Carpenter sees in Potter's work thematic shifts from the early work onward. In the first stage of her work, he sees in stories such as "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" a type of Jack-the-Giant-Killer theme, in which a small creature confronts a large creature that he believes culminates in "The Tale of Jeremy Fisher". Potter places Jeremy Fisher in a dangerous world, according to Carpenter. The fishing experience is frightening: the bank-side creatures worry him, the stickleback threatens him directly, and the trout tries to swallow him. But Potter makes the point that all creatures are prey, ending the story with Jeremy Fisher himself eating a grasshopper smothered in lady-bird sauce.