Victoria asked:

This question contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

flag

16 likes · like
6 years ago
9 answers

To answer questions about Bunny, please sign up.

Clare Snow

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

flag

Katelin Ann no. the ending is Samantha making the decision to take a risk with a real person. (that was my take on it)
I loved the ending. wouldnt change a thing.

flag

Slovenly Muse

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[Ok, here we go. First of all, I don't think there is a "right" answer. There are many ways to read this story. First, you could interpret her staring at the mud instead of Jonah as a shy decision to try making a connection to a real person, which would fit thematically with the story.

You could also read it as Samantha moving on to the next imaginary friend. In this reading, it makes sense that EVERYTHING has been imaginary, as that would explain why all the things we know she's made and all the things we're not sure about interact together so perfectly, and the way places, as well as people, seem so changeable. (Perhaps the flash of her mother admonishing her when she and Ava were dancing on the roof was the only bit of "reality" we saw?)

I see both these interpretations well-explained in other answers! But I also think, as this story is about a creative writing program, that it's important to consider that the act of "creating" these "Drafts" or "unreal" people is presented as an allegory for the creative process. Taking what you know, what you want, what you have, and transforming it into something new, something to be released out into the world that can transfix whoever encounters it, affect them on your behalf, and be the next best thing to real for someone ready to get lost in a fantasy. Samantha was so good at it she could deceive even herself. The Bunnies were struggling because they lacked the ingredients within themselves to create something (some"one") with depth and dimension. In this reading, everything is real except Max and Ava. This reading also makes makes sense in the context of Jonah, at the end, removing himself from the group of "bunnies" in HIS program. So everyone in this whole writing program is struggling with the creative process in similar ways. Samantha's talking to Jonah and the mud at the end could be interpreted as her finally feeling empowered through the hard work of her program to use her creative ability with intention (since Max and Ava were both accidents born from desperation), seeing relationships with real people as a possibility, and also seeing the potential in the world around her to become whatever she chooses to deliberately make, now that she's aware of what she can do.

I also wondered if this whole book might actually BE Samantha's thesis, and this was her way of processing a difficult experience with her writing program by fictionalizing it. (Certainly the author is writing from experience!)

I love that there are so many ways to interpret this book, and all of them are satisfying in their own way. Definitely one of my favourite reads this year! (hide spoiler)]

flag