H.P Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls” is a short story about a man that returns to his ancestral home in England, only to find out his family’s dark secret. H.P Lovecraft wrote this horror themed short story with a suspenseful tone to it. The short story is written so the suspense continued to grow more and more as the story continues until the protagonist goes to why he and his cat are the only ones who can hear the rats at night. With the language that H.P Lovecraft uses, it can make this short story hard to read and understand fully. Two elements that help add to the suspense on this short story is motifs and the imagery that H.P Lovecraft uses.

The motif of the protagonist and his cat hearing rats in their wall becomes more frequently. Once the protagonist rebuilds his family’s house in his in England, this is when he starts hearing the sounds. The first night when it happened, it was so subtle, but noticed something was wrong because he knows his cat’s mood well. That night, he noticed his cat “was undoubtedly alert and anxious to an extent wholly out of his natural character” (Rats 192-193). As it continues to happen, the antagonist becomes more and more freighted by the sounds going from the wall, and every time someone else comes to try and listen, the sounds disappear. This is showing that as time goes on, the motif of the rats in the wall show how the suspense in the short story is building.

In “The Rats in the Wall”, H.P Lovecraft uses many examples of imagery to add to the suspense that he is creating throughout the story. Imagery that H.P Lovecraft uses in the beginning of the short story by showing us the protagonist moving into Exham Priory. As the main character moves in, he learns that the house is built on top of an ancient city that was built by the Romans. Suspense starts to build as the main character and his friend, Capt. Norrys, goes down to the city to investigate the rats and learns that his family actually maintained the ancient city. Once they enter the ancient city, H.P Lovecraft uses the imagery of skeletons to show the atrocities that happened in the city long ago. This part in the short story is the climax in suspense because the protagonist finds out his family’s part in the atrocities that occurred in the city. Another piece of imagery that helps conclude the story is at the end. At this part, authorities blow up Exham Priory to end the history of the tragedies that have plagued the village for many centuries .

H.B Lovecraft’s short story “The Rats in the Wall” was most likely named this because the ending alludes to why the protagonist can hear the rats in the wall. The protagonist can hear the rats in the wall because the rats are trying to drive him mad enough so he will investigate why he and his cats are the only ones that can hear them. Through imagery and motifs, we can find that the suspense keeps building up until the protagonist knows why the rats lead him down to the ancient city. Once he finds out, he goes mad and ends up attacking his friend in the same way his family use to attack the people in the ancient city. After he is arrested and put in the cell, he keeps hearing the rats in the wall and no one else can hear them expect for him. By using the motifs and imagery, H.P Lovecraft keeps increasing the suspense over time and the rats signify the crimes that his family has committing and now he is paying for them by the rats driving him insane.