Preview

Analysis of "Rat Song", by Margaret Atwood

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1117 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of "Rat Song", by Margaret Atwood
Rat Song

Introduction
”Rat Song” is a poem written by Margaret Atwood and is part of Selected Poems from 1976. What is interesting about the poem is that it is written from the point of view of a rat. And by looking through the eyes of a rat (which many people see as a primitive and inferior animal) the poem shows how judgemental, hateful, hypocritical and “unnatural” the human race is. The poem furthermore advocates that humans are a much greater parasite than the rats they are so desperately trying to get rid of.

How the rat is viewed by the human
The first theme this analysis would like to discuss is how the rat is viewed by the human in the poem. It is clear from the very beginning of the poem that the human described is not too fond of the rat. Just be looking at the first two stanzas it is obvious that the human is trying to get rid of the rat (Atwood 1976, lines 1-7). What is interesting here is that the rat does not understand why the human wants to kill it. The rat can see no apparent motivation for the human to kill it, and it states that: “All I want is love, you stupid / humanist” (Atwood 1976, lines 14-15). I think what Margaret Atwood is trying to say here is that all animals and creatures deserve to be respected equally. Why are cats and dogs for example friends of humanity, when rats and other animals are seen as enemies? Historically, rats have a tradition of being bearers of diseases (and this is also mentioned in the poems fourth stanza), but as an example dogs have also been heavily associated with diseases in the past, so why choose one over the other? I believe Margaret Atwood’s point here is that the human race is very selective and hypocritical, and this is represented by the unfairness showed to the rat in the poem.
All the different ways the human is trying to kill the rat, shows how merciless and brutal the human nature is. First it is a rifle, then it is flashlight, and then later on poison (Atwood 1976, lines 2, 3, 5). It is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “Living like Weasels” Annie Dillard tells a story about how a weasel taught her how to live her life. Meeting this weasel made her think about how life would be if humans lived like animals in the wild, basing everything on instinct and being as tenacious as the weasel she came across. Maybe the most important concept Dillard learns is that it is better to live life to its fullest or someday you will regret not knowing how life could have been. Dillard learns that everyone can live a life like those animals in the wild, including the weasel, just follow instinct or gut feeling. Another lesson Dillard learns is that in life there is…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everybody had dreams and aspirations, however those things never always go as planned. This happens to the characters in the play, A Raisin in the Sun. The play was written by Lorraine Hansburry, and it was the first Broadway play written by an African American woman. In the play, the Younger family, a family of five, live in a small two-bedroom apartment in Chicago. Mama, Lena, is about to receive an insurance check from her husband's death in the mail and has to decide what she is going to do with it. The check is seen as a beacon of hope to change their family's lives and make it much easier. Lena's son, Walter, wants to use it to leave his old job as a chauffer for a white man and invest in a liquor store, while Lena's daughter, Beneatha, wants to use it to help pay for her education to become a doctor. In the end, Mama entrusts some money to Walter and decides to buy a house in a white neighborhood to better accommodate their family because Walter's son had been sleeping on the living room couch. Walter's wife, Ruth, also goes through her own problems when she learns that she is expecting another child in a household that is already having a hard time getting by. A Raisin in the Sun is a great play that encompasses many themes of the African American working class culture in the United States. The play goes over important themes such as family, dreams, gender, race, and suffering, and A Raisin in the Sun connects all these themes to each other some way or another.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I agree that if he killed the water buffalo on his first shot it would have been less cruel but then that would defeat Rat's purpose. He's purpose was not to kill the water buffalo, it was to relieve his stress. It was extremely pointless and I believe that he only did it because he was not in the best mental state at that point.…

    • 67 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Since the foundation of the United States of America it has always be portrayed as the land of endless opportunities in which its people can do freely what they desire. This is also known as the American Dream, which is set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, achieved through hard work. However, can prosperity and success be achieved by everyone or do certain ethnic groups have discriminatory barriers limiting their success? In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry it becomes painfully clear that African Americans have to deal with racial prejudices complicating the completion of their desired dreams of a better prosperous future. Even though, the diverse…

    • 1282 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    At first the purpose of the passage “Owls” by Mary Oliver is difficult to pinpoint. This is because Oliver begins with describing the penetrating fear of a “terrible” (33) great horned owl, and suddenly develops into a section discussing a desultory and trivial field of flowers. The mystifying comparison between the daunting fear of nature and its impeccable beauty is in fact Oliver’s purpose.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Margaret Atwood's portrayal of the sirens is that they are irresistible and liars. Homer's portrayal of the sirens is that they are evil, seductive creatures.…

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On the both poems, D. H. Lawrence’s “snake” and Elizabeth bishop’s “Fish,” both author mentions about animals. Both writer treated animals as animals at first, but later on, they compare those animals with human. The explanation of visual, the time when two authors think those animals as human, and the ironic feeling that both author have demonstrate that both speakers state of mind change.…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kindertransport

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Ratcatcher in this extract could be interpreted as a reflection of Eva’s key fear of isolation. Her journey to a foreign place against her will, stimulate anxieties as a result of immense fear. Similarly the tale of the Ratcatcher is of a dark and threatening character who promises to “take the heart of your happiness away.” To Evelyn, this could…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird has multiple major themes that are outcomes of significant scenes throughout the book. One of the most well-known scene is the trial scene where Tom Robinson is found guilty for a crime he did not commit. Because Scout and Jem were at the trial, the verdict deeply affected their view on the goodness of the people of Maycomb. Lee throughout the novel explores the concept of human morality, the inherent goodness or malevolence of people and how it can have a positive or negative affect on people. Lee achieves this through the coming of age and development of Jem and Scout, and through the effect that human morality has on the characterization of the mockingbirds, Boo Radley…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dreams take place in the subconscious of the human mind, and many times, humans are unaware that these dreams are taking place; however, as shown in A Raisin in the Sun, dreams often are at the forefront of the human mind and motivate those looking to follow them to do anything they can to achieve them. As analyzed using the Freudian literary theory, A Raisin in the Sun contains many examples of this theory, including each character's individual goals and dreams and how the dreams are personified through the use of symbols.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the poem, animal imagery is used to show the atmosphere and the mood. For example “Where shadows prowled the alleys.” The word prowled makes us think of a predatory animal and shows the atmosphere to be quite sinister and dark.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The brutality and utter wildness of the dog represents the ferocity and unforgivable power of nature that trounces the miniscule thoughts of the mere man. Nature shapes the fate of humanity,…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    | The narrator, in making a seemingly offhanded comment about Rat’s tendency to lie, reveals another major point of the novel: the truth of a particular story is differing from person to person. Each person, with his or her own perspective, will relate or retell a story in a way they believe is befitting. While some may see this as a lie, others may see it as a necessary exaggeration of the truth in order to achieve the full meaning of the storytelling.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amir makes many mistakes as a child that follow and taunt him for twenty six years. In The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseni, Amir betrays his family-friend, Hassan when and after he was raped. Amir continues this betrayal because of his insecurity about his relationship with his father. Amir eventually drives Hassan away and regrets it until he redeems himself by finally doing the right thing. Hosseni uses the literary devices of epiphany and flashback through the character of Amir to explain the jealousy and insecurity of Amir and Baba's relationship.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The very title given by translators varies each from other. Rat is the first word in the Urdu original, has been rendered as as ‘Last Night’ by Kiernan, Shiv Kumar , Sarvat Rahman and Vikram Seth, as ‘tonight’ by Imdad Hussain, and as ‘At night’ by Agha Shahid Ali. The word given by Agha Shahid Ali seems to be more accommodative for the source word ‘Rat’, which can consist both ‘last night’ of Kiernan and ‘tonight’ of Imdad Huassain.…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics