H.P. Lovecraft was well known to bring death, and insanity among characters in his writings. His story "The Rats in the Walls" matches perfectly with that style as you read about a man named Delapore, who is found discovering family heritage on an old estate called Exham Priory. Exham Priory was notorious for horror and evil being present in its vicinity. As you read the story you can see how H.P. Lovecraft displays human degeneration, otherwise known as mutilation of humans to less primitive states from past generations of time against their own will. He achieves this with the danger of human understanding in "The Rats in the Walls". Lovecraft utilizes constant repetition of the Delapore family and their tendency to avoid or attempt to rid themselves of violence or evil in their lives, as well as the mutilation of Delapore himself as he tries to unveil what is occurring in his house at Exham Priory. Despite his best efforts, Delapore falls under the malevolent influence of his family curse. His curiosity works against his better judgement leading to his inevitable horrific fate.

Delapore was cursed into human degeneration beyond both his families and his control. The avoidant nature that was prominent in Delapore's family led to Delapore's initiative in many of his actions. The sole survivor of the Delapore line was the first to experience the unexplained occurrences at Exham Priory. Walter, the affected ancestor, witnessed the murder of 

his own family at Exham Priory. However, Walter was placed blame for his families death. The surrounding population turned on Walter, and "denounced as a murderer" (Lovecraft 30) and eventually was described as "Shaken by some horror greater than that of conscience or the law" (Lovecraft 30). He was so impacted in fact, that he fled away from Exham Priory to start a new family. Delapore was both knowledgeable and proactive to these unknown happenings in Exham Priory. In turn, Delapore ordered workmen to "blow up Exham Priory" (Lovecraft 31). The demolition of Exham Priory would hopefully rid of the evil "the traces of it's foundations" (Lovecraft 31). Ridding of these evil traces would hopefully destroy any chance of a curse that would control Delapore. These actions taken by both Delapore and his ancestor show their unwillingness to cooperate in what very well was a mutilation of a human. Although Lovecraft made it obvious that nobody in the Delapore line necessarily wanted to participate in this degeneration, nothing was going to stop it. It only became a matter of time before somebody fell victim to the curse that was laid upon their family.  Later in the story the efforts to rid of the evil traces at Exham Priory did not succeed. Delapore was found at the end of the passage saying ancient language and "crouching in the blackness over the plump, half-eaten body" of his own friend, Captain Norrys (Lovecraft 44). The idea of human degeneration took full effect on Delapore even though he resisted its efforts along with his family. Delapore was led back to Exham Priory and could not avoid the curse that was bound to control and manipulate him.

Delapore's curiosity actively worked against his drive to break free of his curse. A quality that turned into a downfall of Delapore, was his curiosity and drive to learn about his families past. Especially with concern towards darker pieces of his family line. Lovecraft developed Delapore's cursed manipulation through his desperate need to discover what, when, and 

how things were happening at Exham Priory. His initial interest was ironically gained from his younger brother, Alfred. After the war caused his brother to die, Delapore received letters from him that revealed "a colourful and perhaps sinister history" of his family (Lovecraft 32). This intrigued Delapore to search for more clues on what really was in charge of the dark parts of his family's ancestral line. This curiosity in fact, was a main contributor to Delapore's eventual outburst and actions by the end of the story. Lovecraft showed Delapore's curious characteristic through the many questions that he asked. Often times, Delapore would find himself thinking about his family line, and questioning if Walter had come across "Some appalling ancient rite, or stumbled upon some frightful and revealing symbol in the priory" (Lovecraft 35). Delapore's understanding of the cursed gods that affected his family "repelled me [Delapore] greatly. Their persistence, and their application to so long a line of my ancestors, were especially annoying" (Lovecraft 34). This anger of Delapore is one that contributes to both his fear and drive to understand the disturbances that laid below Exham Priory. 

As the story progressed Delapore and his cat, Nigger-man, began to hear what was considered to be rats crawling in the walls of his home. Delapore was at first oblivious to these sounds. However, as he began to pick up on what his cat was hearing he had his mind set to see what was happening at Exham Priory. Nigger-Man would often lead Delapore as he used his cat as a reference to try and decipher the reasons behind the presence of rats. Delapore commented on his cat's "persuasive manner" as it scampered around looking for the rats itself (Lovecraft 40). In addition, Delapore found himself discovering the downward direction of the rats to a place far below Exham Priory. Although he was uncertain, Delapore did not deny that his "fascination became twofold" and he decided to pursue what was causing the disturbances in his house 

(Lovecraft 40). At anytime throughout his search Delapore could have made a level headed decision and stopped what he was doing. However, the knowledge he gained of his family only pushed him to develop a further understanding of what was bothering his household. This desire to know more about his family and his home slowly pulled Delapore to depths of the curse laid upon him. 

Lovecraft used Delapore to help convert the idea of human understanding plus a curse of human degeneration and how it is correlated with danger. Because of Delapore's curse that was laid upon him, it was inevitable that Delapore was going to die. Delaware's curiosity was clearly shown throughout the text as it worked against his resistant actions. The combination of both of these factors led to Delapore's unavoidable death.
