When the author tells a story the words that that they decide to use play a role beyond their literal meaning. They can represent a part of a whole, allude to things like other texts, events and religions, and depict an image through either their own or through a specific person’s perspective. In the story “Rats in the Walls” by H.P. Lovecraft, the author chose his words very carefully in order to enhance a repetitive use of imagery, perspective and allusion. Anything that the author wants to emphasize to the reader will be repeated several times in order to convey significance, and one of the first things we see receive repetition is the sense of imagery and the perspective that comes along with it.

The speaker is telling the story as a past event, which something that is made clear at the beginning and the end of the story. We notice it first at the beginning of the story when he says, “this week workmen have blown up Exham Priory and are busy obliterating all traces of its foundations” it indicates that any events that occurred in the building are in the past. At the end, after reaching the end of his story he says, “they have blown up Exham Priory, taken my Nigger-Man away from me, and shut me into this barred room” indicating that he’s been locked up for whatever happened in the grotto beneath the Priory. The fact that he is writing about the story from the future impacts the story and word choice greatly, and anything of significance is often repeated to ensure that the reader gets the message.

He repeatedly brought up the religions that had supposedly called the Priory or the area around it home. His allusions to religion included “Druidic, Native Cymric, Roman Cybele-Worship” and allusions to architecture included “Gothic, Saxon, Romanesque.” In relation to the story, the religions had the greatest impact. They had such an impact because they were the ones who performed odd rituals and even sacrifices. They were very cult-like in nature, which could be the reason why the property seems almost to be cursed. He also brings up some of the words found inscribed in stone found on the site, “DIV...OPS...MAGNA...MAT” and similar words are found two other times. Once when the speaker and Norrys were exploring the sub-cellar they discovered inscriptions that read, “P.GETAE. PROP...TEMP...DON” and continued on, and the other time when the speaker was in the groto and was seemingly possessed and spouted the words, “Atys...Dia ad aghaidh’s” followed by more of the like. The speaker discusses the religions several times throughout the story, when he is relaying stories that he has heard about the house to the reader and when he discovers inscriptions on walls in the vault beneath the house. He does not usually refer to these religions negatively, but he does use negative words when describing the house itself.

Due to the fact that he is telling the story from the future, he has a hindsight bias that is evident throughout the story when he brings up the house and certain events that transpired within it. When referring to the house he repeatedly uses terms like “sinister” and “abhorrent” which makes evident his experience with and total distaste for the house. If he did not personally know about and experience the atrocities that lay beneath the house and its foundations, he most likely would not have used such condemning words when describing it. His bias is also apparent when he describes the rats, the very creatures that would be his undoing. He describes them as a “lean, filthy, ravenous army.” The rats are a main subject in the tale, if not the main subject.  They are brought up several times, and the speaker blames them for everything that happens to him, from the horrific dreams to the demise of Norrys. Whenever the rats plague the speaker at night, they are usually accompanied by the dream that he has where he envisions a twilit grotto, which of course is revealed later on to be the vault-like area beneath the Priory. The dream is something that repeatedly plagues the speaker, emphasizing its relevance and importance later in the story.

Another key component to the story is the use of the word plump in a repetitive nature both for Captain Norrys and the rats. This is significant because near the end of the story the speaker bumps into something “plump” which is the adjective constantly used to describe Norrys and presumably attacks it and devours it when he seemingly goes into a trancelike state and recites an ancient language. The repetitive use of plump in reference to Norrys and then the thing at the end leaves it open to the reader’s interpretation as to whether or not the speaker really did devour part of Norrys, with an encouragement from the author to do so. This is just another example of the author drawing attention to something by having it show up several times throughout the tale.

By using repetition of certain words, the author intentionally draws attention to his use of imagery, perspective and allusions. He presents an alternate perspective and uses imagery in a way that leaves interpretation open to the reader while giving them a predetermined perspective to follow in the speaker of the story if they choose. Everything that the authors writes has a secondary purpose that aids the reader in understanding the story and the message behind it, whether it is given by the author or interpreted for themselves.
