The
story broadly can be differentiated into two parts. The exposition and the
redemption arc.
In the
exposition or the beginning of the story, we are straight away introduced to
our protagonist through a 3rd person narrative. We are given a
description of his looks and clothes, and then we are briefly introduced to the world
view that he holds. Within the 2nd paragraph we are can see to
the twisted concept of Rattrap through which the protagonist sees the world. He
believes that the whole world is a big rattrap with people being the rats and
all the worldly riches being the bait. But just in the following paragraph we
are introduced to the reasoning of this type of thought through the voice of the
narrator. He tells “The world had, of course never been very kind to him, so it
gave him unwonted joy to think ill of it in this way.’’ The eye-catching word I
found in the above lines was ‘unwonted joy’. The joy he derived from this world
view was not a soothing joy but an unwonted joy. A joy which he had created,
not one which he had received from the world. This gives us a slight hint of
how his morals had already been so twisted by this time that he had began seeking pleasures
from ill thoughts. Now in the same line of thought it can be inferred that when
he derives “joy”, from his paradigm, that the world is a rattrap and people of
this world are rats trapped in them, he views himself as different from ‘those
people’ ; he sees himself as a spectator who can safely enjoy the ‘rats’ in the
worldly ‘rattrap’. [This is the central line of thought will be changed heavily afterwards
when he will be caught in the Edla mansion]
In the
next paragraph we are brought into the first scene, where we see our
protagonist directly in action. Here we see the crofter offering him
hospitality, entertainment and dinner but our protagonist in return steals his
host’s money. Now this act of stealing, plays a pivotal role in the story, as it does
two jobs; 1. It establishes the character of the protagonist and 2. This is the
act that later the protagonist refers to as the accepting the 'bait of his
rattrap'.
After the stealing, the protagonist felt no remorse but rather felt ‘quite pleased with his smartness’ and
headed for the forest road. But soon enough he gets lost in the forest and the
narrator describes his helplessness as follows ‘’ The whole forest with it’s
trunk and branches, it’s thickets and fallen logs, closed upon him like an impenetrable
prison from which he could not escape’’ , drawing parallels to the
closed bars of a rattrap and giving us an Easter egg of the story ahead.
Afterwards he is found by the Ironmaster of Ramsjo Ironworks and is mistaken by him
as his old friend. In this act we reach the zenith of the character
establishment of our protagonist because at this moment, when confronted, he
decided to play along and tell a white lie in the hope that the Ironmaster will
give him some more money. The characteristic
flaw depicted here is not that he told a white lie, but the flaw established here is that he told the lie
in hope of getting more money by deception. In his mind it does not even
register as a threat because he is so habituated to deceive others and that is how we are subtly told that (presently) he has
no strict moral principles.
When
forced and later convinced to come to the Ironmaster’s mansion, he started to realize
that he was being pulled into the same rattrap, which he once mocked and squeezed
joy out of. This feeling of cornered-ness is brought out through his speech,
that he gives to the ironmaster upon being threatened to be handed over to the
police. He repeats his world view to the ironmaster and tells him how one day
he too will be caught in a rattrap ‘‘chasing a big piece of pork’’ if he calls
the police. This act of emotion and fear filled outburst to a stranger, reveals
to us that at this point, he completely believed that he too has become
a ‘rat’ trapped in the worldly ‘rattrap’.
From
this point starts his redemption arc.
We haven’t
been given much dialogue in this arc (because most of the time the rattrap
seller was sleeping anyway) and all we are given to comprehend, are the kind
acts of Edla. Edla opposed her father’s decision to kick out the guest and
later even assures the rattrap seller that he can spend the next Christmas too
with them, if he wants to. The rattrap seller feels confused at first then
amused and finally feels humbled at the various kind acts of Edla; being
influenced by which, he later gives up his old path of life and goes towards
making a new identity (of captain von Stahle).
Though
short, but this arc is a very interesting and multi-layered part of the story,
which I will be discussing in the next few paragraphs.
The
thing that brought about the redemption in the rattrap seller, cannot only be
the kindness of Edla. Because kindness was offered to him by the crofter too,
but that act of kindness in which, the crofter with open arms shared whatever
he had, could not trigger his redemption; whereas the act of Edla, in which she
shared only miniscule fraction of her riches and hospitality, triggered his
guilt which later redeemed him.
I
believe, what brought about the change was not the kindness nor the hospitality
he received in both the cases; but the deciding factor was the respect that
he received from Edla and the respect that he had garnered for Edla.
At the house of the crofter, it is true that he received good hospitality, but
it is equally true that at that point he viewed everyone as rats trapped in
rattraps. Yes, he received hospitality, but he had no reason to respect his
host. Thus, he had no reason to enculturate the kindness that he received from the
crofter.
While at
the Ironmaster’s mansion when he was about to be kicked out of the mansion and
Edla stopped his father, it was a moment where he first saw not only a selfless
act but also an act of good-ness that had the sole purpose to benefit him. Here
unlike the crofter, he was not being given a shelter because it was a cold
evening and he would possibly die without a shelter; but here he was being
given a shelter because Edla did not wanted to disappoint him after being promised
of Christmas joy. Unlike the crofter who had no one else to spend the night
with and might have taken him in just to get a little warmth of companionship
for the night, Edla took him in even though she had her father to spend the
Christmas with. Unlike the crofter who treated him as a traveler; by giving him
a Christmas gift Edla treated him as a family.
All
these micro incidents influenced the rattrap seller’s view towards Edla and slowly
he began to see Edla as someone who was out of the ‘world’s rattrap’. This
paradigm shift caused him to view the world without the lens of a rattrap. Now
he had someone to believe in, he realized that people outside rattraps exist
too. This change in the view was the cause of his redemption and this too was
the reason for which he went from
stealing money to gifting them
back. Thus in this way, the rattrap seller changed into Captain von Stahle, a
symbol of changing into new ways of life.
====================================================================
Bibliography
Nice bro.....
ReplyDeleteAjanta tar jaigai tui porate partis be....
Eisob exam er age korle... 2-3 marks besi pe jetam
Banchod amake thank u bolte passna
DeleteSob theke age comment korechi
I guess you were one of the few people jake directly link ta send korechilam starting ei. Tokhon e appraisal peyechilam. Tai r ekhane reply kori ni. And if you are not the person I am thinking you of, and have found this page from someone/somewhere. then thank you so much for giving the token of appreciation.
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ReplyDeleteIt was amazing!!!
I would definitely recommend my friends to read this at once.
The way you explained the little twists in the story is so outstanding!
You have also showed the new perspective of the little moments in the story, which creates a better impact on us about the theme.
And man your vocabulary is awesome! I learned so many new words.
Keenly waiting to read more new blogs 😊
Keep writing yaar!!!🌼
It's really awesome you should continue
ReplyDeleteIt's really awesome you should continue
ReplyDeleteIt's awesome🌼
ReplyDeleteThank you whoever you are :D
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