What’s behind the title “Rats sleep at night”? It raises questions because rats are nocturnal animals and don’t sleep at night. The title belongs to one Short story from Wolfgang Borchert of the year 1947.
“Rats sleep at night” – summary/synopsis
The short story “Rats sleep at night” is about the encounter between one older man and that through the war traumatized boy Jürgen. Below you will find a summary of the essential content.
Since the short story was published shortly after the end of World War II, it is likely that the plot is also in this one immediate post-war period plays. The only thing you learn about the setting in the short story is that it is a bombed place destroyed city acts.
The man is currently looking for food for his Rabbits and sees Jürgen with a stick in his hand rubble sitting in a bombed-out house. He speaks to him and asks what he is doing there, but Jürgen avoids all questions. Finally, the man tells him about his 27 rabbits, which catches Jürgen’s attention. When the man offers to look at the rabbits, Jürgen refuses because he has to be careful. When asked what he had to watch out for, he replied that he couldn’t say.
As the man is about to leave, Jürgen reveals to him that he is on his little brother have to be careful Corpse lies buried under the rubble. The teacher told them that Feeding rats from the dead. Therefore, he wants to prevent his brother’s corpse from being eaten by rats.
The man then tells him that Rats sleep at night and then he could go home. Jürgen, who is already very tired, hesitates a little, but believes him.
So the two agree that the man will pick up the boy at nightfall brings home and even him gives a white rabbitwhich Jürgen is very happy about.
“The rats sleep at night” – characterization of the characters
Step in the short story just two figures on, namely Jürgen and the old man. Below you will find a characterization of the direct and indirect ones Character traits and characteristics of the characters.
Direct character characteristics are those that are explicitly mentioned in the text. Indirect features you interpret from the information given. For example, you can infer their emotions from a character’s behavior without them being mentioned. You can find more information about character characteristics in the “Characterization” explanation.
Jurgen
Jürgen is nine years old and obviously from the war traumatized. He guards alone the pile of rubble under which his little brother is supposed to be lying, even though he can’t actually help him anymore. He also keeps half a loaf of bread and a tin box of tobacco hidden under a stone. When the old man asks him if he has a pipe to smoke, he simply replies that he prefers to roll and doesn’t like a pipe. By this he means that he would rather Rolls cigarettes. Apparently he doesn’t know how harmful smoking is.
Additionally, the narrator often refers to him as a “tangle of hair,” which shows how unkempt and neglected Jürgen is.
Nevertheless, the rabbits awaken an innocent spirit in him curiosity and about the prospect of receiving one as a gift, happy he is very happy. Jürgen is clever, but still has a childlike quality greenness. This is typical of his age, so he believes the man’s lie that rats sleep at night without questioning it.
So Jürgen has two sides: One adult side, because his childhood was significantly influenced by the war and he had to take on responsibility, for example for his brother. On the other hand, he is still childlike and naive, which is his actual age corresponds.
What is striking is that Jürgen, in contrast to the man mentioned by name to make his character more identifiable and to create a closeness to the reader.
Overview of the figure Jürgen:
- nine years old
- traumatized by war
- neglected (sits there alone, unkempt, smokes tobacco)
- clever but naive
- watches over his little brother’s corpse day and night to protect him from rats
- two sides: childish characteristics such as curiosity (rabbits), gullibility (lying about rats) and adult side (childhood marked by war)
The older man
In the short story the… crooked legs of the man emphasized. This shows how much life and the war have already scarred him. They are also described as having “poorly covered legs”, which makes it clear that the man, like much of the population after the war Poverty lives.
He owns 3 times 9, so 27 rabbits, for which he collected food in a basket. The man knows very well that he can arouse Jürgen’s curiosity with his rabbits uses this curiosityto encourage the boy. He meets Jürgen open and friendly.
He also deals with Jürgen very sensitively enables him through his lie, to go home and rest. He repeatedly portrays the teacher as ignorant in order to convince Jürgen.
In the end, the man calls out to Jürgen that he would take him home and help his father build a rabbit hutch, which Jürgen is enthusiastic about.
Overview of the man’s figure:
- nameless
- crooked, “poorly supported” legs
- open, friendly
- owns 27 rabbits
- sensitive in dealing with Jürgen (awakens curiosity, brings him home)
- lies to Jürgen so that he goes home
“The rats sleep at night” – analysis of the short story
“Rats sleep at night” has some classic sayings Features of one Short story on. You can read about the most important of these features again in this analysis:
- Brevity: A short story is rarely longer than three pages.
- few acting characters and mostly just a place of action
- Within the story there is one Turning pointwhich makes a different interpretation of the action possible.
- immediate entry into the plot (explanatory introduction is missing, characters are not introduced) and abrupt end
- frequently everyday scenes
- simple chronological storyline (one event happens after another, there are rather no jumps in time)
- simple languagecolloquial language and dialects
If you have any questions about the features or are interested in the topic, you can read the “Short Story” explanation.
“The rats sleep at night” – analysis of the structure
“Rats sleep at night” is based on the classic structure of a short story. It has an abrupt beginning that throws the reader directly into the action. There is also one Building tension, because the readers wonder why Jürgen is in the rubble. This adds to the tension reinforcedthat he doesn’t want to reveal what he’s doing there.
The short story culminates in Climax, when Jürgen finally tells about his dead brother and explains that he is looking after the rats. Thereafter the tension drops again, but remains until the man manages to convince Jürgen to go home.
The Turning point The plot can be found in the sentence that also forms the title of the short story. Through the man’s lie Jürgen’s confusing situation resolves. He no longer has to constantly watch over his brother and can go home to sleep and be cared for.
You can find an explanation at Analysis of epic texts, which you can read about in addition to the terms tension build-up and turning point. There you will also find some points that you should consider when doing your own analysis.
The short story ends with the end of the encounter between Jürgen and the man. There is indeed Outlookthat the man will return to accompany Jürgen home and give him a rabbit, but will that really happen? stays open.
“The rats sleep at night” – linguistic means & narrative perspective
The short story is written by one personal he/she narrator from the Jürgen’s perspective described. Therefore, readers only get an insight into Jürgen’s world of thoughts. This becomes particularly clear in the description of the man, as Jürgens Viewpoint is taken. Since the boy is sitting on the floor and does not initially look up, the man describes what he sees, namely his legs.
Through this narrative perspective Proximity to the main character built up and the readers can better understand Jürgen’s thoughts and feelings.
However, you can also have one at the beginning and end of the short story authorial narrative style because only the surroundings are described without the reader getting a closer insight into the characters’ thoughts.
The authorial narrators is also known as an omniscient narrator. He can reflect the characters’ thoughts and feelings, knows their past and can make predictions about the future. More information about both narrative perspectives can be found in the explanation “narrative form”.
The Language of the text is very kept simple and characterized by short sentences and lots of repetitions. On the one hand, this increases the tension of the text and on the other hand it reflects it A child’s narrative perspective contrary. Therefore Borchert also uses colloquial expressionssuch as “Our house got a bomb.”
Despite the simple language of the text, Borchert uses many pictorial formulationswhich he expresses through metaphors and personifications as well as color symbolism.
At a metaphor It is an indirect, pictorial comparison that is usually only understandable if you interpret it. At a personification Things are given the properties of living things. If you would like to find out more about the effect of these stylistic devices, you can read the explanations “Metaphor” and “Personification”.
These stylistic devices are already clear at the beginning of the text:
“The hollow window in the lonely Wall yawned blue red .”
Of course, a window cannot yawn and a wall cannot be lonely. Through this Personifications Borchert illustrates the bad mood of the post-war period. People’s fatigue and their losses are omnipresent, so this mood can also be felt in people’s homes, for example.
Another noticeable thing is the absence of all of them quotation marks. This is typical of the author Wolfgang Borchert and is intended to make the reader concentrate more on the plot. It also takes away a structural element from the text, which means that Post-war chaos is reflected.
“The rats sleep at night” – interpretation
The short story reflects a post-World War II scene that could well have happened in this way. Typical ones are used Wartime aspects thematised. For example this one Death of loved ones, the Loss of childhood innocence and the Neglect and loneliness the human.
Through the turning point, Borchert creates one in his story Glimmer of hope: Jürgen doesn’t think so…