"The Rats in the Wall" is a scary story written by H.P.Lovecraft. This story talked about a man who moved in Exham Priory, an old castle. His ancestors owned this castle. His ancestors were barons before. He found some rumors about his family that his ancestors was crazy. They were called "de la Poer" which means "Cursed of God". Many People who live close to the castle disappeared during that time. His ancestors also had a bloody case. One of the family members killed the barons and their direct heirs. The main character did not think these things were true, so he moved into the castle. During the night, he heard strange noise came from the wall, and he saw his cats stay awake to look for something. This noise districted him and made him cannot sleep. He invited his friends to come and search for the reason. They guessed the rats made the sound. After a long time search, they found the basement and bloody truth, that his ancestors bred human like animals and ate human. His friend disappeared during the way. When he was leaving, something influenced his mind and made him lose control for at least three hours. People found him later when he was in his friend's half-eaten body. He was caught and sent into Hanwell, a place use to prison crazy people. In this story, Lovecraft used several points to make this story become scary and interesting. 

Firstly, Lovecraft used first person perspective to show the fear of main character. He used a lot of detail to describe how scary the main character was, such as how the man thought about the strange things. The man's feeling was described clearly by Lovecraft. 

"As I descended the stairs myself, I became suddenly aware of sounds in the great room below; sounds of a nature which could not be mistaken. The oak-panelled walls were alive with rats, scampering and milling, whilst Nigger-Man was racing about with the fury of buffed hunter. Reaching the bottom, I switched on the light, which did not this time cause the noise to subside. The rats continued their rat, stampeding with such force and distinctness that I could finally assign to their motions a definite direction. These creatures, in numbers apparently inexhaustible, were engaged in one stupendous migration from inconceivable heights to some depth conceivably, or inconceivably, below."  (Lovecraft p37)

In this paragraph, the first person perspective makes the reader to experience these feelings which the narrator had, to imagine that fearful environment, and to think about how the sound of rats stimulate the narrator's mind. It forces the reader to move into this situation and feel the crazy moving what these rats did.

The second point is that Lovecraft used some historic things to set some small point for reader, and use it to attract readers. He built this dramatic castle, and connected the clue with unexpected truth. At the beginning, he introduced the castle's outlook. 

"Exham Priory had remained untenanted, through later allotted to the estates of the Norrys family and much studied because of its peculiar composite architecture; an architecture involving Gothic towers resting on a Saxon or Romanesque substructure, whose foundation in turn was of a still earlier order or blend of orders----Roman, and even Druidic or native Cymric, if legends speak truly."(Lovecraft p31)                                                       The castle's outlook is an important clue in this story, because it reveals the background and timeline. It also connects with the things what the main character found at last. 

"It was a twilit grotto of enormous height,stretching away farther than any eye could see; a subterraneous world of limitless mystery and horrible suggestion. There were buildings and other architectural remains----in one terrified glance I saw a weird pattern of tumuli, a savage circle of monoliths, a low domed Roman ruin, a sprawling Saxon pile, and an early English edifice of wood----but all these were dwarfed by the ghoulish spectacle presented by the general surface of the ground."(Lovecraft p42) The connection between the historic detail at beginning and the old ruin at last is an interesting point to draw the reader's attention. The short introduction of castle leads the reader to find the conclusion. The small point at first become an awesome answer at last.

The third point is that the story has some supernatural things. Human are always interested in things that they cannot see in the real world. In this story, the narrator's cat, Nigger-man, is the supernatural creature. It is another creature who realizes these strange noise in the castle. This cat is a sign which shows the noise appear. The cats realize the noise even faster than the narrator does. In the story, the narrator wake up one time, and watches his cat to make sure of the noise.

"From this terrific vision I was abruptly awaked by the motion of Nigger-man, who had been sleeping as usual across my feet. This time I did not have to question the source of his snarls and hisses, and of the fear which made him sink his claws into my ankle, unconscious of their effect; for on every side of the chamber the walls were alive with nauseous sound----the verminous slithering of ravenous, gigantic rats."(Lovecraft p37)     It also stays with the narrator in the whole story. The narrator's friend, Norry, asked him to watch Nigger-man. The narrator questioned himself in the story,"why did he urge me to watch Nigger-man and listen to the cats outside, and why did he guess wildly and vaguely at what could aroused them?(Lovecraft p39)" This question shows the supernatural power in this story. We will think how this cat can influence this mission. 

"The Rats in the Wall" attracts people by many things. First person angle, historic details, and supernatural things are just part of these things. It also has other point to draw the reader's attention.
