In Genesis 6-9 , Noah and the Flood,  it talks about a story about the survival  of Noah from the flood. The Lord saw the evilness in the human race and decides to wipe it out.  The Lord chose Noah among any other human because the Lord favor him.  Lord said “Noah was a righteous man, he was blameless in his time”. The Genesis flood story teaches us about faith, obedience, mercy and depravity.

‘Noah’s Ark’, Franzosischer Meister ‘The French Master’, 1675

The above painting showed Noah with a beard and at a old age. He was 600 years old when the flood came. We can see that he was “all mighty” due to his posture and Noah is sending a message of the natural disaster that is approaching . As you can see some look at him with skepticism and other ignore him on his right. In the background, it shows that many men ( mainly his descendants are helping him build the ark). This always shows the the Lord created us to work with other human beings from the very beginning of life. The sky seems very gloomy as if Noah is telling the truth to his people. After the flood, Noah and the Lord made a covenant that the Lord would not ever be destroy by a flood again.

In this poetry, the narrator is providing us insights regarding the proper morals and values in his era. “Huge rat, huge rat” is repeated 3 times in line 1, 9 and 17. The huge rat can be interpreted in many different ways. One way to describe a rat is that they are ugly, dirty and is known as pest for some people. The Great Plague and the Black Death pandemic are some example of how toxic and deadly rats can be. Rats can also be seen as sneaky and deceitful. To compare someone to rat illustrate that the rat figure in the poetry is too good of a person.

The poetry also shows a movement of feelings and emotions as well as the actions and responds that correspond to each time period. For instance, “For 3 years I’ve fed you, yet you pay me no heed”, “ For 3 years I’ve fed you and you showed me no gratitude”, “For 3  years I have fed you and you won’t reward my toil.” The narrator is expressing a grievance and sense of tolerance towards the rat. Proper morals and values in the Asian culture relates to how one should be grateful of a person good deed. The rat seem to lack proper manners by paying no heed, showing no gratitude and not rewarding their toil.

To summarize the passage, the writer is being taken advantage of by the rat. The rat is benefiting from the farmer as he grows his crops. It seems through each passage the farmer’s crops grows to better stock (from millet, wheat, to sprouts) and the greedy rat is taking more. The rat dwells in the farmer’s land. In the end, it seems that the farmer wants to move away from where the rat dwells because he no longer wants to be taken advantage of by. The farmer dreams of living in a happier place where the rat has no control over him.