The Last Party

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, child death, child sexual abuse, child abuse, emotional abuse, and animal death.

The story of Piketo the bunny was passed down from Leewood to Perla, and later from Perla to Sophie, becoming a motif in the text. The story illustrates secrecy and control in relationships, highlighting how those in positions of power can manipulate vulnerable people. Additionally, Perla’s decision to pass the story on to Sophie indicates that she is perpetuating an intergenerational cycle of abusive parenting.

The story follows a rabbit named Piketo, whose family knows the location of a secret carrot garden. Piketo’s family urges her to keep the garden’s existence a secret so that they can continue to enjoy the carrots uninterrupted, but Piketo chooses to reveal her family’s secret to a trusted friend. Word spreads, and Piketo and her family are brutally murdered by their fellow rabbits, who are furious about the secret. Leewood used this story to scare Perla out of reporting the sexual abuse that he was perpetrating against her friends.

As an adult, Perla recycles this same story to teach Sophie the importance of secrecy, priming her to stay quiet about Perla’s own abuse.