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.
I like the interpretation of the poem “Huge Rat” in the post above. Rat can be seen as sneaky and deceitful animal. Additionally, rat in the Chinese culture describes a thief. Rat could locate and eat hidden food stock prepared by the farmers for winter.
In this poem, human is being compared to a rat. This is an example of simile.
From the passages “I swear I will leave you, and go to a happier land” we can assume that the poem critize the land owner, someone in a higher hierarchy. Just as the rat takes whatever does not belong to him and sneak into places that has no right to enter, so as the land owner that collect greater amount o crops from the poor farmers.
“For three years I’ve fed you and you show no gratitude” Moreover, the land owner is being accused of being ungrateful and disrespectful despite the hard work of the farmers.
The interpretation of the rat is accurate in the sense that a person with “rat” like qualities will take advantage of a situation like is mentioned in the concluding paragraph. I thought it was interesting how you tied in Asian culture in how one should show gratitude to someone who has done a good deed for them with the rat. The rat does not appreciate the farmer because the farmer has been letting the rat eat his food. In the opening paragraph it was mentioned that a rat can be described using the Black Plague, massive amount of death. If the farmer keeps the rat on the farm he will essentially have his own type of Black Plague in a sense and will die. The farmer may not die literally but his farm will not be able to thrive because the rat is holding him back causing the farm to die.