H.P. Lovecraft's 1924 short story, "The Rats in the Walls", is the gruesome and sometimes disturbing, story of Delapore and his return to his ancestral homeland in England. Upon his arrival he is told many horrifying tales about his ancestors and the castle but he continues with his plans anyway. Then he begins hearing "rats" throughout the castle, but the only ones who hear them are himself and his cats. After several days of this he hires several men to assist him in discovering the mystery of the castle. After moving a large stone slab, the men discover a passage full of human bones. Delapore decides to go in and investigate which leads to the discovery of an underground city full of bones. Thus bringing about the horrifying realization that his ancestors were keeping these humans as cattle and breading them for consumption. After some time most of the men begin to leave but Delapore and his close friend Captain Norrys lag behind. Suddenly, Delapore hears the rats and begins to try and run but they are right behind him so he tries to fight them off. The other men hear the commotion and comeback to discover, to their horror, no rats but Delapore covered in blood, ripping apart Captain Norrys. Lovecraft presents a prevailing theme throughout the story of the limited understanding of the human mind. Lovecraft presents his theme through his use of diction, repetition of certain elements, and the point of view of the main character Delapore. 

Lovecraft uses diction to advance his theme about the limits on human understanding and knowledge throughout the story. One of the first uses that is apparent, is the name of Delapore's cat "Nigger-man." The choice of this name for the cat over any other shows the main characters limited understanding of the world by indicating the racism of Delapore. Which is presented a second time when discussing his disdain for his cousin, "Who went among the negroes and became a voodoo priest" (Lovecraft 44). This instance is an even more evident expression of Delapore's racism because he is indicating with those words that his cousin's act spoke far worse of his family than the tails of murder and kidnapping about his ancestors from the villagers. These instances indicate Delapore's limited knowledge of the world. Along with this he presents his own understanding and self-limited view on the world around him. Another use of diction to purvey Lovecraft's them, is when the group of men began to explore the passage buried under the castle, one discovers that, due to the caving marks on the wall the passage was carved "from beneath" (Lovecraft 52), the phrase even being italicized to stand out to the reader. This is where Lovecraft indicates the involvement of some otherworldly power or something that is incomprehensible to the human thought process. Lovecraft's diction is continually presenting his theme by illustrating the limits that exist in human comprehension and understanding.   

Another literary device Lovecraft uses to advance his theme is, the repetition of certain elements throughout the plot. One such thing is the rats. The rats appear over and over again in the story but no one ever sees them, except Delapore and his cats. The rats first appear shortly after Delapore moves into the castle. Upon hearing the rats in the walls he sets up many traps throughout the castle. The traps are sprung every night but they never catch anything. The rats are what drive Delapore to examine the crypt and discover the underground passage leading him to his demise. A point even more evident in that, the night before the passage was to be opened there are no rats. A servant warns Delapore it is a bad omen but by he dismisses it. The rats are something that is beyond normal understanding. This is evident in that they are leading Delapore to the horrors beneath the castle but are also, only able to be seen by Delapore and his cats. These rats are something that is not explained and something the reader cannot discover. All that seems clear is that the rats are not really rats, reminding the reader of the limit of human knowledge. There is also repetition of ancient writings throughout the castle in several ancient languages from Latin to much older languages that Delapore could not recognize. All of the writings are partially scratched out and missing words. This in itself is representative of the limits of human comprehension, in that Delapore can't decode the meaning of these words. The last time the words return however, is when the group of men hear Delapore chanting the same words, but without any missing, as he is sitting there with the dismembered body of Capt. Norrys. Lovecraft is presenting the words as having some mystical power or being some part of an ancient curse. Either way it is something that is beyond normal understanding of the world. Lovecraft repeats these things throughout the plot, the rats and ancient writings, to continue his theme and show that there are limits on what can be understood by the human mind and presents things that are incomprehensible to normal thought. 

Finally, Lovecraft uses the point of view of the main character to illustrate his theme. Firstly, in the way the story is written from the first person limited perspective. There is no information for the reader other than what is given by Delapore. The limits that Delapore has in his understanding of the ongoing events is thrust upon the reader and limits what the reader knows. These limits in knowledge being the ever-present theme of the story, being brought out even in the style of writing that Lovecraft uses. Another time the point of view of Delapore has an effect is his own ignorance of all the warning signs presented to him. Delapore does not seem to ever desire to leave the castle throughout the story, despite the many warning signs to leave. Such as having to hire all foreign workers because no locals would set foot in the castle. That the house was seemingly a site of many ancient dark rituals. That not even the cats reacted to the rats when he was not there. This is showing that although Delapore has all of the knowledge, he does not understand or comprehend what is going on with the castle. Delapore's ignorance of all the evil things in the castle is apparent to the reader, but is a reiteration of Lovecraft's theme. Finally Delapore's limited point of view presents the ending in a much different way than what may have actually happened; he claims the rats were coming, however there are no rats. What may have actually happened is hinted at the end in that he and Capt. Norrys' body were in darkness but before the cavern was lit, and it took the rest of the party three hours to find him while the trip there took a very short amount of time. Perhaps there was a cave in or something that blocked them off from the rest of the group, but this is impossible to prove. The reader's knowledge is limited, as all that is known about the event comes from Delapore who is residing in a cell in a mental institute. All that is told of the stories of others is that Delapore mentions they accuse him of hideous things. The story being told from Delapore's limited point of view is a further example of the limits in our own knowledge. Just like it is impossible to understand all of what really happened in the story, it is impossible to understand everything in the world around us.    

Lovecraft's theme of how there are limits of human knowledge and understanding is ever-present in his short story "The Rats in the Walls." The presentation of this theme is apparent in many way throughout the highly engaging story. Lovecraft expresses the limits of knowledge in many ways from his diction to repetition of certain elements through the plot. But especially through the limited point of view of the narrator, which ultimately leaves the reader questioning what in the story they know happened and what was fabricated by Delapore. This is his final statement about the limits human knowledge and, how our understanding is shaped by the world around us. Lovecraft is expressing that people have no way definite way of knowing for certain is true and what is not.   

