The Character of the Ratcatcher

The Ratcatcher is a short story written by the very famous Roald Dahl. Dahl was always fascinated with rats as shown in his other books such as “Boy” and “The Witches.” The Ratcatcher revolves around one character who is, quite obviously, a rat catcher. He is a very unusual person with strange behaviour and mannerisms. He gets quite cocky at times in the story, especially when he has his “audiences” attention and knows lots about rats, constantly repeating the phrase:”You’ve got to know rats on this job.” He says this on page 116. The people around him are constantly conscious of this strange eerie yet gripping character.
The ratcatcher is described in a detailed way on page 114, as he enters the action. He has a sharp face, two long, sulphur coloured teeth that press his lower lip inward, and thin pointed ears set far back on his head, close to his neck. He has black eyes that look piercing but have a flash of yellow when he is looked at. On page 115 it says: “He nodded his repulsive head.” The book also says he has a long neck and stringy fingers and on page 120 it says his nose twitched. He wears a large black jacket with huge pockets. This physical description almost echoes that of a rat.
It is not just the appearance of the ratcatcher that is similar to that of a rat, he also acts like one and has similar mannerisms. He thinks like a rat as well. He is proud to know about killing them with plaster of Paris. Some of his mannerisms are that he cranes his head forward while speaking, he twitches his nose and he leers. Evidence to support this is given throughout the book. An unusual factor about this strange man is that he enjoys inflicting pain on rats. After he fails to capture any rats on the second day, he tries to boost his reputation back up by doing some strange tricks involving rats. He takes out a rat from his pocket and a ferret from the other, he opens his shirt and drops the rat in, followed closely by the ferret, who chases the rat round and