The Velveteen Rabbit

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**The Velveteen Rabbit**

Author	Margery Williams
Illustrator	William Nicholson
Publisher	Avon Books
Released	1922

The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real is a classic children's story written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit and his quest to become real through the love of his owner. The book was first published in 1922.

1 Plot Summary
2 Interpretation
3 Trivia
4 External link

[edit] Plot Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A boy receives a Velveteen Rabbit for Christmas and forgets the toy. In the meantime, the Velveteen Rabbit is snubbed by other more expensive or mechanical toys. During dialogue between the nursery toys and live animals, it is discovered that a toy can become real if its owner really and truly loves it. Love has nothing to do with how often the toy is played with, or how long it has been owned, but rather with pure and true love. There is also a discussion on what it means to be real. The Velveteen Rabbit even meets very well-made toys with no seams who are actually rabbits, and the Velveteen Rabbit learns about the differences between himself and the real rabbits.

When the boy's china dog is misplaced, the Velveteen Rabbit takes the place as the boy's constant companion. The Rabbit becomes shabbier, but the boy loves him no matter what.

This companionship lasts through the winter and the next summer, until the boy falls ill with scarlet fever. The boy becomes too ill to play for a very long time; upon his recovery, he is sent to the seaside on doctor's orders. The boy wishes to take the Rabbit with him, but his doctor forbids him to take the diseased toy. Not only can he not take the Rabbit, but the doctor says it must be burned in order to disinfect the house from the germs.

The boy is given a new plush rabbit with glass eyes and is so excited about the trip to the seaside, he forgets his old Velveteen Rabbit. While awaiting the bonfire, the Rabbit cries real tears, which brings forth the Nursery Magic Fairy. The Rabbit thinks he was real before, but the fairy tells him he was only real to the boy. She flies him to the woods, where he realizes that he is a real rabbit at last and runs to join the other rabbits in the wild.

The subsequent spring, the boy sees the Rabbit hopping in the wild and thinks he looks like his old Velveteen Rabbit, but he never knows that it was.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Interpretation

This novel is considered to be a classic and many children have studied the story in school. Unfortunately, many children remember the story being very sad through their empathy for the boy and thinking that rabbit has died. Few young children remember the uplifting ending where the rabbit becomes real and free. In the ending it states "...And she kissed the little Rabbit again and put him down on the grass.

"Run and play, little Rabbit!" she said.

But the little Rabbit sat quite still for a moment and never moved. For when he saw all the wild rabbits dancing around him he suddenly remembered about his hind legs, and he didn't want them to see that he was made all in one piece. He did not know that when the Fairy kissed him that last time she had changed him altogether. And he might have sat there a long time, too shy to move, if just then something hadn't tickled his nose, and before he thought what he was doing he lifted his hind toe to scratch it.

And he found that he actually had hind legs! Instead of dingy velveteen he had brown fur, soft and shiny, his ears twitched by themselves, and his whiskers were so long that they brushed the grass. He gave one leap and the joy of using those hind legs was so great that he went springing about the turf on them, jumping sideways and whirling round as the others did, and he grew so excited that when at last he did stop to look for the Fairy she had gone. He was a Real Rabbit at last, at home with the other rabbits."

[edit] Trivia

The Velveteen Rabbit played a role in an episode of the long-running sitcom Friends, in which Chandler got an original copy of the book for Joey's girlfriend.

It also played a part in another episode of Friends, a couple of series' later, where at a costume party, Monica makes Chandler wear a bunny outfit, which she mistakenly believed to be The Velveteen Rabbit.