Henry Winter will ask you for calculations about poison mushrooms and then try to frame you for killing HIS best friend
Richard missed a bullet, literally, when Henry killed himself. Or he was gonna get framed and into the prison because of Henry.
That's why he always made Richard do his errands at first, he was trying to collect fake evidence.
The reason Bunny gets a shit load of hate despite him being the only one who is NOT an accomplice to murder is because of one simple thing:
His personality.
That is the reason we can't feel bad for him. We as a society have considered Homophobia and sexism one of the worst things you can ever do. Which is true.
Murder is justified in certain situations, especially when it's in a fictional universe/story, not saying Bunny's death was justified, but we can excuse murder----even the law excuses murder at times. It's something grey and understandable in certain situations. We have liked; even loved characters who have killed others simply because it is in a fictional story.
The reason we draw the line at Bunny's behaviour is because, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism/Misogyny as well other forms of discrimination are NEVER excusable. When someone says a slur, you can't excuse that by comparing them in terms of morality with other characters. In modern society, we don't accept slurs and derogatory remarks.
Maybe in the 90's and 2000's when the book was new and fresh, people might not have cared about Bunny's behaviour much, maybe they even sympathize with him and loved him, because it was a DIFFERENT TIME back then. We cannot tolerate things like that anymore and it makes people harder to sympathize with Bunny.
Other than all that, Bunny is annoying a lot of the time. He is not the loveable goof he thinks he is. He scams his friends. He is cocky and arrogant. He is dumb and condescending. He says the worst things at wrong times. He puts people down. He pokes fun at others weaknesses. And the more you see of him the worse he gets. Even to the point you wish he dies.......
And he does. It's in his death that Bunny is more humanized, as most people are, in death.
And it is SOOO frustrating because he is the sanest person in the entire class. The most normal and least indoctrinated in those beliefs.
Bunny Corcoran is a character I wanted to like. But he kept getting on my nerves and I found others more interesting than him. And after reading the book several times I can appreciate him more. Although I don't agree with so many theories about him being a "good" person.
Bunny doesn't need to be good. He doesn't need anyone defending him. He doesn't need excuses for his personality. He is annoying, sometimes endearing; he makes your blood boil and he's still gone too soon. His death is a tragedy. He wanted to live. Forever.
Bunny is Bunny
You love, you hate him, or you don't care about him
His existence is necessary for the story and it's time we don't fight about if he was an angel or the devil
He was a person. A deeply flawed, complex person. And we should appreciate him just for that.
~🕯️🕊️🐇
I read your theory!!!!! It was very well researched and well written <3 <3
I could never do that much research tbh 😂😂😂
So this might seem a bit "naive" when I try to use the argument of not liking the theory just because it doesn't sit right with me personally.
I have also written a theory about Richard lying about things to a degree that he might have made everything up. (He's like a self insert Y/N lol)
I am not Christian or know much about religion either way to comment on those types of things.
All I know from what I understood from the text is:
Bunny knew Henry was after him, he was completely paranoid about that. Him and Henry have a very complicated relationship that we see very little of.
To me Henry pushing Bunny will always be important--- cuz the idea of Bunny watching Henry kill him is just heartbreaking.
Bunny considered Henry his best friend, he loved him.
To see someone you care about so much END your life is tragic. Especially since Bunny wanted to live; he wanted to live forever. He wasn't even dead for ages, so he was lying there in the snow and if he could process things and think. Imagine how he must feel when his best friend killed him!!!!
Richard and Bunny have limited interactions and I do not find their dynamic as compelling as Richard and Henry's is. Richard spent more time with the rest of the friends than he did with Bunny.
Despite knowing Richard has more hand in the story, I still am in the minority of people who actually do NOT want Richard to have an active role.
I like how things are from his POV, he is so basic and normal (to a degree)
He's basically the audience surrogate; reacting rather than doing things actively for story to advance.
And I just prefer Richard that way!
This isn't trying to retract from your theory btw! I love when people have their own theories and discussions it's very fun to see and argue about.
I don't like that particular theory for personal reasons, but I did enjoy reading yours!
It must have taken ages 😭😭😭😭😭 (my old theories are still in the drafts lol)
Am I the only one who hates the "Richard pushed Bunny theory" (*_*)
I feel like it takes away sooo much from Bunny and Henry's friendship/relationship
Richard pushing Bunny does NOT have the same impact as Henry, Bunny's best friend pushing him to death.
Ik we want Richard to be more involved in the story but we don't have to take away from the huge implications behind Bunny's death at the hand of his FRIENDS
Richard just came into Bunny's life. Henry knew Bunny for years and was the closest to him in the group. I would rather someone he knew for years betraying him than a person who's barely a friend to him 🤷🏻♀️
julian calling the greek class (minus bunny and richard) "magpies" is so fun to me bc . while they are symbolic of intelligence and resourcefulness they are also symbolic of deceit and opportunism
richard didnt eat his lamb chops at his first dinner with the twins and bunny ate richards chop instead . lamb could be a religious ref to following, how richard is not quite yet in the thick of it with the group, not yet a follower of henry/andor julian . but later in the book he does eat lamb in camillas room at the hotel if i remember correctly , perhaps he is consuming his own innocence, his own morality . finally accepting his role as a follower maybe . also something to do with morality
Henry as death, as Satan/the devil (Richard has described him as Satan, some girl at a party said the greek class were all devil worshippers and Who do they worship except Henry)
Rot and death, particularly rotting fruit -- something about opulence and overindulgence: richard says in his notebook from when he was 18: “There is to me about this place a smell of rot, the smell of rot that ripe fruit makes. Nowhere, ever, have the hideous mechanics of birth and copulation and death-those monstrous upheavals of life that the Greeks call miasma, defilement-been so brutal or been painted up to look so pretty; have so many people put so much faith in lies and mutability and death death death” and then the first few days at hampden (literally 2 pages later) “stunned and drunk with beauty ... Trees creaking with apples fallen apples red on the grass beneath, the heavy sweet smell of apples rotting on the ground”
Richard first name John: john the apostle . outlived all the other apostles .beloved . follower . etc . interesting the things that could be associated with that; john also means “graced by god”so that could also be looked into; could be that richard abandoning his given name that he has abandoned any grace that could have been given him . could be that he is the apostle to Henry in a way that the others weren't .... could be he has fallen from grace; extremely interesting to me that richard as a name has zero biblical references and means "brave ruler" . something something about the front richard was putting on . the grandiose he wanted so badly to imitate but in the end couldnt and he will always remain but a humble john follower and apostle . perhaps