Rabbits

"Rabbit" redirects here. For the Season 1 episode, see White Rabbit.

Young Ben pulls out his pet rabbit Chester from his bag. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")

Rabbits have appeared in Lost as research animals, food animals, in art, and as symbols.

Research rabbits

Rabbit #8 in the cage, appearing lifeless, after Ben shook it furiously ("Every Man for Himself")

White-furred, red-eyed, sometimes number-painted rabbits or bunnies have appeared on multiple occasions in the show. The bunny is a New Zealand white rabbit. The first rabbit appeared in "Every Man for Himself", in which it is was presented in a small steel cage, placed above Sawyer's chest by Ben. The rabbit had the number 8 painted onto his fur. Ben then shook the cage violently and the rabbit quivered, then fell still. Ben told Sawyer the bunny was dead and had a pacemaker in him, which due to the rabbit's anxiety, caused its heart to explode. Later, the rabbit was in Ben's bag when they made the trek to the Hydra Island lookout, and was alive and okay. Ben said that he only gave the bunny a sedative, and then placed it back in his bag. Damon Lindelof, in the Lost: The Complete Third Season (DVD) commentary says, "Ben's penchant for numbering his rabbits probably has something to do with fertility experiments."

A different rabbit, named Chester, appeared in "The Man Behind the Curtain". As a child, Ben kept Chester in his room as a pet, and used him to test if the sonar fence has been deactivated.

Yet another rabbit, named Angstrom, appeared in "Happily Ever After" as a research subject for a test Widmore's team is conducting using the generator on Hydra Island. It was also white with red eyes and was kept in a cage.

Rabbit's feet

A rabbit's foot is considered in American folklore to be a good luck amulet. Numerous rabbit's feet have been shown or mentioned in Lost:

• Hurley finds a keyring that has a rabbit's foot on it. ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead")
• The co-pilot of the Coast Guard plane carrying the Oceanic Six is holding a rabbit's foot and says, "We need it with the cargo we've got." ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
• The keys to Hurley's Camaro, which Hurley's dad hands him, have a rabbit's foot keychain. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
• Ilana suggests that Sayid buys a rabbit's foot, to give him luck while on Ajira Airways Flight 316. ("He's Our You")

Other occurrences

Alex preparing white rabbit ("Greatest Hits")

• Alex is seen in flashback skinning another rabbit. ("Greatest Hits")
• The logo for the DHARMA Initiative station the Looking Glass is a white rabbit.
• Young Charlie wore slippers resembling rabbits. ("Fire + Water")
• Locke prepared a rabbit for Ben, who asked Locke if the rabbit had a number on it. ("The Other Woman")
• The magician at Ray Shephard's assisted-living facility performed a trick with a white rabbit. ("316")

"Dharma Lady" album artwork

The Geronimo Jackson concert poster

• The Geronimo Jackson single, "Dharma Lady" album artwork features Rabbit Jack (a white rabbit skull).
• The Geronimo Jackson concert poster seen in the DHARMA cafeteria shows the white rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the bottom left corner. ("He's Our You")

A white rabbit poster on Aaron's bedroom door

• A poster of The White Rabbit (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) is seen on the Aaron's bedroom door in Kate's house, while she had the dream of Claire. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")
• Miles uncovered a key hidden under a statue of a white rabbit. The number 8 (or the infinity sign) is written inside the ear of the rabbit statue. ("Some Like It Hoth")
• During the meal between Eloise and Daniel, some fans believe a white rabbit can be seen in the distorted image through Daniel's wine glass. ("The Variable")

A white rabbit in a drinking glass

• Jack finds the key to David's mother's house under a ceramic white rabbit. ("Lighthouse")
• Kate is found by Sawyer tending a fire when he returns from meeting Charles Widmore on Hydra Island. When Sawyer asks what Kate is cooking, she replies, "Rabbit. I think." ("Recon")

Trivia

• Sawyer read Of Mice and Men while in prison, and made several references to the book, as did Ben. In the book, the mentally challenged character Lenny's obsession with rabbits is a key plot element. ("Every Man for Himself")
• In "Confidence Man", Sawyer is reading Watership Down, a novel featuring rabbits as the protagonists.
• The Blue Danube is the second part of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
• The nonfiction Stephen King book entitled On Writing asks the reader to conduct an writing exercises. One essay about writing invokes the image of a nondescript rabbit in a cage with the number 8 written on its back. King uses this image to make the point that writing is "telepathy." He argues that though the writer tells the reader of this rabbit, the reader and writer will inevitably see different rabbits, but because the 8 is unique, they will both see the 8 and be able to communicate.
• The idea of the white rabbit is a running theme of the show, even referenced in one episode title, Season 1 episode 5, "White Rabbit". Ironically, most characters are led out into the jungle after their white rabbits (as when Jack follows Christian in the episode that introduced the idea), but Sawyer is led to remain caged after he sees the real white rabbit.

• The idea of a character following a white rabbit can be traced back to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There" by Lewis Carroll. Both stories had the "Alice character" experiencing an amazing journey when her insatiable curiosity roused her to follow a nervous white rabbit into a cave-like opening

• Rabbits are a symbol for fertility, a theme which surrounds the Others. For example, rabbits were killed in an early and well-known pregnancy test. The urine of pregnant women contains human chorionic gonadotropin, which causes changes to a female rabbit's ovaries when it is injected. Early pregnancy tests involved injecting the urine and then killing the rabbit and inspecting its ovaries.[1]
• Alex skins a white rabbit moments before betraying her father Ben, who had a pet bunny as a child, and is a bit of a "white rabbit" himself (leading those who follow him on strange journeys). (Symbolism)

Outside of Lost episodes

Orchid Orientation film

A shot of the Orchid Orientation film

A shot of the Orchid Orientation film

In the Orchid Orientation film, Edgar Halliwax (Pierre Chang) holds up a rabbit with the number 15 on it. After a moment, it is shown that behind him a second rabbit with the number 15 sitting on the top shelf of the metal shelving unit. Chang and his assistants are upset by the second rabbit and Chang moves away from it, saying the two cannot be close together. The film abruptly ends and restarts with only one rabbit. The film implies there is a significant population of white rabbits in the Orchid.

A shot of the Orchid Orientation film

A shot of the Orchid Orientation film

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse suggest that fans curious about Charlotte's discovery of a polar bear skeleton in Tunisia watch the Orchid video, and further draw a link between the polar bear with the bunny in the video. (Official Lost Podcast/February 19, 2008)

Hydra Orientation film

White rabbits at the Hydra Station

In the Hydra Orientation film, Pierre Change walks through the Hydra Station, where we see 6 caged white rabbits, all with numbers on their sides.

Games

• White rabbits appear in both Lost: The Mobile Game and Lost: iPod Game.

See also

• Watership Down, which has rabbits as main characters

External links

• Entertainment Weekly - Oct 31, 2006 article by Jeff Jensen on the possible connection with Stephen King