds of trouble. The collection of stories is simple and humorous making it ideal for children, but has hidden messages that give children a glance at the real world. By using animals to introduce these harsh conditions such as death and greed to children, the truth is less severe which helps kids understand without scaring them. In the first story, “The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” Potter introduces death through the bunnies’ late father. ““Now, my dears,’ said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, “you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregors garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put into a pie by Mrs. McGregor.”” While Potter doesn’t directly state it, it’s clear the father was killed because he entered the McGregor’s garden. However, because she writes that he was put into a pie, this turns what would be a saddening situation into a silly event. Of course, children know that when someone dies, they are not baked into a dessert. By using this method of making death a little more humorous and a little less…

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and W;t In the play W;t, the main character Vivian refers to the story The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, when the doctor tell her what procedure they will follow. When telling her this she then has a flashback to the time that she was reading books with her father. She came across the word “soporific” and asked what it meant (Encyclopedia.com.). Her father then made her sound it out, and she asked what it meant he said that it had meant making one sleepy. He then…

mentions the stories of the Flopsy Bunnies. This was a child’s tale about the life of a family of bunnies. It explains what the term soporific means and how it relates to the condition of Vivian in the play “W;t.” Vivian Bearing was the main character in “W;t.” She was a professor at a university in England and she taught Metaphysical poetry which played a large role in the development of this character. She was a very bright girl as a student and she was always studying instead of hanging out…