Important Metaphors in Selma Lagerlof's The Rattrap

The short story, the Rat Trap by Selma Lagerlof is full of distinct metaphors that describe the peddler's world. The peddler refers to some of them for the world he lives in and the situations he experiences. The most important of all the metaphors is the metaphor of the rattrap (which incidentally also forms the title of the lesson). The forest is another important metaphor (in which he loses himself). Yet another metaphor to consider is the metaphor of the ‘lion’s den’. The fourth metaphor incidentally, is the metaphor of the letter, the letter that the pedlar addresses to Edla at the end.

It is interesting to see how Selma Lagerlof uses metaphors in this story to create, not just interest in the reader, but also to convey a very strong message about how the essential goodness in a human being can be brought out through understanding and love. These metaphors are integral to the allegorical genre, fables and fairytales such as which this lesson happens to be. The author begins the story like a fairytale, and like a fairy tale, the lesson delivers a specific message. The metaphors used by Selma are like cues and symbols that deliver a message in the form of images, whether it is the image of the rattrap, the dense forest or even the lion’s den! Metaphors are images that structure our thinking. Metaphorical thinking underlies the way we make sense of the world conceptually. It governs how we think and how we talk about our day-to-day lives. (Libby Brooks, 2015). It is important that as we go deeper into the lesson each metaphor comes out strongly. This story, like all fables, parables and folktales has a moral as a message.

1.The Rattrap: The reader shouldn’t be surprised to see how even a peddler can fall into a philosophical line of thought when it comes to thinking of the world in terms of images. He had naturally been thinking of his rattraps when suddenly he was struck by the idea that the whole world…was nothing but a rattrap. It had never existed for any other purpose than to set baits for people. (The Rattrap) This is an extreme view of the world - rather pessimistic, negative, and vitiated in nature. He looks at the world as a rattrap where even ordinary things like joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing have become dangerous baits and traps for the unsuspecting victim. For the peddler with his rather twisted perception of the world, anything he doesn't have, (because of his impoverished circumstances)  even basic necessities of life, becomes a bait, talk about rationalising one's lack of success! All the successful people he has known are victims of the rattrap simply because they are successful while he is not! The author explains that this extreme view of the world was his way of getting back at a world that had never been good to him - it was his way of taking revenge on a world that he had perceived to have slighted him. He enjoyed such thoughts while plodding along. This rationalising is similar to the wolf rationalising that the grapes were sour when he couldn't get them in the folktale we heard as children. That the peddler should see the world as a rattrap shows how vitiated, vindictive and revengeful the peddler can be, and it is in this aspect of his character that Selma Lagerlof wants to show a transformation taking place in him. In the allegory of the rattrap, Selma wants to show how good people like the old crofter, the ironmaster and Edla, all happen to be agents of change,  agents that bring about a change in the peddler's character.

2. The Woods: The peddler dares not walk on the public highways after stealing the thirty Kroner lest he should be arrested for the crime, so he takes to the woods. In the beginning, he had no problems, but then later in the day, things became worse, for it was a big and confusing forest which he had gotten into. He tried, to be sure, to walk in a definite direction, but the paths twisted back and forth (The Rattrap) and it was only then that he realised that he had become trapped in a forest that had become an impenetrable prison from which he could never escape. (The Rattrap) The woods can be seen as a metaphor for the circumstances into which the peddler has fallen, all because of stealing the thirty Kroner from the old crofter. The irony of the situation is that in the forest, the peddler gets a taste of his own medicine! Why on earth did he think so poorly of the world, even if he was not that successful as an entrepreneur?  One could end the lesson at this point with the peddler dying because of his crime - he is a recipient of “Divine Justice, or Divine Retribution”. This ending, however, would defeat the very purpose of the allegory - for more is yet to come, and it is the sound of the hammer strokes of the Ramsjo Ironworks that give him hope and draws him to the relative warmth of the factory. The moral? Well, one should not think ill of others lest the same should happen to the person who harboured such thoughts. What goes up comes down, and you reap what you sow!

3. The Lion’s Den: Later when accosted by the Ironmaster as Nils Olof and not denying that he has made a mistake, believing that he would get a few Kroner, the peddler gets more than he had bargained for when the former invites him to the manor. No, I couldn’t think of it! … To go up to the manor house would be like throwing himself voluntarily into the lion’s den. (The Rattrap) The vagabond dimply does not want to go to the manor. What if someone recognises him for what he is - the petty thief who stole the thirty kroner?What if the Ironmaster sent for the sheriff to arrest him? No, the manor would be like a lion’s den! The metaphor of the Lion’s Den is, however, at a slight variation from the metaphor of the rattrap because, in the latter, it is successful people who are the victims, in the former, he himself is the potential victim, and moreover, you don’t have lions prowling in search of easy prey. The lion’s den is a den with a hungry lion waiting to tear him up! The Lion's Den is a metaphor for all the apprehensions and fears that the peddler harboured within his mind as a result of stealing the thirty Kroner.

4. The letter: The letter that the peddler addresses to Edla is a metaphor and a symbol that represents the transformation that has taken place in the peddler. He is no longer a tramp with 'tramp manners', he has become a man with the dignity and the respect of a captain in the army and he now thinks as if he is 'Captain Von Stahle'.Through his letter, the peddler makes it clear that the reason for his transformation is none other than Edla Wilmansson. She had given him the respect accorded to a Captain in the Army and treated him with dignity. It was because he wanted to reciprocate her kindness by redeeming himself that he returned the thirty Kroner. He would have been trapped in a rattrap with no hope of escape if Edla had not intervened on his behalf! It is a gift from a rat who has escaped from a rattrap and he wants to say 'Thank you' to his rescuer!

It is clear from the above analysis that the metaphors employed by Selma Lagerlof vary from circumstance to circumstance. However, the metaphors are all a slight variation of the central metaphor in the lesson. The choice of metaphors made by the peddler represent his mindset before the process of transformation was complete. The images and the metaphors that one creates about the world are highly dependent on one’s experiences. The peddler could think of the world as a rattrap because he was closely associated with rattraps and could not think of anything else. Perhaps if he had been a seller of oranges, then he might have thought of the world as an orange!

References:

1. Liibby Brooks. Metaphor map charts the images that structure our thinking. 30 June,2015 http://www.theguardian.com/profile/libbybrooks,30 June 2015

2.Lagerlof, Selma et al. Flamingo text book for class XII (Core Course). New Delhi: NCERT, 2007

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