It’s not that complicated; he’s little and they’re cute and soft. The wallpaper in his room has little rabbits on it and his favorite stuffed animal is Señor Bun. His Moo Maw raises rabbits for the county fair, and she lets him play with them when he visits. His favorite bedtime books are the ones with rabbits in them: The Velveteen Rabbit, Goodnight Moon, and The Runaway Bunny.
One night his daddy reads him a new book; the story is about Peter, a rabbit who lives with his mama and siblings in the ground like a real rabbit, but wears clothes and eats bread made by a baker. In the story, Peter steals vegetables from a farmer - even though his mama tells him not to, and even though his daddy never came home after stealing from that garden - and is chased and nearly killed.
The story is exciting, but also tense and frightening, and Dicky is relieved when Peter escapes. He says yes when his daddy asks him if he liked it, but there’s something about it that nags at him. He doesn’t figure it out that night, or the next time they read it, but eventually he thinks he knows what he wants to ask.
“Daddy,” he asks, “why does Peter steal from the farmer?”
Dicky knows that the book says that Peter does it because he’s naughty, but sometimes Dicky does things he shouldn’t and he doesn’t think it’s because he’s naughty way down deep in his heart. The idea that someone could be, that he could be, makes his stomach twist with worry. He doesn’t tell his daddy all that, though.
After some thought, his daddy tells him that it’s what real rabbits do and that it’s just how the story goes. This answer does not satisfy him or relieve his worry - Peter doesn’t know that it’s how the story has to go - so he asks his mama, who tells him that it’s to teach him how important it is to listen to your parents. Sometimes people make mistakes, but it’s important to learn from them, and doesn’t he think Peter will know to listen to his mama in the future? Dicky thinks maybe if a person is naughty, if he is, then he could learn how not to be.
They go to church on Sundays, and the pastor has a lot to say on the subject of sin, when Dicky manages to pay attention. The sermons are all about how how only Jesus can save you from the wickedness in your heart. Dicky doesn’t feel wicked though; he worries that maybe its something that will happen to him later - wake up one day as something he shouldn’t be.
He feels a little less silly for getting all twisted up over a story about stealing from a garden though - seems that’s been a big deal since forever. He always pictures himself in Peter’s place when they read the book, and thinks about how scared he is of the farmer; the pastor talks about how God is watching, and Dicky shivers in the artificial cold of the church.
Eventually, he visits his Moo Maw’s house, and when she reads him Peter Rabbit before bed he asks her the same question: why does he do it? She leans in close and whispers, “Revenge.” She turns back to the beginning and reads again about how the farmer is the reason that Peter lost his daddy, and that as a little rabbit, eating his vegetables is just about all Peter could do if he decided he was sore about it.
Dicky considers his Moo Maw’s words as he falls asleep, and dreams of giant rabbits chasing farmers.