
The Rats in the Walls by H. P. Lovecraft written in 1923 is a horror fiction tale about a man who goes digging up the history of his family in a once was estate he restored to be inhabited again. Lovecraft is known for his work of strange tales within his large variety of published pieces. He takes genres of fiction, horror, and fantasy and mixes them together to capture the attention of his audience and allow them to experience what means a great significance to him. Horror fiction is used here by Lovecraft as a genre where the psychology of fear is more captivating than any normal genre. Horror fiction is a genre where all of its components lie on extreme and super natural elements.

Horror fiction is characterized as a fairly new kind of genre. In this genre, “the entertainment of shock and repulsion, facing up to what we fear, the enjoyment of being terrified…” (1 Wisker). All of the exhilarating emotions is was captures the eyes of the audience, what brings them forth to be entertained and continue reading this kind of writing. The satisfaction of being terrified or the pleasure of suspense, not knowing what could come around and surprise you next is the thrill that many people search for. The thrill recruits’ readers to take part in this genre for the entertainment. Over many decades’ horror fiction has been around, being portrayed in films, novels and even television shows, it is one of the fastest growing genres in popularity. Any film or novel filled with suspense is clear to have a wide audience lining up at the door for their own amusement. 

Horror fiction is a genre in which the psychology of fear is greatly used to connect with the audience. Lovecraft who is known for being a master of horror “takes us further into the ‘weird’ in his definitions, of the ways in which horror of the weird tale homes in on our ancestors’ primitive fear of the dark “ (2 Wisker). The appeal of horror simply depends on the reader and their vast imagination to create an imagine of what is happening. Though horror does dwell on the imagination of others, it greatly depends on the history of the world and the scary aspects we already have come to believe. It will disturb the human psychological side in which it disrupts the human mind and messes with our sense of comfort and everything we know to be normal. When we as humans experience memories or emotions, we tend to hold on to the ones in which we are in pain or the danger of death easier than the joyful ones. The fact that pain and fear are stronger senses explains the reason why they are often encouraged in novels or films. Even the slightest bit of danger is represented even in the happiest of movies, because without it the audience doesn’t feel the conflict within the story lines. 

When horror is written as a genre it is a representation of what we already know in the world, yet it is heightened by the past. It is a representation of what we fear, what we disgusts and secretly want. “Horror Fiction tends to gains its effects from its imaginative strategies- pace, characterization, narrative, settings, perspectives and so on” (5 Wisker). It comes to close to many different genres such as fantasy, fiction, mystery, even drama, but horror fiction comes from a branch of Gothic. We can trace the Gothic writing back to the 19th century when it began to appear in books like Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. “Both Gothic and horror use settings of dungeons, attics, corridors, and terrifying and unpleasant threatening spaces” (8 Wisker). Though horror is a branch of gothic, it tends to be more violent in the projection of its scenes and situations we find our protagonist in. Horror can turn even the simplest items that the world would least expect into something that would represent a sense of fear, and completely transform its definition and associate to a completely different meaning.

Horror comes off as a fearful yet anxiety filled sense, and when it is presented in the literary world we compare it to things that frighten us. Though there is more to horror than just the average panic we experience, horror comes into reality through the normal that we see every day. “Horror is both an everyday occurrence-terrorism, the cannibal next door, torture-and a way of dramatizing our hidden fears…” ( 1 Wisker). Horror can come in all shapes and sizes to people, any fear that we can experience or even just see. The world can present a variety of horrific views on every day occurrences, even if it’s just in your neighborhood supermarket, it is unexpected and could arrive out of the blue. It is something both real and imaginary, it thrives in the human mind and dwells on our fears. Horror grows in our fears and the fears of others, it flourishes by our pain and death, by the images we already know. Though in reality it can be an actual self-destructing event, horror fiction is what draws the audience, it captures the attention for exhilarating event leaving the views wanting more. It gives a book that sense of excitement and allows a story to thrill its audience within its storyline. 

H. P. Lovecraft who is a master of horror informs his readers of how it can “call for a didactic literature to “uplift” the reader toward a suitable degree of smirking optimism” (2 Wisker). He believes in horror fiction is good as a literary form, that it draws the readers and captures their attention. Lovecraft has a variety of novels written, most of them written within the genre of horror fiction. The Rats in the Walls is a novel solely written as a horror fiction novel. It contains points within the novel that justifies all the requirements for this type of genre.  It entertains, terrifies and makes the reader think of the unreal. With the setting of the story itself, Exham priory being an ancient run down estate and Delapore reconstructing it, calls for some type of mysterious occurrence. 

Within The Rats in the Walls elements of pain and death are largely shown throughout. The background that is given about our main character shows that his family’s history goes way back and his family’s estate is a place where the people of the town near by loathed it, and soon enough Delapore find out about the hidden horrors of his ancestor’s past. The storyline of the book is a dark and somewhat mysterious place, and with all the talk about his family’s past makes for an actual representation of horror fiction. Lovecraft being a fan of horror fiction was not shy in including horrific scenes in this novel. His tone used within the novel itself is somewhat uneasy, and as we read the novel Lovecraft uses the sense images to describe slowly the past and give his readers flashes of tension and darkness. 

Since horror fiction is a genre of dark and uneasiness, Lovecraft who knew a great deal about the psychology of fear used the reader’s knowledge of dreams to keep his story entertaining. Delapore who leading up to the end had continuous nightmares as he slept about unexplainable creatures. This in the story shows how Lovecraft used the sense of dreaming to let the readers feel a bit uneased while reading it, knowing that anything is possible in dreams and that they truly can come alive to become a real nightmare. All these elements tie together to represent The Rats in the Walls as a Horror Fiction novel.
