Superstitions About Rats Chapter Summary

When reading Superstitions About Rats by Lesley Emmanuel, the reader will notice a distinct focus on the portrayal of the female characters in the short story. The women in Lesley Emanuel’s Superstitions About Rats are portrayed in such a way that one cannot label or identify them without referring to their relationships with other characters or the settings that serve to characterise them. It is also quite obvious that each of these characters has an influence on the main character, Anniline, in some way or another, either direct or indirect.
By looking at the way that Annilene’ science teacher, Mrs Coetzee, treats het, it is clear that her scientific nature influences her to be sceptic and sarcastic towards Anniline and her statements about
Debbie seems to be somewhat of a free spirit to the extent of not caring about anyone else’s wellbeing except her own. Aniline’s aunt Debbie, seems rather lethargic, vain, and in some respects mean and snide. Debbie’s relationship with her sister’s boyfriend, Theo, makes her seem rather promiscuous and without morals and her attitude toward her sister as disgraceful. These components of Debbie’s character however, are so exaggerated that the end result would make the reader blind to any underlying characteristics about Debbie that would suggest she is the complete opposite of how the text portrays her. Another thing that the reader catches on is that Debbie is leeching off Anniline’s mother, living in their house, eating their food and then having the indecency to even fool around with Theo. She is abusing her sister’s kindness and doesn’t lift a finger to help out in any
One can deduce from her constant references to superstitious terms and phrases that her character is also exaggerated to the point that the reader is unable to regard her in any other light. There is definite evidence that her mother is loving and caring towards Annilene like when her mother tends to her bruised face or when she fixes Anniline’s hair, but she is very absent minded, very much like Annilene. Anniline’s mother has absolutely no ambition and makes no effort whatsoever to change her situation and have a better life. She is worn down by years and years of struggling to make ends meet on the farm and gave herself over to superstitions to make her life bearable. She has a wish for Anniline to have a little ambition and to not grow up to be like her one day. “You don’t need to become a poor woman like your ma.” (p. 142). This quote shows that her mother wants her to make a success of her life and not end up like her. It seems as if Anniline’s mother feels like a failure. Anniline’s mother is a very passive character and accepts everything that is thrown her way. She is trying to make a life for herself but her attempts to farming have not been successful at all. It seems that she is exhausted mentally and physically. The fact that she stays with Theo even though he is fooling around