Especially in the early chapters, boats are central to the story. They transport the characters up and down the river that’s central to their lives and offer plenty of happy recreation time. Rat loves to row and scull, and he teaches these skills to Mole.

The author uses boats to teach lessons about character. Mole, excited about boating, abruptly grabs the oars from Rat and promptly tips the boat over. Toad impulsively takes Rat’s boat on a visit to Toad Hall, where squatters there drop a stone into the boat and sink it. Rat and Mole, on the other hand, travel at night in a boat in search of Otter’s missing son, and the journey takes them to an ecstatic vision of the god Pan. The book’s lesson, then, is that bad behavior around boats (or, implicitly, around anything) can be disastrous, while responsible behavior and good deeds performed in a boat (or anywhere) can have their own rewards.

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.