We Love You, Bunny

The novel is told from multiple points of view, which allows for different perspectives. However, those perspectives are often in competition with one another, since characters perceive control over a narrative as a way of maintaining power. This type of power can be used to undermine others, or it can be used to deepen self-awareness, leading to a multifaceted exploration of authorial control and agency over narratives.

The main frame narrative, in which the Bunnies recount a long narrative to Samantha while she is held captive in the attic, functions as an assertion of authorial control because the Bunnies are unhappy with how they have been portrayed in Samantha’s novel. They are now going to tell the story, literally in their own voices, and reclaim agency. Ironically, however, the Bunnies struggle to narrate collectively. They often challenge each other’s versions and cut each other off. Moreover, they prove unreliable narrators, and even when they try to cast themselves in a positive light, their narrative makes it clear that they have largely functioned as antagonists. The Bunnies’ attempt at asserting control and agency fails because they operate from a place of ego, competition, and desire.