Reflections on Fox Bunny Funny

Because so many other people have now posted their thoughts about the book, I thought that I’d just respond to some opinions that struck me as particularly interesting. First, I want to address the question of whether the graphic novel has a textual narrative separate from the visual sequence that comprises the story. While reading the book, I didn’t necessarily feel that there was a separate verbal narrative that continued throughout the story. To me, it felt more like the visual narrative created a deeper, underlying significance that was separate from the images and that was continuous throughout the whole book. It seemed like the visual narrative didn’t create a verbal tract, but rather inspired a social commentary that exists apart from the images but that is created in the reader’s mind because of the visual narrative. Hartzell employed an interesting technique of representing certain recognizable aspects of our society in his fictional world in order to awaken the reader to his social narrative. I would say that this underlying social commentary resonates more strongly throughout the novel than any verbal narrative that the images inspire in the reader.

In response to Annie’s post, I also felt that scene in which the fox gives in and gives up his identification with the bunnies to act like the other carnivorous foxes was one of the most human scenes in the novel. That change in his character not only seemed typical of other human stories, but it also revealed a complexity in his personality that we would only associate with humans. It did reveal his personal weakness, but in a way, it also allowed the reader to understand and possibly identify with him more. Disappointingly, though, it showed that his struggle was not yet over, and while I was certainly expecting a third part of the novel, I was sad to see that he went all the way over to the “dark side”, so to speak, before turning to the light.

As for the fox’s final transformation, I was utterly shocked that in the joint fox-bunny world they would surgically transform an animal without his consent. Although the reader does realize that the fox had wanted to be a bunny when he was much younger, it’s quite clear that he has adjusted to his fox identity as an adult, and while he seems to be living in denial, I still felt that he should have some say in whether he becomes a bunny. His final acceptance of his new self struck me as unrealistic, though it did create a very climactic ending to the book, and I can understand why Hartzell would want to conclude with this dramatic scene rather than showing several pages’ worth of internal struggle. However, I think what frustrated me about the ending was that the fox did not come to his epiphany about his identity on his own, but was rather forced into it by others who did not even know him personally. I felt that it would have been more satisfying if the fox had taken control of his own life, perhaps after seeing the happy fox-bunny world and realizing that it was now socially acceptable for him to identify with the bunnies.