SuitabookThe Rabbits
Shaun Tan
- Reading
- Read it slowly, pausing to examine each spread before explaining it. Ask the reader to notice what looks unfamiliar, whose viewpoint dominates, and how the imagery changes; discuss the ending as an open question rather than a solved lesson.
- Themes
- Colonisation and invasion: Technologically proficient Rabbits arrive in a new land and expand through warfare, numbers and imposed structures, while the existing inhabitants are depicted as overwhelmed and unable to understand them. The allegory strongly frames the newcomers’ expansion as destructive, while asking readers to consider the invaded inhabitants’ viewpoint rather than presenting conquest as neutral.
- Environmental destruction and technological power: The Rabbits erect factories, carve away mountains and transform the landscape, using technological and numerical power to dominate the existing inhabitants. Industrial and technological expansion is presented alongside devastation and subjugation, making its costs central rather than incidental.
- Perspective and visual interpretation: The artwork makes the Rabbits, their clothing, instruments and activities appear strange to the people encountering them; pictures and text jointly carry the story. The unfamiliar visual style supports reflection on how culture shapes what seems ordinary, threatening or understandable.
- Worth knowing
- The treatment is stark rather than cosy: warfare, subjugation, industrial destruction and environmental devastation are central. The inhabitants are portrayed as unable to understand the newcomers, while the newcomers arrive with overwhelming technological and numerical power.