The Wind in the Willows

A caravan is a wagon built as a traveling house. Drawn by a horse, such a vehicle lets its owner travel about and visit new places. (Today, house trailers and campers serve much the same function.) Toad purchases a caravan, and he, Rat, and Mole travel through the countryside for a couple of days until a passing car panics the horse, and the wagon overturns. The caravan symbolizes Toad’s ongoing interest in vehicles—like boats, wagons, and automobiles—and exemplifies how his hobbies come and go as he pursues new adventures.

Toad’s search for adventure leads him to “motor-cars.” At the time of the story, cars were a new and luxurious commodity. Toad falls intensely in love with them, buys several, and wrecks each one. He becomes utterly addicted to the thrill of driving too fast: It’s a feeling that never gets old because Toad can simply drive even faster. His recklessness puts him in jail and jeopardizes his friendships. Only the need to retake his home from squatters can dissuade him from his fascination with cars. The automobile’s ability to lure Toad into trouble time and time again represents the things in life that can entrap thrill-seekers.

The demigod Pan plays his pipes to lure Rat and Mole to where they’ll find Otter’s baby son. At first, only Rat can hear them—he’s more “in tune” with the sounds of the river—but soon Mole, too, heeds their beautiful call. They locate Pan and, awed by his august presence, instinctively worship him. The pipes’ lovely tunes mingle with the breezes that whisper among the river reeds. This suggests that a holiness underlies the sounds of nature, something that might just be audible if one listens closely and respectfully to the wilderness.

A large estate on the river that centers on a fine old two-story brick house, Toad Hall is Mr. Toad’s ancestral abode. It’s equipped with a horse stable, boathouse, and gardens. At home, Toad loves to entertain guests, whom he regales with somewhat imaginary tales of his own exploits. He nearly loses the estate to weasels and stoats who invade it, ransack it, and make a mess of it while he’s in jail. With the help of Badger, Rat, and Mole, Toad retakes his home and returns it to its former condition. Toad Hall symbolizes Toad’s respectable background; its near-ruination represents his fall from grace due to addictive adventurism and self-conceit.