
H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, “The Rats in the Walls” (1924), is a work of modern gothic horror written in the tradition of his Cthulhu mythos—i.e., with ancient horrors, clandestine family tradition, and macabre cults lurking beneath the surface of the modern world. Lovecraft creates a compelling philosophical world that speaks to readers on a multilayered level, yet without giving a full account of its contents from moment to moment—keeping the reader in a constant state of suspense by only releasing bits of needed information at a time. Lovecraft also displays varied influences throughout the source text, drawing parallels from such authors as S. Baring-Gould, Edgar Allan Poe, and Fiona Macleod to augment his own distinct stylistic sense. Despite these attributes, this story’s true significance lies in Lovecraft’s use of diction, which, in his prejudiced phraseology, reveals the proclivities of the time to marginalize and objectify African American fictional characters. In naming the protagonist’s cat “Nigger-Man,” and by repeatedly using the phrase throughout the text, Lovecraft normalizes the term—evincing the tendencies of some writers of the time period (1920s) to treat minorities in a degrading capacity. Here, it becomes difficult to separate the author’s views from the author’s effective style. Beyond its obvious connotations, Lovecraft’s diction and direct treatment of the term (i.e., associating the term with a domestic animal) dehumanizes and marginalizes African Americans’ violent, racist history.

In “The Rats in the Walls,” Lovecraft takes cues from several influential readings of his past and conjoins them to create a multi-layered effort. For example, Lovecraft’s influence can be found in stories like S. Baring-Gould’s Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (1866), which also utilizes the imagery of devouring rats: “Then there came a man to him from his farm, with a countenance pale with fear, to tell him that the rats had devoured all the corn in his granaries” (Gould 184). Other Baring-Gould inspirations can be found in scenes such as the discovery of the cavern under the priory, which appears to be a direct influence of Baring-Gould’s account of a legendary Irish holy site, St. Patrick’s Purgatory. Furthermore, Lovecraft’s influences also include Fiona Macleod's “The Sin-Eater,” which bears similarities of specific Gaelic translated passages: “God against thee and in thy face…and may a death of woe be yours…Evil and sorrow to thee and thine!” (Macleod 46). The story of the priory’s rats scuttling across the open meadows is drawn by the book’s retelling of the legend of Bishop Hatto, who was eaten by rats after setting fire to all the starving peasants during famine: “The rats surged against him like waves breaking on a cliff, and very soon the Bishop was overwhelmed in the horrid flood. Little was left to tell of the tragedy when his servants plucked up courage to enter the building some days later” (Gask). There is even a connection to Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” where one of the protagonists, Roderick Usher, mentions that his hearing is so abnormally sensitive that he “can hear the rats in the walls” (Poe). This passage from “The Rats in the Walls” correlates to Poe’s story: “But even so, the spectral horror was no less; for if these were living vermin why did not Norrys hear their disgusting commotion? 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 have aroused them?” (Lovecraft 249).

In the story, Lovecraft works his plot to withhold information from the reader and prolong and maximize suspense. The beginning leaves the reader asking many questions that do not come to light until the end. For example, when Norry and the protagonist, Delapoer, are in the Cellar under the house and Norry does not hear the sounds of rats in the walls Delapoer does. It then turns out that this noise is part of Delapoer’s psychoses that manifest themselves only once the true horror of the house is revealed and he himself becomes a cannibal. Readers are kept in suspense throughout, until the reveal at the end and the denouement, where Lovecraft divulges that Delapoer writes this narrative from a mental ward/prison. Another aspect of the dynamism of this work is the reader’s own belief in Delapoer’s sanity, as he seems congenial and lucid from the start. The provides maximum shock for the reversal at the end. 

Despite its admirable qualities, Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls” is a troubling work that pushes one to think deeply about themes of racism in literature as a potential representation American culture. Lovecraft’s racist diction certainly grabs the reader’s attention first-and-foremost, i.e., Lovecraft’s curious choice to name the protagonist’s cat “Nigger-Man.” 

My household consisted of seven servants and nine cats, of which latter species I am particularly fond. My eldest cat, “Nigger-Man,” was seven years old and had come with me from my home in Bolton, Massachusetts; the others I had accumulated whilst living with Capt. Norrys’ family during the restoration of the priory. (245)

Lovecraft’s choice to imbue the household pet with such a derogatory and racist name clearly dehumanizes and demonizes African American heritage, since the cat itself is no ordinary household pet, but a vulpine predator, always craftily slinking about, searching for its prey. What contributes to the meaning of the piece as a whole is the fact that H.P. Lovecraft did indeed have racists overtones in many of his works, and it is well-known that he held certain “classes” of people to many different levels of regard (Baxter). This fact is on display in the in the tone and diction, i.e., the term “Nigger-Man” and its uninhibited use throughout the entire story. This initially creates a heightened level of awareness for the 21st century reader—a sort of shocked surprise, soon replaced by desensitization towards the phrase because of its repeated use. It is particularly disturbing that through the phrase’s repetition and consequent desensitization for the reader, Lovecraft is able to normalize the term and thereby reduce its visceral impact. This, in turn, becomes a reductive process, where the reader, being constantly exposed to such racist terminology, begins to devalue the connotations associated with the troubling terminology, in this case, the African American struggle to overcome slavery’s stigma.

Lovecraft’s racism is unique in that he does not regard even all Caucasians as equal. In his mind, the Anglo-Saxon along with the English, and English descendants are the elite human race, and everyone else he thinks of negatively, i.e., African-Americans, German immigrants, and Irish Catholic (Baxter). Ironically, in reality, Lovecraft also had a childhood cat named Nigger-Man, which is the source for his odd nomenclature here in this story (Winter). Yet another hint as to the level of Lovecraft’s surreal racism can be seen in a poem he wrote named “On the Creation of Niggers,” written in 1912.

The particular diction of the name “Nigger-Man” is significant given Lovecraft’s history of racism. He openly uses the name’s context very often in this story and implies other dehumanizing racial insinuations as well, e.g., “the negroes howling and praying” (241). In naming the cat “Nigger-Man,” Lovecraft enables his own racist tendencies. The last reference of the phrase is used in an odd fashion: “Now they have blown up Exham Priory, taken my Nigger-Man away from me, and shut me into this barred room at Hanwell with fearful whispers about my heredity and experiences” (255). Here, it is used in an endearing capacity, separate from many of the other references that connote the term to animalistic behavior. 

The contention of Lovecraft’s apparent racism is tempered by the fact that the story succeeds on many levels to deliver the suspense necessary to carry a true Gothic horror story. However, Lovecraft’s contextual use of the term “Nigger-Man,” makes the reader question Lovecraft’s own awareness of the impact of his words and the cultural and temporal context (America, 1920s) in which he writes. Lovecraft gained posthumous fame from his horror fiction and is today still a well-respected writer. However, readers cannot gloss over the obvious racism apparent in the text, which does denigrate and overwhelm the story’s good qualities to a great extent. It is difficult as a reader to separate the author’s views from his own style, however effective it may or may not be. Oftentimes, the views subsume our thoughts and, if they are negative and, in this case, overtly racist, marginalize the good qualities that the works may contain. 
