Theft of Their Belongings

This episode evokes a sense of panic in the reader because everything which they have been working towards has just been stolen away from them again, just as you are beginning to think there is a chance there could be hope.
The idea of what is 'good' or 'bad' is highlighted again in this episode, as the boy asks the man "are we going to kill them?" to which he replies "I don't know", showing that because they are a threat to their way of life, they may have to be the 'bad guys' again to kill them to ensure their survival, or it will be them who get killed.
The way the man responds to meeting the thief is very chilling and frightening, as he threatens him with "I'm going to blow your brains out", showing that he is serious about getting their items back because they have worked so hard to get this far.
The boy pleads to the man "please don't kill the man", evoking sympathy and showing his naivety again as he does not yet see how dangerous another human being could possibly be to them. The man forcing the thief to take his clothes off is somewhat sadistic as he feels the need to punish the man for stealing their things, however the man has taken things from other people and places before, such as food and gas, so he is somewhat hypocritical because in the same situation the man would probably have acted the same way.
He tries to teach the thief a lesson by comparing what he has done to him to what the thief had done to them, taking all their possessions, showing that in the world they now live in, you really do have to fend for yourself and not care about anybody else.
I think this is a key episode because it reinforces how the theme of good and bad is not set in stone, because the thief was bad for stealing their things but the man responded in an equally as bad way, where he previously claimed that they were the good guys. It shows how the man is able to be extremely harsh if the situation arose, whereas the boy is still affected by the horror of it all and seems amazed that he is able to do such a cruel thing to the thief.
The last line of the episode is spoken by the boy in relation to the question he asked earlier about whether they would kill him or not, the boy claims "but we did kill him", showing that their actions have indirectly impacted on the man's life, because without his clothes and possessions he has no way of surviving, making their actions selfish as they have now murdered a human being, showing that all of their morals have gone out the window in their desperation to stay alive.