Throwing a rabbit to the wolves

Throwing a rabbit to the wolves is Dominick Birdsey’s recurring metaphor for sending Thomas Birdsey into a place he considers dangerous and predatory. Its force comes from the contrast between a defenseless animal and the threat Dominick associates with Hatch; the image makes his protective claim vivid while exposing how thoroughly he feels responsible for his twin.

Meaning and Context

Dominick applies the image to Thomas’s possible placement at Hatch. He describes Thomas as having no defenses and argues that men there could kill one another. The metaphor turns an institutional decision into a scene of exposure: to Dominick, Thomas would not simply be entering a hospital, but being delivered among predators without protection.

Repeated Use in the Conflict with Joy

The expression belongs to an argument that is also about Dominick’s relationship with Joy. After taking Thomas to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, which Thomas did not care to see, and then to Red Lobster, where he spilled melted butter on himself, Dominick returned home deliberately late. He gave Joy the silent treatment for days, and recognized that his treatment of her made him root for her rather than himself.

Dominick understands that living with him is difficult, but explains his priorities through Thomas’s illness and his own role as protector. When he imagines what he must tell Joy, he returns to the rabbit-and-wolves comparison: Thomas, he insists, could not defend himself, and Hatch would expose him to danger. The phrase recurs in a slightly altered form when Dominick tells Joy that putting Thomas in the institution would be like throwing a rabbit in with the wolves.

Protection, Promise, and Cost

The metaphor compresses Dominick’s sense of twin responsibility into an image of rescue: Thomas is the vulnerable one, and Dominick is the person who must keep him from harm. Dominick also invokes his promise to Ma as a reason he cannot stop intervening for Thomas. His insistence that the situation is different because they are twins makes the expression more than a warning about Hatch; it is a defense of the loyalty that governs his choices.

That defense has a cost. Dominick’s repeated efforts to protect Thomas leave Joy feeling that her own needs are being set aside, while Dominick acknowledges that his conduct makes a life together difficult. The image therefore carries both tenderness and constraint: it conveys his fear for Thomas, but also the force of a protective role that Dominick cannot readily relinquish.