1

AISSCE 2022-2023
D.A.V. SR. SECONDARY SCHOOL
MOGAPPAIR

Name : K. KEERTHI

Class : XII – A section

Registration No. :
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AISSCE 2022-2023
D.A.V. SR. SECONDARY SCHOOL
MOGAPPAIR

Name : D. MALLIKA MONALISHA

Class : XII – A section

Registration No. :
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AISSCE 2022-2023
D.A.V. SR. SECONDARY SCHOOL
MOGAPPAIR

Name : T.S. LOCHANA

Class : XII – A section

Registration No. :
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BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

REGISTER NO:

Certified that this is a bonafide project work in English done by

K. KEERTHI, of class XII, section ‘A’ of D.A.V. SR. Secondary
School, Chennai-37 during the year 2022-2023.

Signature of subject teacher Signature of Principal

School seal:

Submitted for the practical examination held on at

D.A.V. Sr. Secondary School, Mogappair.

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Date:
 5

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

REGISTER NO:

Certified that this is a bonafide project work in English done by

D. MALLIKA MONALISHA, of class XII, section ‘A’ of D.A.V. SR.
Secondary School, Chennai-37 during the year 2022-2023.

Signature of subject teacher Signature of Principal

School seal:

Submitted for the practical examination held on at

D.A.V. Sr. Secondary School, Mogappair.

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Date:
 6

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

REGISTER NO:

Certified that this is a bonafide project work in English done by

T.S. LOCHANA, of class XII, section ‘A’ of D.A.V. SR. Secondary
School, Chennai-37 during the year 2022-2023.

Signature of subject teacher Signature of Principal

School seal:

Submitted for the practical examination held on at

D.A.V. Sr. Secondary School, Mogappair.

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Date:
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my deep gratitude and sincere thanks to the

Principal, D.A.V. Sr. Secondary School, Mogappair, Ms. UMA
PARVATHY, who provided us all the facilities that is needed for the
project. I extend my sincere thanks to Mrs Rajalakshmi Subramanian,
my English teacher for her able guidance and unstinted support that has
helped me to complete this project.

.
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INTRODUCTION

This project deals with a focus on the aspects of philosophical spiritualism and
materialism with reference to the “The Rattrap”. While our lives may have become
more hectic and busier, it is essential for us to not forget the concepts of humanity, goodness
and kindness. In this cruel world, it is important for us to remember that emotions and
compassion are characteristics that make us truly human and this story is a reminder to us that
it is never wrong to be tender hearted. It is an everlasting remainder that kindness is not a
weakness but it is what makes us strong. Such literature inspires us to move towards
goodness and always rethink about our actions and their consequences to those around us.
This story is like a mirror and the reflected image is various approaches to life.

We find that regardless of the problems and darkness that looms around in our lives,
positivity and compassion can guide through the mystery of life. It is our thoughts and hopes
that keep the humanity inside us alive. It is absolutely fascinating to observe and interpret the
diverse traits exhibited by various characters in the story. Each character represents different
mind-sets and approaches to life.
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AIM OF THE PROJECT

The aim of the project is that all human beings are prone to fall into the trap of
material benefit. However, every human being has an essential goodness that can awakened
through understanding and love. A human being has the tendency to redeem himself from
dishonest way. It’s developed with the help of the metaphor of the rattrap. From the view of
peddler, the world is big rattrap and all are chasing it and the materials benefit like food,
shelter, clothes, money are the temptation that allure a person to fall into Rattrap. The peddler
is not overburdened with morality. But in the end, he seems to be a transformed
character. Miss Edla Willmansson kindness & love make him a gentleman at the end of the
story. Throughout his life, the peddler had never known respect. He was always treated coldly
by the world. For the first time in his life, he was honoured and respected as if he were a
caption. Even after the truth was exposed, the daughter continued to treat him in a similar
way. The way he was treated encourage him to behave in a like manner. He signed the letter
as captain von stahleso as to underline the impact of Elda's goodness on him.

We seek to study about the various ways in which these philosophies can be
interpreted and about the meaning they convey to people. What we seek to do is observe the
various types of philosophies exhibited by the characters in this story and understand the
essential characteristics of these philosophies. The way people deal with certain situations
brings out the materialistic and spiritualistic tendencies in them. This story is especially is
still relevant in modern times where with scientific and technological development, it has
become even more important for us to think about views and beliefs that we hold and whether
these are justified and reasonable.

A man is stuck in a cynical, selfish mind-set as a result of his harsh life, and so he takes his
advantages where he can get them even at the expense of others. While stuck at the bottom of
the society, it gave a person pleasure to think of others who were more ruined. But now he had
seized a chance for greater prosperity and immediately finds himself caught in the "rattrap" as
well. In finally reveal, it's made clear that a person can be changed by experience of
unconditional kindness, and it is wrong to assume that just because a person stole once, he was
immoral at heart.
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METHODOLOGY

The story “Rat trap” essentially has three main characters. The protagonist of the story
is a Rattrap seller who steals sometimes and could hardly make both ends meet. We tried to
critically analyses this character of the story with the help of three different philosophies
proposed by three different philosophers.

The first philosophy with which we tried to establish a similarity with the protagonist
is given by a Danish philosopher and social critic named Soren Kierkegaard. He is known as
the father of Existentialism. Soren Kierkegaard in his philosophy states that a person can
exist at a level less than true selfhood. After analysing the protagonist in our view, we could
come to a conclusion that the rattrap seller lacked selfhood and, in this project, we tried to
establish similarities with the philosophy given by Soren Kierkegaard.

The second philosopher with whose philosophy we established similarities is Jean-

Paul Charles Maynard Sartre. He is a philosopher from French, literary critic and a political
activist . Even Sartre played an important role and was one of the key figures in the theory of
Existentialism. Friedrich Nietzsche is the third German philosopher with whom we tried
establish a similarity of ideology.

The second main character of the story is the ironmaster. His character is critically
analyzed in the project through the theory of Moral Particularism. This theory is mainly
influenced by Sir David William Ross. The essence of this concept is that there are several
prima facie duties on the basis of which decisions are meant to be taken. To come to a
conclusion if an action is moral or not, the action is not determined by moral principles;
instead, the morally relevant features and the situation are taken into consideration.
 11

The third dominant character in the story is Edla Willmansson, daughter of the
ironmaster. We tried to compare our analysis with Immanuel Kant’s philosophy. He was a
German Philosopher who believed that moral obligations arose out of duties. He states that
those duties should be obeyed irrespective of the situation.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Selma Lagerlof, a Swedish author has narrated the story of “The Rat Trap” in such a way that
it involves the psychological aspect of the protagonist and also shows how materialism plays
a key role in the dynamic environment. Moreover, the author gives us the message of how
emotions of love and acceptance can reform a person.

Through the course of this story, there is a rat trap seller who leads a very poor life
because of his low earnings. He had to engage himself in robbery and other unethical
activities to earn his livelihood. He leads a lonely life and is very pessimistic about his
surroundings which made him feel that the entire world is a rat trap. The peddler had to look
for a shelter every night which shows how uncertain and aimless his life was. One day, he
was offered a shelter by an old crofter. He ends up stealing the money from the crofter. After
this incident, the peddler chose a path which led him to a dense forest. During the later course
of the story, an ironmaster mistakes the peddler to be one of his old friends and invites him
home for a stay. The peddler rejects this offer to stay as he was scared of being caught. But
the attitude of the ironmaster’s daughter makes him accept her offer of staying in their house.
However, when the ironmaster discovers that the peddler was actually not his friend, he
wanted to send the peddler out of the house. But Edla stands up for the peddler and refuses
to let him leave. When they find out that the peddler had previously stolen from someone
else, they assume that they too might become victims of his theft. In the end, things do not go
the way they had imagined. The peddler left a letter of thanks and the stolen money inside the
trap which made them feel amused because the old crofter and his daughter had been scared
imagining various other things that could have happened because of the peddler. This story
brings out aspects of kindness and love that have been analyzed and interpreted by various
researchers. The Rat trap brings out elements of philosophical spiritualism and materialism in
human beings. These made the peddler a lonely and secluded person who gets involved in
questionable activities because he had a perception that the world was a rat trap but after
meeting Edla, his perception has changed completely and he decides to mend his ways in the
end.
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DISCUSSION
While going deeper into a discussion of what philosophical traits are exhibited by
various characters in this story, it is important to understand that the behavior of these
characters is shaped by their experiences and unique understanding of the world. The initial
focus is on the character traits exhibited by the rat trap peddler. The peddler exhibits traits of
existentialism throughout the story until his meeting with Edla Willmannson and her father.
We compare his actions and ideas in light of the thoughts expressed by famous philosophers
like Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre.

We notice that this man selling rattraps is referred by many names throughout the
story: rat trap peddler, vagabond, stranger, tramp and ragamuffin. While all these may
initially seem like descriptive nouns, it shows that this poor man, alone and selling rat traps
has no identity. He may have been given a name at birth, but our name is not our only
identity. In fact, our name cannot be our identity unless we accept that it represents us. The
peddler develops a particular belief about the world as a result of this lack of identity. Identity
is not rigidly restricted to a name or a number, rather it is who we see ourself as. It is who we
perceive ourselves to be. It is the acceptance of our existence. And from the lack of such
identity comes a lack of individuality and selfhood.

According to Kierkegaard, being aware of oneself is the true task and endeavour of
life. But he did not believe that this awareness was achieved by everyone. He believed that
individuals can exist at a level lower than true selfhood which was the case with the rattrap
peddler. However, Kierkegaard does not define what exactly constitutes individuality. The
situation of the rat trap peddler can only be perceived as lack of selfhood and cannot be
defined as such. This is because Kierkegaard believed that there was no abstract formula to
capture individuality. So, we cannot determine that a particular fact shows lack of identity,
rather it is the accumulation of several factors that decides whether someone has selfhood or
not. In this case, we can say that poverty, loneliness, hardship and distress were contributing
factors to conclude that the rat trap peddler has a lack of selfhood.
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CHARACTER ANALYSIS : THE PEDDLER

The peddler’s philosophy about the world being a rattrap is similar to Sartre’s
philosophy of nothingness. It was peddler’s belief that the whole world was nothing but a
huge rattrap and the nature, seas and civilization was bait. It is a variation of the philosophy
of nothingness which was that as long as there is existence, there is nothingness inside us.
Nothingness allows humans the benefit of freedom of choice and action which is what the
peddler seems to desire. But at the same time, the very fact of our existence places
restrictions on this freedom by forcing us to make choices. This ultimately seems to be what
the peddler regrets as it was his actions and choices that led to his situation of being in
poverty and without a sense of purpose. Similarly, he imposes this ultimate conclusion of
being restricted by the consequences of our choices on others also through the example of a
rattrap. He does not want to believe that he is alone in experiencing this restriction.

By being caught in a rattrap, he does not refer to death or destruction; rather he is

referring to failure. That is the theme of the peddler’s philosophy. He is referring to the
failure of an individual to bridge the gap between his dreams and his reality. This failure is
the confusion of existence. We want to believe that we are capable of great things, but
ultimately our choices prevent us from achieving our goals. It is this failure that causes
sadness of life. For example, we may desire that we want to stay fit and healthy but our
choices such as overeating and lack of exercise may prevent us from achieving our goal.
Although such failures can be recoverable from, when such failure becomes the norm of our
life as in the case of the peddler, it can lead to confusion about life.

The peddler may have wanted to achieve big in life, he may have dreams and desires;
but he has been prevented from achieving these dreams due to the consequences of his
actions. He may have assumed that he has an ultimate destiny as we all do, but his failure to
achieve his supposed destiny results in a loss of hope. Not wanting to accept failure, he
comes to a conclusion that all humans ultimately face this failure in life. It’s just that he is
ahead of the curve. It is important to note that although he uses the word ‘end’, he does
not refer to a literal end in our life. We continue to live on, but the world becomes seemingly
purposeless and monotonous. We become trapped in our own failures.

For the peddler, his theory is a coping mechanism to deflect the blame for his failures
by concluding that failure is not a part of life but the end of life.
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The peddler’s actions at the house of the old miner also have elements of Sartre’s
philosophy. The old miner helps the tramp by feeding him, giving him shelter and allowing
him to sleep at his house at night. But the peddler ends up stealing from the old miner after he
leaves the house. The peddler seems to feel no guilt after his act of stealing from the man who
helped him. This can be compared to Sartre’s philosophy that we can act without being
determined by our past. For Sartre, the past is a separate entity different from our present and
it is possible to live in the present without being judged for our past actions.

After stealing, the peddler immediately thinks about how to escape from the police by
avoiding the highway. There seems to be no self-reflection about his actions. Regardless of
whether he thinks they are right or wrong, the peddler seems to be a man who runs from his
past. He feels happy because of his ‘smartness’. For him rather than introspection of past
actions, the immediate benefits of his actions are more important. He feels that the 30
Kronors he stole could help him buy food and other necessities. But his focus seems to be on
the immediate benefits. There seems to be no thought about long term benefits or effects of
his actions. It is a doubt as to how long that money can help the peddler sustain himself but
such questions seem to arise to him only when the absolute necessity arises.

The judgment that Sartre talks about is not only by others but also by yourself. The
peddler does not judge himself for his actions in the past. This helps him move on with life but
we can infer he has committed certain extremely questionable acts. However, it feels like the
peddler is almost immune from self-criticism or retrospection. experience o f
uncondition al kindness, and it is wrong to assume that just because a once, he was
immoral at heart. Such attitude might be interpreted to be a ‘live in the moment’ attitude, but
rather it is questionable rationality. The peddler knows that his petty thievery can sustain him
only for short periods, but he does not care. This is where an important trait of existentialism is
expressed. The rattrap peddler has no commitments or responsibilities towards anyone but
himself. He does what he does to feedno one except himself. This self-sustenance has evolved
to such an extent that he cares about no one other than himself. What started due to the
necessity for keeping himself alive has taken over his life
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The peddler then decides to take a route through a forest to avoid the public
highway. He ends up getting lost in the forest and becomes tired and sinks to the ground.
He feels the forest closing around him like an impenetrable prison. He was literally lost, but
the true prison he was stuck in was the consequence of his actions. It was his failure that led
him to that moment. It was his choices that got him stuck in his prison of failure.

He feels like he finally has got trapped by bait. The philosophy of Kierkegaard seems
applicable here. Kierkegaard believed that truth is subjectivity and subjectivity is truth. What
he means is that there is no universal truth but only relative truths. Each truth is shaped by
experience, past and pain. In the peddler’s case, his truth was that he had ended up getting up
getting stuck in the rattrap which was his line of thought about the world. His truth was that
he had let himself be fooled by bait and had been caught. On further analysis, this particular
description is what the peddler believes is the truth. The only objective facts we know are that
he was stuck in a forest. But for the peddler, the physical act of being lost signified a greater
truth that he had to finally face his failure. This was surely not a universal truth, but it was his
only truth. According to Sartre, our passion is our existence. So, based on passion for such
subjective truth, individuals must make choices and these choices will define who we are. It
was the peddler’s passion in his philosophy that is exhibited in what he thinks is his final
moments. He sees the world closing around him. But that is only a manifestation of his
existentialism.

Next, the peddler seeks shelter in the ironmaster’s forge. When the ironmaster who
mistakes him to be a friend offers to help him, he refuses. But when the same is proposed by
his daughter, he accepts. His prospects of being caught with stolen money are the same in
both cases but something persuades him to accept the daughter’s request. Here Sartre’s belief
that one cannot explain their actions with reference to any human nature is important. The
peddler accepts the daughter’s request because he feels confidence in her tone. There is no
single explanation as to why the peddler felt more confident while speaking to the daughter.
He does not know anything about her; he is unaware about her morals, beliefs or even
intentions. But he feels an unexplainable sense of security and safety in the presence of the
daughter. He did not go with her because he knew she was a good person or because she had
good morals. All we can say is that the only reason why he went with her was because he
wanted to. This is another good example of how he exhibited existentialist traits of individual
choice and free will.
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It is necessary to understand that his stay at the ironmaster’s place is a phase of

transformation. But he does exhibit existentialist traits at this stage as well. His sole focus
seems to be on making full use of the comforts in the house and to sleep for as long as
possible. His routine is to eat food and sleep and repeat the same over again. This behaviour
can be viewed with reference to Nietzsche’s philosophy of existentialism. Nietzsche believed
that self-conservation is a consequence of human’s will to exert influence on outside world
and that life is essentially a struggle for survival. The peddler initially only views his stay at
the house as an opportunity and a stroke of luck. His routine is essentially a way of ensuring
his survival. While this may be called selfish or greedy, for the peddler it was purely a
necessary course of action.

The whole life of the peddler can be summed up in Sartre’s philosophy of “Existence
before Essence”. Sartre believed that there is nothing to dictate a person’s character, actions or
behaviour; rather it is only the person who can define themselves. It was solely the peddler’s
actions that defined who he was. It can be said that the peddler’s philosophy about life is a
combination of Kierkegaard’s subjective truth, Sartre’s nothingness and Nietzsche’s self-
conservation beliefs.
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CHARACTER ANALYSIS: THE IRONMASTER

Next, we move onto the character traits expressed by Edla Willmanson’s father which
were similar to the philosophy of moral particularism put forward by W.D.Ross. His initial act
of trying to help the peddler as he believes that he is an old friend has aspects of W.D. Ross’
moral particularism in it. According to this philosophy, there are several primae facie duties
on the basis of which we should take our decisions. The father only wanted to help the peddler
because he thought it was an old friend who was in distress and therefore needed help. He
believed that it was an unwritten duty to help out his long-lost friend. It cannot be said that the
father might have shown the same attitude towards an unknown person. This is because this
philosophy makes distinction on the application of such duties according to the prevailing
situation. This means that not all situations may be covered by duties and even if one duty may
apply to a particular situation, the same duty may inapplicable to another situation. This
philosophy also emphasized on the absence of ethical dilemmas as if there was a contradiction
between two duties, one duty always outweighed the other one.

This is why when the ironmaster discovers that the peddler is actually not his
friend, he makes no hesitation in deciding to send the peddler out. For him, the choice to help
the stranger had been made on the basis of a duty to help his friend, but now that duty was
nonexistent. Now the choice was between helping a stranger who had lied to get into the
house in the first place and protecting himself and his daughter from a stranger. The
ironmaster decides to make his decision on the basis of the latter duty. This is the based on
the belief that there is always an absolute duty on the basis of which a decision is taken.
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CHARACTER ANALYSIS: EDLA WILMANSON

Lastly, we come to the character traits exhibited by Edla Wilmansson and their
similarity to Immanuel Kant’s philosophy of ‘categorical imperative’. Edla helps the peddler
out of a sense of moral obligation. She treats him with kindness and compassion. When her
father makes the decision to kick the stranger out, she stands up for him. She does not know
exactly why she does this at the moment but it is an instinctive exposal of her deep-felt
conviction that the moment they bought the peddler home, it had somehow become an
obligation for them to treat him well. According to Kant, there are certain moral obligations
called ‘categorical imperatives’ that are intrinsically valid in nature. He believed that these
are universally valid in nature and applied to all situations.

Edla’s kindness and compassion was not conditional in nature. It did not matter to
her whether they were helping a friend or a stranger. These outside considerations did not
affect her basic intention to help those who came in need of it. During the whole stay of the
peddler at their house, she takes good care of him. It seems she has no expectation from the
peddler for the care shown to him. This is in line with Kant’s philosophy that there should be
solely pure intention behind every act.

Unlike her father, she does not think that the act of lying by the peddler is a barrier to
helping him. Rather, she seems to accept the flaws in his character quite easily. She does not
make anexception with regards to her actions depending on the situation

She shows humanity and goodness in her actions. For her, the act of helping the tramp
is an end in itself. She does not expect anything more from her acts. She does not use her
humanity as a means to achieve an end, but rather views it as an end. For example: the act of
helping someone whom we don’t even know is different from helping our boss or teacher in
the expectation that they may be favorable to us in the future.

The reformation of the peddler is something that exists outside the realm of all these
philosophies. It is evidence of a natural truth that true kindness and compassion can transform
anyone. We can see his transformation in another angle. The basis of all his existentialist
traits was because of a lack of self-identity. But Edla gave him an identity. For her, he was
Captain Von Stahle. This gave him the identity he was longing for all those years and
possibly was a factor in his transformation.
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ETHICAL VALUES SUMMARIZED

1. Our perception of the world is influenced by our experiences in life. One’s perception
or belief can be proved to be wrong or can change after his/her experiences with
different people or situations.
2. Loss of self-identity can lead to an existential crisis and such a crisis can make a
person rethink about the true meaning of life and the purpose of their existence.
3. People can be kind and good in their own ways. People can express their morality in
diverse ways.
4. Humanity is a feeling deeper than morality and can cut across class, gender and
religions. While being human may be given, keeping our humanity is a choice. We
must not forget that nothing is more important than faith in mankind’s ability to be
compassionate.
5. It is possible for a person to escape from the prison of failure and disappointment
through kindness, compassion and understanding.
6. There is darkness and evil inside all of us but we can overpower these feelings of hate
and ill will through will power.
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CONCLUSION

This story conveys a very noble and philosophical idea that the worldly things which
fascinate us are just like the bait of the rattrap, which entraps us. The topic is created with the
assistance of the illustration of the rattrap. Throughout everyday life, individuals face
hardships and troublesome occasions to shape and manufacture them, and this is appeared in
"The Rat Trap”. The majority of the encounters that the principle character faces speak to a
greater thought regarding life, and the character understands this toward the end of story. The
peddler of rattrap calls the world a big rattrap. The material advantages like wealth and
delights, safe house and food, warmth and clothes are alluring things that appeal an individual
to fall into the rattrap of the world. The thought is that the entire world with its land, seas, its
urban areas and towns is a major rattrap. The whole world sets baits for people. The world
offers riches and joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing, exactly as the rattrap offered
cheese and pork. As soon as anyone let himself be tempted to touch the bait, the world closed
in on him. And then there is no escape.

The theme is developed with the help of the metaphor of the rattrap. The rattrap
peddler's comparison of the whole world with a giant rattrap makes this an interesting
commentary on how such people end and ultimately redeem themselves by renouncing the
temptation. The peddler's admission that he had been thief, and the treatment he got as a
captain, show how love and understanding can transform even a deprived soul.

The story thus comes to a full circle with the ending. All questions are answered and
no loose tags remain hanging. The completion additionally pays tribute to the integrity of
mankind here displayed through Miss Edla Willmansson. The upbeat consummation likewise
excites our positive thinking and faith in the basic decency of man and other human ethics.
Along these lines it serves to move the readers to do honourable acts. The way Edla
Willmanson treats the peddler, we can draw an exercise that the fundamental goodness in an
individual can be stirred through comprehension and it likewise features how goodness and
benevolence appeared by certain individuals can transform others. In any case, each
individual has a basic goodness that can be stirred through comprehension and love.
 21

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Audi, Robert. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. Nebraska: Springer

2. Sartre, John-Paul. Being and Nothingness. Washington: WWS
3. Johnson, Ralph. The Concept of Existence in the Concluding Unscientific Postscript.
New Jersey: SpringerPrint.
4. Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. New York: Dover Publications
5. Kaufmann, Walter. The Portable Nietzsche. New York: Penguin