 Watership Down 's universal motifs of liberation and self @-@ determination have led to the tendency of minority groups to read their own narrative into the novel , despite the author 's assurance ( in 2005 ) that it " was never intended to become some sort of allegory or parable . " Rachel Kadish , reflecting on her own superimposition of the founding of Israel onto Watership Down , has remarked " Turns out plenty of other people have seen their histories in that book ... some people see it as an allegory for struggles against the Cold War , fascism , extremism ... a protest against materialism , against the corporate state . Watership Down can be Ireland after the famine , Rwanda after the massacres . " Kadish has praised both the fantasy genre and Watership Down for its " motifs [ that ] hit home in every culture ... all passersby are welcome to bring their own subplots and plug into the archetype . " 
