Analyzing H. P. Lovecraft's The Rats In The Wall

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1. Thesis: While organized throughout “The Rats in the Wall,” H.P. Lovecraft reveals the categorical contamination of the narrator through animal and human, reality and fantasy, and truth and lies at the end of the story.
2. Evidence: Prior to discovering the secrets of his family history, the narrator has a dream of a man he despises being devoured by “a mighty swarm of rats” (22).
3. Analysis: As the story progresses, the narrator describes the dream he has been having since entering the house. While this nightmare appears to be an effect of living in the cursed house, the dream turns out to be prophetic. In his dream, the narrator sees a man control rats and kill a man with whom he is angry. This course of action ends up being identical

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