Bunnicula — Chapter 3

About This Passage

This passage shows Chester defending his vampire surveillance to Harold. Chester is exhausted from staying up all night, but he insists he is being 'alert.' Harold then makes the obvious observation: a creature who sleeps all the time is not alert. Chester then changes the subject (he 'started to bathe his tail,' which Harold tells us is 'a cat-y way of changing the subject he finds uncomfortable'). The passage is doing two things at once. First, it shows Chester's growing inability to recognize his own contradictions — he claims to be alert while being exhausted. Second, it shows Harold's gentle willingness to point out the contradiction without making it a big fight. Copying this passage teaches a writer how to render the way friends correct each other in small ways, and how a character's avoidance of an uncomfortable point can be shown through small physical actions like grooming.

Narration Prompt

In your own words, tell the story of this chapter. What were the most important moments? What made them important — and how do you know?

Discussion Questions

1. Chester is staying up all night to watch the rabbit and sleeping all day to recover. Harold notes that Chester is exhausted but cannot get Chester to admit it. Is Chester's behavior here a sign of devotion to a serious cause, or a sign that worry has become more important to him than the actual problem? How do you know?
2. When the family finds a white tomato in the refrigerator, each member offers a different explanation: chemistry experiment, vegetable blight, DDT, faulty refrigerator. Chester believes the explanation is supernatural (a vampire bite). The family's explanations are all natural. Whose approach is more responsible — the family's natural explanations even though they are wrong, or Chester's supernatural explanation even though it might be the only way to make sense of all the evidence? Defend your answer.

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide