We Love You, Bunny

Samantha plays an important role in connecting We Love You, Bunny to Awad’s earlier novel, Bunny. Samantha is the protagonist of the previous novel; she is the fifth member of the MFA cohort that includes her and the other Bunnies.

At the start of We Love You, Bunny, Samantha is a successful novelist who returns to her college town as part of her book tour. She is abducted and held captive by the Bunnies as they recount events from the first year of their MFA program to her. Samantha never speaks, but comments made by the Bunnies hint at what she is experiencing; for example, the Bunnies comment that “you’ve been, you know, crying a lot” (313). Samantha spends most of the narrative vulnerable and terrified since she is being threatened with an axe. She functions as a reader surrogate, providing an audience for the Bunnies to direct their story toward.

Samantha is a silent, static presence for most of the novel, but a plot twist at the conclusion reveals that the individual in the attic is not actually Samantha at all. Samantha suspected that the Bunnies would harm her if she returned to the college town, and so she sent the mysterious individual (transformed into her exact shape) instead. Samantha has outwitted the Bunnies and successfully acquires Aerius’s notebook at the end of the novel. This development reveals that Samantha is actually a keenly intelligent and strategic character who remains committed to undermining the Bunnies, even after they have graduated.

Coraline is one of the Bunnies (Samantha referred to her as “Cupcake” in Bunny). She comes from a wealthy family in Virginia and maintains a very feminine and lady-like personal aesthetic, including blonde hair that “Mother called frigid blond but I called Grace Kelly” (16) and a “lemony-sugar smell” (13). Coraline is very preoccupied with manners and propriety and has fairly conventional aesthetic tastes; she urges the group to show Aerius “the melodramas and screwball rom-coms of the ‘40s and ‘50s” (155).

However, under her icy and composed exterior, Coraline has a tendency toward self-harming behavior. She always carries a razor blade with her, and she eventually gifts this to Aerius. Coraline also gives Aerius the pink plastic pony that becomes his best friend. Coraline is naïve and sheltered, which explains why she reacts so badly to Allan’s feedback on her writing. Her intense distress sets the tone for the other Bunnies to hate Allan and perceive him as someone who is unjustly persecuting them.

Like all of the Bunnies, Coraline does not experience any development or growth because she remains trapped in her selfishness and ego. Coraline wants to possess Aerius for her own enjoyment, and she is never able to truly see his perspective.

Kyra is one of the Bunnies; in Samantha’s version of events, she is nicknamed “Creepy Doll,” and Aerius nicknames her “Murder Fairy.” Kyra has a dainty, feminine aesthetic that is informed by her interest in the Gothic and fairy tales: She has “the shiniest red hair, and her face was like a small, scared heart” (18). Kyra’s apartment further reveals her taste and aesthetic preoccupations, being filled with typewriters, crystals, and images of “fairies and frolicking nymphs and Pre-Raphaelite ladies holding crystal balls” (29).

Kyra’s interest in fairy tales makes her familiar with the idea of humans transforming into animals (and vice versa). She is intrigued by Aerius but is also the most suspicious of him and the one most concerned with his capacity for violence. When the Bunnies first debate what to do about Aerius, Kyra suggests, “if we don’t kill him now, he might run off and do something terrible” (141). During the period when the Bunnies are regularly creating hybrids and then killing them off, Kyra is typically the one who uses the axe to kill them. She has the highest tolerance for violence. Like the rest of the Bunnies, Kyra is only capable of viewing Aerius from a selfish perspective and does not develop or change.

Vik is another of the Bunnies. She is somewhat of an outlier in her aesthetic presentation. While Kyra and Coraline are both hyperfeminine in their appearance, Vik is distinguished by her “aggressively unbrushed hair” (20) and wearing “a gross, grungy plaid, like her beauty was trying to graffiti itself” (20).

Vik refers to herself as a “shock artist” who believes that “art should be a blow to the senses. A punch in the face, always” (86). Vik is more assertive and crass than the other Bunnies, particularly when it comes to sexuality. She is the most unabashedly sexually interested in Aerius and is described as “just ogling him openly” (133). Aerius refers to her as “Insatiable,” expressing his irritation with her constant sexualized interest in him. Vik is the one who accidentally lets Aerius escape from the attic because he calls her “vanilla” and, as she insists, “I was flustered after that, okay?” (165). Since Vik takes pride in being experimental and even purposefully transgressive in her sexuality, she is hurt and offended when Aerius uses a term that refers to someone with conventional sexual tastes. While Vik values Aerius for explicitly sexual reasons (as opposed to the more romantic and aesthetic longings of the other Bunnies), she exhibits the same rapacious and possessive attitude toward him.

Elsinore (who is nicknamed “the Duchess” by Sam and “the Mind Witch” by Aerius) is the unofficial leader of the Bunnies. She is vain and arrogant about the power and charisma she possesses, explaining that “all of this, the whole fucking thing, was me” (111). Elsinore is tall and thin with long silver hair; her striking beauty is part of what gives her power. Coraline describes how Elsinore “looked like a yoga retreat. A girl for whom the word summer was both a noun and a verb” (24).

Elsinore writes experimental texts on shards of glass, which she refers to as “proems” (a fusion of poetry and prose). When the Bunnies squabble amongst themselves over decisions around Aerius, Elsinore often makes the final call. Elsinore has keen psychological awareness and is good at manipulating individuals around her. However, she is ultimately not able to maintain control over Aerius.

Allan is one of the professors who teaches in the MFA program; he appears in Bunny where he is referred to as “the Lion.” Allan is a Scottish man who has published in the horror genre. He teaches workshop during the first semester that the Bunnies and Samantha are studying at Warren.

The Bunnies detest Allan because they believe that his feedback is harsh and unfair. However, there is no real evidence that Allan is a bad teacher, and the Bunnies’ perception of him seems to be mostly shaped by their dislike and mistrust of him as a man. Toward the end of the novel, Allan encounters Aerius, who has been on a mission to kill him. Allan is calm and kind throughout this encounter; he is willing to passively submit to death, but he also counsels Aerius about how writing can be transformative and liberating. Allan’s advice ends up being extremely important in helping Aerius achieve his freedom.