TERRIBLE THINGS

1. Why do you think the author told the story of the Holocaust in this symbolic way? Who is this
story directed to?

I think the author directed this story to children. He depicted the horrors of the Holocaust in the
way kids can understand.

2. Why do you think the Terrible Things take away the animals one group at a time?

It took away the animals one group at a time to show that everyone decided to ignore the Terrible
Things until it took all of them away.

3. In an allegory, people, places, and events are used as symbols. Answer the following:
○ What can the clearing in the woods stand for?

The clearing stands for the widespread of the Nazism, and the persecution of the Jews in
the Holocaust.

○ What about the different animals?

The different animals represent different minority groups like the Jews, and others.

○ The Terrible Things?

4. The Terrible Things represent the Nazis and their followers.

5. What kind of excuses do the other animals offer to explain the fate of each group as it is taken
away? How do these reactions help the Terrible Things?

They offer the excuses that “They were too loud anyways” and “The squirrels were greedy”. These
reactions help the Terrible Things, because there is no one to fight back or ask for help, and this helps
the hate and Terrible Things to spread across the woods.

6. How are the Terrible Things described? What verbs are used to describe their actions? How
do the descriptions affect your feelings about the Terrible Things?

The Terrible Things are described as terrible and verbs like blotted describe their actions. The
description makes the reader negative and not like the Terrible Things.

7. During the Holocaust, terrible things were done by real people, people with faces, names and
life histories. Why do you think the author shows the Terrible Thing as anonymous?

I think the author keeps the Terrible Thing anonymous because it's a book targeted towards children.

8. What choices do the animals in the clearing have when the Terrible Things come?

They try to run away, but no one is there to help them.

 9. What would you say to Big Rabbit's statement, "We are the White Rabbits. It couldn't happen
to us!"?

They are running away from the Terrible Things and not realizing that it’s a big threat and that they
need to stand against them.

10. When the Terrible Things come for the rabbits, what do the rabbits do? What choice does
Little Rabbit make? Why? What does this tell you about Terrible Things?

The bigger rabbits try to run away, but the Little Rabbit planned a spot to hide under a rock to escape
the Terrible Things. It tells me that the Terrible Things aren’t that powerful, and that if the animals
helped each other they could escape and help everyone else.

11. Little Rabbit hopes someone will listen to him. Why might no one listen?

They might not listen because he is little. They might not take him seriously and end up just like
everyone else did.

12. What can we learn from this story? What can we learn from our study of the Holocaust?

We can learn that the Jews affected by the Holocaust had seen many of their previous friends turn a
blind eye to the possible persucution they could be facing. We can learn that the Holocaust was deadly
and devastating to many, but this has helped us educate others and fight against the terrible things that
happen in history.