Analysis Of Eve Bunting's Poem The Terrible Things

Elie Wiesel’s Night, Martin Niemöller’s poem, First They Came for the Communists and Eve Bunting’s, The Terrible Things, all share the same theme with one another. The theme of these passages is that no one stood up for individuals, mostly in times where it was crucial. By not doing something to help, it created great despair and sorrow. Those who didn’t receive help were confused as to why nobody would do something to assist them, especially in time of need. Those who didn’t help assumed the best and made excuses as to why the people taken deserved to go.
Firstly, at the end of First They Came for the Communists, Niemöller mentions “Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me” (Niemöller 32). In this passage, Niemöller refers to “they”, hinting that Hitler and his Nazi’s were coming to take groups of people away based on their social profiles. After the fact, no one except Niemöller himself was left to stand up to the Nazi’s, which made him feel confusion and regret. He started realizing that if he had joined with the people to protect themselves against the nazis, there could’ve possibly been someone there to help him when he needed it the most.
The rabbit quickly realizes his mistake, and automatically feels regret after realizing that if he had done something to help the others in the first place, he wouldn’t be put in the situation he is in now. The theme of this passage was similar to First They Came for the Communists by Martin Niemöller. Both stories ended with the main characters feeling regret for the actions they didn’t do, but realizing that the fact that they didn’t, was