The Book Thief, Eva's Story, Terrible Things

The idea of choice comes up everywhere in today’s world. Whether it’s religion, voting on a leader, or whether or not to follow rules, one’s path through life is entirely based on what choices they make. Examples of the universal rule of cause-and-effect can be found everywhere. This has interested people to the point of creating simulations like videogames and choose-your-own-adventure books. In these, people can make decisions they might not make in real life and see what would happen. No matter what someone does, there will be a consequence. In many pieces of media such as The Book Thief, Eva’s Story, Terrible Things, and Paper Clips, seemingly simple choices lead to far-reaching consequences in people’s lives. In The Book Thief, one decision leads to the complete overhaul of a girl’s life. A man who knows Liesel’s father shows up at Liesel’s house, asking for shelter from the Nazis, for he is Jewish. “In November 1940, when Max

Terrible Things is a story about the animals living in a fictional forest who are selected species by species to be taken away from the forest without reason by the Terrible Things, a race of large smoky creatures. After each set of animals is taken away, Little Rabbit asks Big Rabbit why the Terrible Things want to take the creatures. Each time, Big Rabbit replies the same way. “‘ Why did the Terrible Things want the birds?’ Little Rabbit asked. ‘What’s wrong with feathers?’ ‘We musn’t ask,’ Big Rabbit said. ‘The Terrible Things don’t need a reason. Just be glad it wasn’t us they wanted’” (Gammell 8). The last creatures to be taken by the Terrible Things are the Rabbits, who are all captured except for Little Rabbit, who finally learns that nothing will change if nobody tries to change anything. In Terrible Things, the creatures’ decision to do nothing leads to them all be taken away by the Terrible