The Shared Loneliness in Rabbit Hutch

 In the novel, “The Rabbit Hutch”, by Tess Gunty, we get to see the lives of each of the people who live in the same apartment building. Much of the novel focuses on the loneliness shared amongst all the characters and especially Blandine. We get to see her out of body experiences as she moves throughout the town and see her roommates and old acquaintances. She yearns to be free of her life when she exits her body and says, “On a hot night in Apartment C4, Blandine Watkins exits her body. She is only eighteen years old, but she had spent most of her life wishing for this to happen” (3). Through being free of her body, she is able to feel less lonely as roams the apartment feeling like she is connected with the lives of the other people she lives with. 

This is similar amongst all the people who live in the Rabbit Hutch. They all have their own lives, but share the same loneliness. For example, Blandine doesn’t even know Joane regardless of living in the same apartment building as her. When she talks about Joane she says, “Her solitude is as prominent as the cross around her neck. You could be persuaded you’d never seen her before, even if you passed her daily. You could be persuaded you saw her everyday…She could be your neighbor. She could be your relative. She could be anyone” (22). She describes Joane as being just anyone to show how distant they are, which is a parallel to how distant the occupants are within the Rabbit Hutch. Even after they talk, they still never really become friends. That’s the strangest part about this novel. None of the characters in the apartment have a real connection. Blandine put it best in her discussion with Joane when she says, “Strange to remain strangers with your neighbor, don’t you think?”(28). This is very similar with her other three roommates Jack, Malik, and Todd. As they grew out of the foster system, and have their own lives and stories. Although some of the characters share interactions by the end, they all mirrored a very lonely life throughout the majority of the novel.