The story The Rattrap by Selma Lagerlöf is a powerful tale that explores themes of loneliness, human compassion, and redemption. To understand its events clearly, many readers and students find it useful to visualize the sequence of the story through a flowchart. A flowchart of The Rattrap helps outline the major turning points, the protagonist’s journey, and the moral transformation he experiences. By following each step in order, readers can better grasp how the story progresses from despair to realization and finally to redemption. This structure also helps in studying literature by connecting emotions, actions, and outcomes in a visual and logical way.
Overview of The Rattrap
The short story The Rattrap revolves around a poor peddler who sells rattraps made of wire. He lives a life of poverty and loneliness, wandering from place to place without purpose. Over time, he becomes bitter and cynical, believing that the world itself is a giant rattrap designed to lure people with wealth and pleasures before trapping them in misery. However, through a series of encounters with kind individuals, he experiences a deep change of heart, realizing the goodness that still exists in humanity.
The flowchart of The Rattrap captures each phase of this journey beginning with the peddler’s miserable existence and ending with his moral and emotional transformation. Each stage demonstrates how compassion and understanding can lead even the most lost souls back to goodness.
Step-by-Step Flowchart Explanation
Below is a detailed explanation of how the events of the story unfold in a flowchart-like sequence. Each step represents an important part of the narrative that connects logically to the next, showing how one decision or event influences the outcome.
1. The Peddler’s Life of Poverty
The story begins with the introduction of the peddler, a man who makes and sells small rattraps to survive. He leads a miserable life, constantly hungry and wandering without shelter. His clothes are torn, his hands are rough, and his income barely allows him to stay alive. This stage sets the foundation for understanding his negative view of the world and his growing bitterness.
2. The World as a Rattrap
As he reflects on his hardships, the peddler forms a peculiar philosophy that the whole world is like a rattrap. According to him, the world tempts people with riches and pleasures, just as a bait traps a rat. Once someone takes the bait, they are caught in suffering and cannot escape. This metaphor becomes central to the story’s message and represents his distorted view of life shaped by his loneliness and despair.
3. Shelter at the Crofter’s Cottage
One evening, the peddler knocks on the door of a lonely old crofter, who welcomes him warmly. The crofter, who lives alone and misses human company, treats the peddler with kindness and generosity. They share food, talk for hours, and the crofter even shows the peddler a pouch of thirty kronor that he earned selling cow’s milk. This is the first time in the story where the peddler experiences genuine kindness.
4. Temptation and Theft
After spending the night, the peddler leaves the crofter’s home but cannot resist the temptation of stealing the money. He returns secretly, breaks the window, and takes the thirty kronor. The stolen money symbolizes the bait in the world’s rattrap the very trap he had warned himself about. Now, ironically, he becomes the rat caught in the rattrap of his own philosophy, burdened by guilt and fear.
5. Lost in the Forest
To escape capture, the peddler runs into the woods. However, the dense forest soon disorients him, and he loses his way. He wanders aimlessly for hours, exhausted and terrified. This moment represents both a literal and metaphorical trap. The forest becomes a symbol of his moral confusion, showing how greed and wrongdoing can lead a person into darkness and isolation.
6. Arrival at the Iron Mill
Eventually, he stumbles upon the Ramsjö Ironworks, where he seeks shelter for the night. The blacksmiths are busy with their work, and the master smith mistakes him for an old acquaintance. Without asking too many questions, the ironmaster invites the peddler to stay. Initially, the peddler refuses, fearing discovery, but later accepts when the ironmaster’s daughter, Edla Willmansson, insists that he come home with them out of compassion.
7. Edla’s Compassion and Kindness
At the ironmaster’s home, Edla treats the peddler with genuine respect and kindness. Unlike others who see him as a beggar, she treats him as a guest. She gives him clean clothes, food, and a place to rest. Her kindness confuses him because it contradicts his belief that the world is cruel. This becomes the emotional turning point in the story, slowly awakening his conscience.
8. The Peddler’s Inner Conflict
While enjoying the comfort of the home, the peddler struggles with guilt and fear. He knows he has stolen money, yet he feels deeply touched by Edla’s trust. He starts to question his philosophy that the world is only a trap. Her compassion makes him realize that not everyone is driven by selfish motives. This moral awakening marks the beginning of his transformation.
9. Discovery and Forgiveness
Later, news spreads about the theft at the crofter’s cottage, and the ironmaster suspects the guest. However, Edla insists on treating him kindly even after knowing his real identity. Her forgiveness and dignity move the peddler deeply. Instead of being punished or humiliated, he is given understanding and empathy. This unconditional kindness becomes the key that frees him from his metaphorical trap.
10. Redemption and Moral Transformation
The story concludes with the peddler leaving the ironmaster’s house on Christmas morning. He leaves behind a small package for Edla, which contains the stolen thirty kronor and a note. In the letter, he expresses gratitude for her kindness and admits that her compassion helped him redeem himself. He signs the letter as Captain von Stahle, the identity the ironmaster had mistakenly given him earlier. This act symbolizes his rebirth into an honorable person.
Summary of the Flowchart Stages
When represented as a flowchart, the story The Rattrap follows a clear progression from sin to redemption
- IntroductionThe poor peddler’s miserable life and his cynical worldview.
- TemptationThe crofter’s kindness followed by the peddler’s act of theft.
- ConsequenceGetting lost in the forest symbolizes his moral confusion.
- RescueArrival at the iron mill and being welcomed into the ironmaster’s home.
- CompassionEdla’s kindness softens his heart and awakens his conscience.
- TransformationRealization of his wrongdoing and moral redemption through gratitude.
The Symbolism Behind the Rattrap
The rattrap itself symbolizes life’s temptations and the moral choices people face. The peddler’s belief that the world is a trap reflects his negative experiences, but his journey teaches him that compassion can free people from greed and guilt. Edla Willmansson represents the moral purity and forgiveness that lead to salvation, showing that empathy is more powerful than punishment.
Lessons from the Story
The flowchart of The Rattrap highlights several important moral lessons
- Kindness can transform even the most hardened hearts.
- Material temptation leads to suffering and moral downfall.
- Forgiveness and compassion are stronger than judgment or anger.
- Redemption is always possible if one is willing to change.
Understanding The Rattrap through a flowchart allows readers to see the logical and emotional progression of the story more clearly. From the peddler’s lonely existence to his ultimate redemption, each stage reflects the human capacity for both sin and salvation. The story teaches that no matter how lost or misguided a person becomes, a single act of compassion can help them rediscover their humanity. The flowchart of The Rattrap is not just a summary of events it is a map of moral awakening and the enduring power of kindness in a world that often feels like a trap.