Why you dirty rat…
Rats are seldom heroes in Children’s literature—with the exception of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Rats are usually portrayed as thieving pests. Take in case The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, Samuel and his wife Anna Maria are squatters and thieves. In the Fantastic Mr. Fox, Rat is a greedy drunkard, and in the Pied Piper of Hamlin rats are so numerous that they are a plague. Other writers have gone different routes. E.B. White’s Templeton (Charlotte’s Web) is greedy and self-interested, but eventually comes around to being useful contributor, even if only for self-preservation. In A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett added a dash of romance to Sara Crewe’s impoverished circumstances by giving her a tame “bastille rat” for a pet. Alison Uttley made her rat a bit of everything and seems to have had with introducing him little by little in her books. He starts off as a burglar, and ends up a tamed “…respectable working animal…” Continue reading “Character Spotlight: Rat”
Little Grey Rabbit Scholar 