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

Character Analysis

Delapore

Delapore is the protagonist and first-person narrator of “The Rats in the Walls.” He never gives his first name. He is a dynamic character who changes from a relatively ordinary man to someone who is plagued by supernatural horrors.

At the beginning of the story, Delapore describes himself as a widower who has recently lost his only son, Alfred. He never describes his physical appearance, except to say that he is “no longer young” (Paragraph 6). Though he spent much of his adult life in Massachusetts, Delapore grew up on a plantation in Virginia. During the Civil War, when he was seven years old, Delapore lost his home, his grandfather, and an envelope explaining his family’s history to a fire.

Delapore is resentful toward the Union soldiers who cost him the opportunity to learn about his family history. He has a strong drive to uncover the truth about himself and to connect with his ancestry. He reflects that if he had known the contents of the envelope, he would have “left Exham Priory to its moss, bats, and cobwebs” (Paragraph 4). Alfred hears “interesting ancestral legends” about the de la Poers when he is stationed near Anchester during World War I (Paragraph 5), inspiring his father to learn more about Exham Priory.

Delapore bought Exham Priory shortly before Alfred returned wounded from the war but did not begin renovating the estate until after Alfred died a few years later. The story implies that Delapore decided to dedicate the rest of his life to restoring Exham Priory not just as a way to “divert [his] remaining years” (Paragraph 6) but as a way to posthumously give his son a family history that is more substantial than “jesting conjectures about the past” (Paragraph 5).

Delapore is the only person who hears the rats in the walls during his stay at Exham Priory. Though he never sees the rats, he is convinced of their existence. This can be interpreted in two ways: Either Delapore alone is privy to the secrets of his ancestral home because he is a de la Poer, or he is experiencing delusions. Delapore’s cats can also hear the rats, which complicates the situation; it does not seem that the rats are only in Delapore’s mind.

The ambiguity of Delapore’s experiences is compounded at the end of the story when he is found “crouching in the blackness over the plump, half-eaten body of Capt. Norrys” (Paragraph 53). He later swears that he “did not do it,” but rather that it “was the rats […] the daemon rats” (Paragraph 53). This assertion calls the reliability of Delapore’s narration into question. Does Delapore mean that the rats ate Norrys, or that they drove him to kill and consume his friend? Either way, Delapore believes that he is not responsible for his actions in the grotto.

Captain Edward Norrys

Captain Edward Norrys is a friend of Delapore’s son, Alfred. He is a “plump, amiable young man” who had “thought much of [Alfred]” (Paragraph 6). Norrys lives near Anchester, and it is through him that Delapore first learns of his family’s reputation. Norrys is also the reason why Delapore can buy Exham Priory so quickly, as his uncle was the owner of the ruined estate. Delapore lived with Norrys and his family during Exham Priory’s restoration.

Norrys is a static character who does not undergo a meaningful change over the course of the story. A skeptical man, he does not take any of the legends or superstitions about the de la Poer family seriously even though he grew up hearing the stories about Exham Priory. Even when strange things start to happen at Exham Priory, he maintains a level-headed practicality. While he is amazed and intrigued by the Roman sub-cellar beneath the house, he cannot hear the “disgusting commotion” of the rats in the walls as Delapore does (Paragraph 33), and only witnesses the phenomenon through the behavior of Black Tom.

The relationship between Delapore and Norrys is a microcosm of the ancient relationship between the de la Poer family and the villagers of Anchester. The people living near Exham Priory were some of the de la Poers’ victims. At the end of the story, when Delapore enters his murderous frenzy, he appears to be angry that Norrys survived while “the war ate [his son]” and asks, “Shall a Norrys hold the lands of a de la Poer?” (Paragraph 52). Norrys’s fate, being consumed by Delapore, is a continuation of the ancient narrative of the de la Poer family.

Black Tom

Black Tom is Delapore’s oldest cat. Delapore brings him to England from his home in Bolton, Massachusetts. Black Tom, like all the cats, can hear the rats inside the walls, and the cats sense the rats before Delapore does. Delapore observes that Black Tom becomes “alert and anxious to an extent wholly out of keeping with his natural character” and moves from room to room sniffing the walls constantly (Paragraph 18).

Black Tom and the other cats’ ability to hear and perhaps see the rats calls into question whether the rats are real. As the only characters other than Delapore to interact with the rats, the cats provide a sense of reality for Delapore. It would be easy to dismiss the rats as part of Delapore’s imagination if he alone could hear them. The cats’ agitation suggests there really is something supernatural haunting the priory’s walls.

Although Black Tom is a cat, not a human, he has an uncanny degree of understanding. He shows no fear in the underground grotto, as though he knew what to expect. When the other explorers find Delapore eating Norrys, Black Tom is “leaping and tearing at [his] throat” (Paragraph 53). Either the cat is also caught up in the frenzy of the experience or he is trying to stop Delapore from committing acts of violence. In the story’s final paragraph, Delapore laments the fact that Black Tom has been taken away from him.

Thornton

Thornton is one of the men Delapore and Norrys bring in to help explore the underground grotto. Delapore describes him as a man “devoted to the psychic” (Paragraph 39). When he hears about Delapore’s nightmares, Thornton tells him that he has been “shown the thing that certain forces had wished to show” (Paragraph 39), suggesting that Thornton believes fully in the supernatural forces at work at Exham Priory. He thinks that Delapore’s nightmares and other supernatural experiences are real and meaningful.

Thornton acts as a foil to Norrys, being the only character to take the legends of the de la Poer family seriously. As a psychic investigator, he is willing to accept supernatural explanations rather than expecting rational ones, as Norrys does. Because of his openness to the supernatural, Thornton may be more susceptible to the horror that the group discovers in the underground grotto. He faints twice during the experience, first upon the group’s discovery of the grotto and the sight of the countless human bones, and then again when they discover the quadruped skeletons.

Thornton is also the only character, other than Delapore, who experiences lasting psychological effects from his time in the grotto. He lives in the room next to Delapore’s at the hospital, but the two are not allowed to speak to each other. Delapore does not make his feelings toward Thornton clear at the end of the story, but during his cannibalistic episode, he does express anger at Thornton, saying, “Curse you […] I’ll teach you to faint at what my family do!” (Paragraph 52).