The Rats In The Walls

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1924

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Summary

Background

Story Analysis

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Literary Devices

Setting

The setting of a story is the time and place where the action occurs. “The Rats in the Walls” is set near the fictional village of Anchester in England. Exam Priory, with its deep underground grotto, is also fictional. Delapore and Norrys briefly visit London to find experts willing to help them. Although Delapore provides extensive background on his family, the actual action unfolds between July 16 and August 8 of 1923.

Many of Lovecraft’s stories are set in fictional towns, and some are set in impossible spaces like the underground city beneath Exham Priory. The grotto’s vast size contributes to the story’s horror. The characters do not even explore the whole space, as they decide “that such secrets are not good for mankind” (Paragraph 49). “The Rats in the Walls” is unusual in that it is set in England; most of Lovecraft’s corpus takes place in New England.

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a crucial plot device in horror stories. Throughout “The Rats in the Walls,” Lovecraft hints at information that will be revealed later. In doing so, he builds tension, allowing audiences to guess at the story’s conclusion. The uncertainty generated by this foreshadowing creates speculation about what horrifying conclusion the story will come to.

Lovecraft uses foreshadowing when he talks about the mysterious history of the de la Poers and when he describes the horde of rats that burst from the priory after Walter de la Poer left. The oblique references to sadistic members of the de la Poer family and the mention of “the floundering squealing white thing” found in a field one night also imply the story’s conclusion (Paragraph 13). Foreshadowing both increases the story’s horror element and makes its climax more believable.

Point of View

Point of view refers to the perspective from which the story is narrated. Delapore is the first-person narrator of “The Rats in the Walls.” He describes his experiences in the past tense; at the story’s end, it is revealed that he is writing about what happened while at the psychiatric hospital: “On July 16th, 1923, I moved into Exham Priory […]” (Paragraph 1). In having Delapore as the narrator, Lovecraft shows the events from the perspective of the only surviving member of the de la Poer family.

If the story had been narrated by another character, like Thornton, the narrative might have been more removed; Delapore is the only one who can actually hear the rats in the walls, so other characters would have had to choose whether to believe him. The underground city represents Delapore’s own horrifying family history. Because the narrative is personal for him, the horror is more immediate.

Allusion

An allusion is a reference to a myth, another literary work, a religious text, or a historical event. “The Rats in the Walls” is full of allusions that help enrich the story and place it within a particular literary and historical context. Delapore compares his ancestors to “Gilles de Retz” (often spelled Rais), a serial killer, “and the Marquis de Sade,” from whom the term “sadism” originates (Paragraph 10).

When describing his nightmares, Delapore says that in one dream, he sees “a Roman feast like that of Trimalchio,” (Paragraph 39) which is a reference to Petronius’s Satyricon. The Satyricon is a Roman work of fiction that describes, among other things, an elaborate and hedonistic feast. Delapore implies that the feast in his dream was a cannibalistic one. The reference ties into the descriptions of Roman history found throughout the story. By referencing Nyarlathotep, Lovecraft also connects “The Rats in the Walls” to his other literary works.