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DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL,

RANCHI

ACADEMIC YEAR
2024-2025

Student’s name : Niharika Choudhary

Class/section : xii ‘n’
ROLL NUMBER : 27

ENGLISH PROJECT
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CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that “Niharika Choudhary”
student of class XII N has successfully
completed the English Project on “The
Rattrap” as per guidelines mentioned by
CBSE, as a part of board examination 2024-
2025.
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AcknowledgemenTI
want to sincerely thank Mrs. Nilofer Khan my
English Teacher, for all the help and support
during the course of assignment. I also want
to express my gratitude to my friends and
classmates for sharing their perspectives on
the story topic and characters with me. These
contributions have helped me to develop my
thoughts significantly. Last but not least, I
would want to express my gratitude to
‘Rattrap’ author Selma Lagerlof for penning
such a compelling and thought-provoking tale
that has motivated me to learn about the
topic of human nature and morals.
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Index
Serial Topics Page Teacher
Numbe Numbe s
r r Remark
1 About the 01-02
Author &
Rattrap
2 Character 03-05
Sketch
3 Theme 06

4 Summary 07-09

5 Moral of the 10
Story
6 Conclusion 11

7 Bibliography 12
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About the author

Selma Lagerlöf
(born Nov. 20, 1858, Mårbacka, Sweden—died
March 16, 1940, Mårbacka) was a novelist
who in 1909 became the first woman and also
the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize
for Literature.
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ABOUT THE
RATTRAP
The Rattrap is a
short story written
by Selma Lagerlöf
about a man who
lives a downtrodden
life as a vagabond
and poor rattrap
seller. He looks at
the world through
spectacles of
cynicism and
misery because of
the situation in which he finds himself. He thinks of
the world as a rat trap, where we are pulled in by
the rat trap of materialistic things. In the story, he
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resorts to petty thievery and selling rat traps to

sustain himself.

CHARACTER
SKETCH
PEDDLER
He was a beggar who led a
nomadic way of life. He was
quite imaginative. He wore
rags, had sunken cheeks, and
his eyes gleamed from hunger.
He roamed around the town
selling wire rattraps that he made himself. He
obtained this wire either through begging or by
stealing. He possessed certain human flaws, such
as the need to steal and beg to meet his basic
necessities. He spent his evenings wherever he
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could find shelter because he had nowhere to stay

during the day. He believes that the entire universe
resembles a giant rat trap.

Ironmaster
He was the owner of
Ramsjo Ironworks. He
thought the man selling
rattraps was an old friend
from the army. He lacked
the ability to make accurate
conclusions about others.
He was a kind and gentle man. He welcomed the
street vendor to his home to look after him. He
gets furious when he realizes that he had mistaken
the stranger to be an old friend. He not only invited
the peddler to spend the night at his house, but
also provided him with a dinner of porridge. It was
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on his daughter’s insistence that he let the

stranger remain at their house for Christmas
festivities. He was a loving caring father who could
see things from his daughter’s perspective.

Edla
She was the ironmaster’s
daughter, is characterised as
being “not at all attractive,
but humble and extremely
shy. Even after it is
established that the peddler
is not Captain von Stahle,
she is incredibly kind, convincing him to come to
her house and then persuading her father to let
him stay for Christmas Eve. Edla is more smart and
observant than her father, as seen by the fact that
she can identify the peddler’s fear and the
likelihood that he has done a crime that he is
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evading right away. She is the most admirable

character in the story and her kindness and charity
bring about a change in the peddler’s heart.

THEME
Theme of the story is that most human beings are
prone to fall into the trap of material benefit.
However every human being has an essential
goodness that can be awakened through
understanding and love. A human being has the
tendency to redeem himself from dishonest ways.
The theme is developed with the help of the
metaphor of the rattrap. The material benefits like
riches and joys shelter and food heat and clothing
are temptations that that allure a person to fall into
the rattrap of the world exactly as the bait of
cheese and pork attract a rat to fall into the
rattrap. The peddler is tempted by the thirty
kronors of the old crofter. He steals the money. It is
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the treatment given by Edla Willmansson that

helps him get himself free from the rattrap of the
world.

SUMMARY
The Rattrap begins by introducing the rattrap seller
who wanders, collecting junk from here and there
to put together and turn into functional rat traps.
One day, a stranger whose cottage door he knocks
on allows him to stay the night. The host explained
that he worked at an ironworks factory earlier, but
now his only source of income was his cow. He
showed his guest the thirty kronor he had earned
the previous month that he hung in a pouch by the
window of his cottage. The rat trap seller goes
about his way when his host leaves in the morning
to tend to his cow. However, the rat trap seller
returns to steal the money in the pouch by
breaking the window a little while later. After this,
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he stumbles through the forest, avoiding the

highway to be on the safe side, all the while
thinking about how he allowed himself to fall into
the world’s rat trap of materialistic things like
money. On top of this, his clothes were mostly rags,
so it was even colder for him. However, as he laid
his head down, he heard the sound of the iron mill
nearby and followed it. When he arrived, people
were sitting by the warmth of the furnace. No one
bothered to object to his being there, so he sat
with them. The owner of the mill came by in the
meantime to do his evening rounds, and upon
seeing the tramp, he mistook him for an old
comrade, Nils Olof. The tramp did not deny this,
thinking he would get some more money if he went
with it. However, when the owner invited him to
the manor, he declined, out of what the owner
thought was an embarrassment. Soon after, the
owner’s daughter came to attempt to bring the
tramp to the house in the name of Christmas Eve,
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and he had to oblige. At the manor, the rat trap

seller was given a bath, a haircut, a shave and
fresh clothes in the hope that his embarrassment
coming from his condition would also wash off with
his filth. However, when he went into the dining
room, the ironmaster immediately realized that the
tramp was not Nils Olof! He was furious and asked
the man to leave immediately lest he calls the
sheriff. The tramp explained his theory about the
world being a rat trap, so he was excused. The
daughter had her father allow him to stay, and the
man looked like he needed a hearty meal and
some sleep. At the Christmas mass, while the
tramp still slept, the family found out about the
stolen money. On returning to the manor, the rat
trap seller had already gone on his way. However,
he did leave behind a Christmas present for the
daughter - the thirty kronor to return to the man in
the cottage by the roadside, as written by him in a
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letter with it; Because he was treated with respect,

he returned the respect.

moRAL oF StoRy
In the story, the author Selma Lagerlof
conveys a definite message. The story has a
universal appeal. The essential goodness in a
human being never dies. It can be awakened
through understanding and love. Miss Edla
awakens the basic goodness of the peddler.
He is transformed into a noble person in the
end.
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cOncLusIOn
The story “The Rattrap” has a very beautiful
ending. It helps us to realise that all is not lost
for human beings who are prone to fall into
the trap of material benefits it is a protagonist
of the story – the peddler with the rattraps –
who coins the metaphor of the rattrap, falls
himself in it on being tempted and ultimately
redeems himself by renouncing the
temptation. The ending also pays tribute to
the goodness of humanity here exhibited
through Miss Edla Willmanson. The happy
ending also arouses our optimism and belief
in the essential goodness of man and other
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human virtues. Thus, it serves to inspire the

readers to the noble acts.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.Wikipedia

2.Class XII Textbook- Flamingo

3..Arihant All in One