We Love You, Bunny

The axe is a key symbol in the text. It is used as a weapon by various characters: The Bunnies use it to threaten Samantha while holding her captive in the attic, and Aerius carries it with him at all times, occasionally using it to murder individuals whom he misidentifies as “Allan.” The axe also contributes to the novel’s intertextuality since it alludes to a quotation from the writer Franz Kafka, who wrote that “a book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.”

The axe symbolizes how disruption or the dismantling of expectations can be a key part of the creative process. An axe is typically used to sever something or to break something into smaller pieces; on the surface, it would seem to be at odds with a generative or creative process. However, when Aerius kills various characters with the axe, they experience a kind of transfiguration—for example, Leonard turns into a rabbit. Since the human world in general and the pretentious setting of Warren University in particular is rife with posturing, pretense, and a lack of authenticity, the axe helps to “cut through” unnecessary artifice and return individuals to a more authentic and genuine state.

Aerius repeatedly ponders the idea that if he is killed with the axe, he might return to rabbit form. The axe ultimately turns out not to be his path to transformation, but it does have associations with freedom. The axe is used to break the glass in the attic window so that Aerius and, later, Samantha can leap into freedom. When it shatters the mirrors in the mirrored room where Aerius confronts the Bunnies, it also provides an opportunity for escape. By shattering expectations, false beliefs, and old narratives, the axe can be a tool for transformation, and not simply a weapon of destruction.