It is one thing to read a story, it is another to understand all of the details. Understanding a story starts with seeing the details within a story. These details can range from a couple of words, to patterns in the authors text. The way a reader interprets these details determines what is understood about the text. H.P. Lovecraft uses many different details in his short story "The Rats in the Walls". This story tells a tale of a man rebuilding the house of his ancestors. This home has always been haunted but he decides to rebuild it. He begins hearing rats in his walls and becomes frightened. These rats lead him to discover ancient ruins and decayed bodies beneath his home. "The Rats in the Walls" shows the disturbing effects that insanity can cause with a horrid story created by the bizarre characters, disgusting imagery, and interesting word choice.

Insanity is defined by Merriam-Webster as something that is very foolish or unreasonable ("Insanity"). The story is classified as insane because of the unnamed owner of this ancient house. Lovecraft writes, "The place had not been inhabited since the reign of James the First, when a tragedy of intensely hideous nature had struck down the master, five of his children, and several servants" (Lovecraft 41). This man has to be insane to want to rebuild a house that has such a harsh history. It is as if this tragedy intrigues him and makes him want to live in the house. That alone makes him very bizarre. The wish to be reminded by this tragic event is very unreasonable. No sane person would want to ever think about such a horrific event. The insanity continues with his strange dreams. The story says, "I seemed to be looking down from an immense height upon a twilit grotto, knee deep with filth, where a white bearded daemon swineherd drove about with his staff a flock of fungous" (Lovecraft 47). These types of ideas are not within a normal person's mind. The fact that he is not deeply frightened by these dreams suggest that there is something wrong. To be insane, one must be foolish and unreasonable. This man displays both of these and more. As the story moves along the reader begins to see more of his crazy mind. He gets more insane until he eventually eats another person. This event tops off his insane mind. Insanity can lead to crazy things as vicious as this. By the definition of insanity this man is the epitome of insanity because of his actions and dreams.

The images that Lovecraft creates are eerie and terrifying throughout the story. One source of imagery is from the rats within the walls. The text says, "for on every side of the chamber the walls were alive with nauseous sound   the verminous slithering of ravenous, gigantic rats." (Lovecraft 47). Lovecraft connects with multiple senses in this sentence. The chamber walls create a feeling of cold and loneliness. These feelings can make someone frightened about what is around them. The nauseous sound connects with the sense of hearing. Imagining a sound so horrific that it can make you nauseous is terrifying. The perception of sound can create scary feelings within a person. Slithering connects to the sense of feel. When something is slithering, one may imagine a slimy or gross object. An object of this kind can cause fear within someone. All of these weird events slowly drive the owner of the house insane. That insanity brings him to cannibalism. The rats that the author is describing lead the main character to a chamber full of disgusting things. The author writes, "God! Those carrion black pits of sawed, picked bones and opened skulls! Those nightmare chasms choked with the pithecanthropoid, Celtic, Roman, and English bones of countless unhallowed centuries" (Lovecraft 54). Lovecraft creates many horrific images as the main character looks around in this chamber. These images cause terror within the character. Seeing all of these bizarre objects takes him over the edge. The reader can now see, by his actions, all of the insanity within him. The author uses these images to create a horrid scene. Each word that the author uses affects the way that the reader perceives the environment which is being described. The entire story leads up to the horrifying ending of the man eating another person. This ending leaves the reader scared and in shock. An insane person is capable of many dangerous actions like this one. This fact makes them very dangerous to themselves and others. All of the imagery that Lovecraft uses creates a terrifying ending to the story.

Lovecraft's choice of words add an interesting aspect to the story. The main character says things like "ungl", "magna mater", "swynke", and "wolde" at the end of the story (Lovecraft 55). These words make this character seem insane. It also connects him, in a way, to all of the creepy things that have happened in the story. It is as if he has played a part in the strange sounds and even the awful chamber that is found. His connection to the events adds another scary aspect to the story. The insanity within his mind scares the reader about what he may do. The words throughout the story get more and more grotesque. Lovecraft writes things like, "hideous", "horrible", "nightmare", and "horror" (Lovecraft 41-53). These creepy words begin to appear more frequently as the end of the story approaches.  They appear more frequently to show that a scary event is going to happen. The house owner actually ends up eating another person. That is the most disgusting part of the whole story. All of the weird sounds and sights lead to this crazy event. The cannibalism combines the insaneness of the character and the horrific plot into one. Combining insanity and terrifying actions is the author's way of showing the reader the downfalls of insanity. Insanity leads to disturbing actions. The author's use of strange words connects insanity to the scary plot of the story.

The details within the horrific plot create the message that insanity leads to awful things happening. The insane character shows that insane people can do very bad things; even as bad as becoming cannibalistic. The imagery within the story allows the reader to see how horrific things can become. Lovecraft created very vivid scenes to show the reader how insane and disturbing the man is. All of the strange words brought everything together. The word choice connected the insane character and the grotesque events. With everything combined, it is clear that insanity leads to terrible things. Someone who is insane should seek help before something awful happens. Even the most horrific things are possible.

