Who is Bunny?

Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran is one of the central characters in The Secret History who we learn in the prologue is eventually murdered. He is part of a closely knit group of six students who study the classics at Hampden College. Bunny eventually stumbles upon a secret that the other five friends had hoped to keep between them. He uses this knowledge to tease the group relentlessly with his "uncanny ability to ferret out topics of conversation that made his listener uneasy and to dwell upon them with ferocity once he had." The group begins to see Bunny as a threat and decide as a result to take matters into their own hands.


In The Secret History, Bunny is a nickname for Edmund Corcoran. Ultimately, Bunny is murdered for his inability to keep a dangerous secret.
The story begins with Richard Papen (the narrator) leaving Plano (a fictitious town in California) for Hampden College in Vermont. Hampden College is a fictitious institution, likely modeled after Bennington College in Vermont.
At Hampden College, Richard studies Ancient Greek under Julian Morrow, a professor of languages who only teaches a small group of students at a time. Richard's fellow students are Francis Abernathy, the twins Charles and Camilla Macaulay, Henry Winter, and of course, Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran.
After a time, Richard discovers that Bunny has a strained relationship with the rest of the professor's group of scholars. Soon, Richard uncovers the reason for it. During a Bacchanal in which only Francis, Henry, Camilla, and Charles participated, Henry inadvertently murdered a farmer. After Bunny discovered the murder, he began blackmailing the group. This is why Henry pays for Bunny to enjoy an expensive vacation in Rome.
Presently, the group lives in fear that Bunny will expose them. So, the scholars decide to act, especially after Bunny tells Richard about the farmer's murder. The students corner Bunny and then push him over a precipice to his death. The rest of the story deals with the aftermath of Bunny's death and how the small group of scholars process their feelings of guilt and hopelessness.

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