Bunny

The theme of hybridity takes over the story. Samantha, the Bunnies, and the other characters and places combine different parts. The story’s structure is hybrid itself; Mona Awad mixes different elements—emails, texts, emojis, notebooks, music, experimental prose pieces, etc.—to propel the narrative. Without the dominance of hybridity, the story loses its mystery and magical realism. What makes the book puzzling and fantastical is its moving parts. Awad confronts the reader with a rush of sights, sounds, and cultural references, and the reader has to try to fit the components together.

Samantha is a hybrid with a combination of voices in her head. She lacks a solid sense of self, building an identity out of others’ desires and expectations instead. At Cheapo’s, she talks to Ava, reasoning, “Because even if she’s not here, I might as well talk to her all the same” (196). She also continually hears the Bunnies. They become a part of her—both in her head and in the material world. At the Smut Salon, referring to rumors about her and the Lion, Samantha tells them, “We never fucked, if that’s what you’re thinking” (44). The Bunnies don’t say anything about the Lion. Part of Samantha’s challenge is managing her hybridity. It’s not bad to consist of sundry elements, but the chorus of voices and her two creations—Ava and Max—prevent a hybrid identity that’s sustainable. Samantha has to confront reality. To do so, she has to get her components in order.

The Bunnies are also hybrids. They’re young women, but they identify as a group of rabbits. Their tight bond makes them a part of each other. They call each other “Bunny,” as if each Bunny contains pieces of the others. The Bunnies represent the motif of cuteness, sex, and violence. They bring these distinct concepts together. They’re twee, yet they’re open about their sexual desires and have little reservations about beheading a failed Draft. Samantha’s descriptions of the Bunnies reinforce their hybridity. They’re a collection of colors, clothes, and affectations, each with their unique twist on the Bunny identity. She describes Vignette, “Her dainty dress countered by combat boots, unbrushed hair, a half-open mouth that never closes. Her cloudy gray eyes full of fuck you. Writes for shock value” (35). Ava sees the Bunnies’ hybridity as negative. She looks at them “like they’re a four-headed beast” (12) and compares them to Twinkies—“fake-sweet, squidgy, unsurprising packaging” (26). For Ava, the Bunnies’ hybridity is toxic.

The hybrid identity extends to the school and faculty. Fosco is a workshop leader and a villain. Her names carry different meanings; Count Fosco is the villain in Wilkie Collins’s novel The Woman in White, but that text also has a Countess Fosco who is broken and obedient to her husband. This could allude to the Bunnies’ insistence that her husband is a predator. Ursula is likewise the villain in The Little Mermaid who preys on poor unfortunate souls, but in a book full of literary references, the name could reference feminist science fiction author Ursula Le Guin. While Fosco’s feminism is often academic and pretentious, she calls out the Bunnies when their stories center on male protagonists. The workshop is a hybrid space—a classroom, a cave, a womb, a performance art space, and, for the meeting with Bunny Fosco and Bunny Lion, a haunted house. The Lion is a hybrid—a supportive thesis adviser and a red herring villain; while lions are predators, they also symbolize bravery and valor. Male lions are also not the main hunters; they guard the cubs while female lions do the hunting. Even Jonah becomes a hybrid due to an ill-suited nickname, “Psycho Jonah,” which contrasts with his gentle nature. The Drafts are also called Hybrids, and they reflect the hybridity of their creators. In Bunny, hybridity is everywhere.