The author of "The Rats in the Walls," H.P. Lovecraft, has such creative writing that it resonates with the majority of people who read his work. His gothic tales, which included concepts of cannibalism and Greek mythology, were not popular at the time they were written but now they are deemed quite popular. "The Rats in the Walls" centers around the life of Walter Delapore who exchanges his average life in Massachusetts to refurbish a decrepit family home in Anchester. He was somewhat apprehensive of the family's peculiar history but it did not hinder his decision to recreate the Exham Priory. Unfortunately, as he digs deeper into the home's details he suddenly begins losing his mind and undergoes a massive mental transformation. H.P. Lovecraft's, "The Rats in the Walls," emphasizes that within every human there are innate monstrous qualities that light will eventually be shed on in the correct time and place through the use of intense tone, questionable diction, and vivid imagery. 

To begin with, Lovecraft slowly eases into the story by telling the subtle but impactful lineage of Walter's family. Lovecraft focuses deeply on the details of every aspect of the house and how each part of the family added their significance to the Exham Priory. There is an extremely curious tone as Walter searches for his ancestry that foreshadows the gruesome ending. Walter gathers information on his family by "Piecing together the tales which Norrys collected for me" (43). This sheds light on the secretive tone and makes the reader feel as if there is a definite reason why no one wants to associate themselves with him. Walter is forced to piece together every detail of his family's history as if it were a puzzle, rather than a brief summary of an average family lineage. The strange tone and diction foreshadows the eerie outcome. As the story continues, it escalates to Walter's true self being expressed through the author's intense tone during the nightmares and searches of the Exham Priory. The situation in the cellar was extremely serious and the reader also gets the sense that even the author is slightly nervous about what was going to happen next. The tone emphasizes the feeling of uncertainty and severity within the story which also foreshadows that something terrible and ground breaking is bound to happen extremely soon. 

Furthermore, Lovecraft uses particular diction that stands out due to its questionable placement and meaning. Walter believed there were rats in the walls of the house that were constantly running and making noise, but especially at night. The rats were assumed to be ravaging animals that destroyed everything in their way, but one peculiar statement was that the rats "devoured" the dogs, cats, sheep, and even human beings (44). Also, throughout the text there are multiple occasions when the rats and certain ancestors, such as the Carfax's, were described rather similarly. The rats and the family members were all characterized as murderers who could not be tamed which could have been foreshadowing the protagonist's own self destruction at the end. Walter could have been attempting to tell the reader from the beginning that the rats were simply his family members that were prone to murdering anyone who was in their path at the wrong time or place. Near the end of the story when Walter is presumably in the darkness and fending for his life, he begins reciting that he is absolutely "not the daemon swineherd twilit grotto" (54). The emphasis on the word, not, in that statement allows the reader to question what is going through this man's head especially considering this was before anyone had placed him in Hanwell and while he was still terrified that the rats were apparently going to eat him. 

 Lastly, the expletive imagery within the story places the reader in the setting so that they can understand every aspect. The Exham Priory already has a dark, gothic image placed upon it from the architectural information given about the Roman and Druidic influences in the substructure. Also, mention of the "desolate valley" beyond the house gives the feeling of loneliness and there is underlying fear with the lack of people around (41). Luckily, the workmen attempted obliterating the structure which puts an image within the reader's head, of the hatred radiating off of the workers as they finally get rid of the cursed home that had haunted them for so long. Throughout the final walk in the cellar, the bones and abnormal features, including the graffiti with unknown words, set a terrifying scene. Suddenly the lights go out and there is no turning back from what terror confronts the seven people inside of the vault. This is the point at which Walter embraces his insanity that, although he will not admit, was within him all along. For a slight moment, it seems as if the reader is cut off until Walter states that "they found me crouching in the blackness over the plump, half-eaten body of Capt. Norrys" (55). Without this imagery that blatantly proves that Walter is a cannibal, the story would not have made such an impact. Apparently Walter's most prized possession, his old black cat, had even turned on him at this point and he just cannot understand why. He is convinced he was not the one to commit this horrid crime and that it was the rats who continue to crawl through the walls around him wherever he goes. This image allows the reader to understand the breaking point of the story and without it the reader could not get the full circle of the underlying story. 

Lovecraft's main goal is to immerse the reader within the story by the use of illusive imagery, strange diction, and a serious tone for them to understand that all human beings are innately different than what is on the outside. In particular, there is a beastly part of every human on Earth, but each person simply needs their one moment or circumstance to allow the insanity to show itself. Walter began to slowly switch into his deranged self when he was working on the renovation of the Exham Priory. The light shed on Walter's emerging moment specifically when it turns to Hanwell and Walter speaking of how their memory of the night and the horrendous things they saw was incorrect. Walter is still convinced that he has not done anything wrong and that the rats in the walls were the one to blame. 

