James Thurber : "The rabbits who caused all the trouble" (interpretation)

The story “The Rabbits who caused all the Trouble” is a text from James Thurber's book “Fables of our Time” which was written in 1939.

Basically the story is about the conflict of two groups, the rabbits on the one side and the wolves on the other side. The wolves appear to be more powerful. They are very fond of their way of living and consider it as the only one. They despise the way the rabbits live and want them to change.

When several natural disasters occur, the wolves blame the rabbits for them. Finally the wolves lock the rabbits up. When the other animals are concerned about the fate of the rabbits a few week later, the wolves announce that the rabbits have been eaten by the wolves.

As for the interpretation of the story: the wolves are a powerful people who want to force their way of life on other peoples. This corresponds with the role of the wolves in nature, for they are strong and kill and eat other animals. However, wolves are not eager to force their way of living on others, they simply destroy and eat others. The story's end corresponds with this, for this is exactly what happens in the end.

Firstly, the wolves blame the rabbits for an earthquake. That is rubbish, of course, but there is a rest of sense in it because the rabbits do cause small vibrations when they pound on the ground. Secondly, there is the theory about lettuce-eaters causing lightning which is totally absurd. So is the claim that carrot-eaters cause floods. Yet it is the straw that breaks the horse's back because the rabbits are finally arrested afterwards. The role of the other animals is to hinder the rabbits from fleeing. They tell them to stay because the world were no place for escapists. Later on that “argument” is adopted by the wolves in order to justify their killing and finally eating the rabbits.

There is an ideological conflict here between two peoples. One is peaceful, just minding their own business, the other one wants to impose their ideology on others. Or do they simply want to destroy those who don't obey? As a matter of fact, they do it in the end. There are others who observe, but they don't have useful advice for the oppressed, they simply tell them to hold on.

These ideological conflicts sadly happen all the time, and more sadly people are still being killed because of them.

Thurber might refer to the Third Reich which was rising at that time. World War II and the Holocaust had not occurred at the time Thurber wrote the text. However, German antisemitism had already emerged, especially in the Progrom Night of 1938. Making people responsible for things with ridiculous reasons is a feature of antisemitism. It can also be summed up as a conspiracy theory. The role of other nations is reflected in the behavior of the other animals.

Thurber's message is a timeless one about oppression and the misuse of power that can be found throughout history.