H.P. Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls" is an unsettling, fascinating and energetic passage. He is able to achieve this combination by having many different writing styles in his work as well as having many different sentence structures, including complex and simple sentences. The passage flows from sentence to sentence very effortlessly creating a relaxed read that does not bore, but instead keeps the reader engaged and anticipating what is to come. Overall the passage builds upon itself creating a more enthralling story for the reader. Lovecraft's story is based on the theme of hereditary degeneration, which means there is a deterioration of someone from a normal state to an earlier form; in the introduction to the story hereditary degeneration can be described by saying, "humans are mutable and can revert to primitive evolutionary states, often against their will" (Chapter 1 30). This statement is telling what is to occur to a character in the passage. Foreshadowing is something Lovecraft decides to use heavily in his passage and through this as well as two other literary devices Lovecraft presents his theme very strongly. Through his foreshadow, Lovecraft creates an intense and engaging atmosphere with his detailed narration and vivid imagery to keep the reader guessing and involved until the very end.

Foreshadowing is the main tool Lovecraft uses to show the theme of hereditary degeneration. It not only keeps the reader engaged, but also gives subtle hints as to what will happen to the main character eventually. Throughout the passage there is foreshadowing as to what Delapore, the main character, might be lead to do. The foreshadowing begins in the first paragraph when Lovecraft writes about Delapore's ancestor who was the only survivor of a "tragedy of intensely hideous, though largely unexplained, nature" (Lovecraft 30). Later on, it is told that Delapore's ancestor was believed to have killed the rest of his family because of a "shocking discovery" (Lovecraft 35). The story constantly builds upon its self including when Delapore has a dream, which later in the story comes true. His dream foreshadows that he is, "looking down from an immense height upon a twilit grotto, knee-deep with filth" (Lovecraft 37). Later in the passage this image comes true when a secret passage is found in the cellars below Delapores house. Through this foreshadowing there are also notes of imagery but this imagery is heavily used throughout the passage.

Lovecraft goes into great detail at times to create a vivid image to go along with his writing. He achieves this vivid imagery by using powerful words such as "snarls and hisses" along with phrases such as "the verminous slithering of ravenous, gigantic rats" (Lovecraft 37).  This imagery adds to the unnerving atmosphere of the story as well as adding excitement. When Lovecraft describes the rats he always uses great imagery. When he sees what he believe to be rats in the tapestry he goes into detail saying, "I saw hideous shaking all over the tapestry, causing the somewhat peculiar designs to execute a singular dance of death" (Lovecraft 37). The imagery also helps to create what this hereditary degeneration might be and look like. The villagers represent Delapores relatives as "a race of hereditary daemons" and talk about them only in whispers (Lovecraft 33). This imagery of demons creates a picture of horrible creatures that slay and infect the places and people around them with a horrible curse of death and destruction, which Delapores family has been doing for centuries. Along with this vivid imagery and foreshadowing Lovecraft uses great narration to tie the whole story together.

The passage starts off with Delapore narrating to the reader and he is talking about his family and where he is living. This is very important because he is introducing the main theme of the passage. Through the narration the reader really gets a sense of how the hereditary degeneration runs in Delapores family. In Lovecraft's description of the house and grounds Delapore lives in "surrounded by extensive gardens which need no walls to exclude a frightened populace" shows the dark history in the Delapore families past (Lovecraft 33). When the cellar is described, Delapore's narration reveals that this curse of hereditary degeneration has been in the family since Roman times because "every low arch and massive pillar was Roman -- not the debased Romanesque of the bungling Saxons, but the severe and harmonious classicism of the age of the Caesars" (Lovecraft 38). Finally, the most powerful narration comes at the end when Delapore disappears into the darkness of the secret dumping zone. Delapore chases after his cat and then "after three hours; found me crouching in the blackness over the plump, half-eaten body of Capt. Norrys," so we finally see that Delapore was affected by this theme of hereditary degeneration (Lovecraft 44).

The passage conveyed its theme in a very smooth and well-established way. Through foreshadowing, narration and imagery the reader truly feels involved in the story and is able to recognize the theme. Although the theme of hereditary degeneration might not be an actual disorder it still seems as though it is a very logical conclusion.
