Loss

From the mention in the opening line of "many grandparents ago," The Rabbits foregrounds the marsupials' collective grief and loss at the land, way of life, and individuals who have been lost as a result of colonial invasion. By narrating the book from the collective perspective of the displaced indigenous marsupials, Marsden invites the reader to share in their grief. The narrator first recalls how the country was once full of biodiversity, but soon moves on to how the marsupials watched powerlessly as the rabbits radically altered the landscape and displaced and killed indigenous inhabitants. As the atrocities against the marsupials mount, so too does the narrator's sense of grief. By the end of the story, the narrator concludes with the line "who will save us from the rabbits?" This line underscores the sense of powerlessness in the face of colonial oppression that still affects the marsupials. With no reprieve from the colonial oppression of the rabbits, the marsupial narrator has no cause for optimism, and is left to grieve a trauma that is ongoing.