The Grave Symbolism

Authors commonly use death to symbolize the rough transition into adulthood. Death is a powerful way to get the point of adulthood across to kids, death is the end of life and the transition into adulthood means the end of childhood.

In the story The Grave the main protagonists, a boy and his little sister, are out hunting, and the boy shoots a rabbit and upon skinning it, they realize that it had been about to give birth.