Tale of the Rodent

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In “Tale Of The Rodent” Roger Starr takes a simple animal in a big city and makes it into a journey back home. The rodent makes its way around the city, looking for a place to go or a place to return to. The rodent “crossed Seventh Avenue, climbed the curb and was moving through the shelter and across the sidewalk,” almost like it was on a mission (Starr 33). I believe that he knew exactly where he was going, but just did not know how he was going to make it there safely. Starr even points out that his “speed was so erratic, and its direction so changeable, that it could have been a battery-driven toy ridding on a hidden eccentric wheel (33). I agree with this description because when you see a mouse or rat, it is often all over the place, even when it knows where it is going. The rodent makes his way through the city and finds what we are led to believe is his destination; a candy store. Could this have been his original origin or just a stop along his glorious adventure? Starr makes it obvious that is just a pit stop because he mentions that the mouse “could not poke through the slit between the bottom of the glass door and the sill” (34). I think that is obvious because if that was his origin, he would have perfected a way to make it to the building and not tried to squeeze his way through the front door. Finally the rodent makes his way to his origin, a building that sits adjacent to the candy store. Maybe he has perfected a way to get to get in and out of this building; maybe he is trying his luck going through the front door, but either way, he is about to meet fate for taking a chance at a shortcut. The superintendent “was standing at the door” when the rodent made his way into the building. (34) To the rodent’s surprise, the man noticed the rodent trying to get into the building, and with swiftness, the super got rid of the unwanted tenant. I suppose

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