Metaphor for judgment
When the Terrible Things came, the first thing they did was to block out the light given by the Sun. The Sun is used here in a metaphorical way to suggest judgment. Thus, by blocking the sun, the Terrible Things affected the other animal’s judgment and they became unable to think clearly.
Metaphor for uniqueness
The Terrible Things came first for all the animals who had feathers. The feathers are used here as a metaphor to suggest the idea that the birds were more advanced than the rest of the animals. They had the opportunity to fly high and see everything beneath them and were not dependent on certain environmental factors like the fish were. This proves that the birds had a higher status than the rest of the animals and were superior in some ways.
The squirrels
The second group of animals that were taken away were the squirrels that tries to hide by climbing in the tree branches. When someone makes reference to squirrels, they usually also mention their tendency to gather food. In a similar way, the people taken by the Terrible Things were gatherers as well, accumulating large sums of money and material things in a short period of time. Thus, what the author wanted to suggest here was the idea that those who had more money than the rest were also seen as a threat and someone that should be eliminated.
Porcupine
The reason why the porcupines were taken away was because they had quills on their backs. In comparison with the other animals, the Porcupines are the only one that could be considered as being dangerous, because of the spikes in their backs. Thus, one could conclude that the porcupines are used here as a metaphor for other groups of people considered dangerous by the government, such as the armed groups that tried to fight back against the cruelty of the regime.
