What Does the Ratcatcher Symbolise and Why Is He Important in the Novella

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The Ratcatcher is presented through many different ways in this novella. Most of the time the Ratcatcher is not a real character, he appears as an object but casually as a solid character. He sometimes comes across as people that Evelyn loves and sometimes we see The Ratcatcher through other characters, such as Evelyn when she tries to make Faith stay a little girl forever and when she tries to keep faiths toys. The first appearance of this character in Kindertransport is at the beginning of the novella, where we see Eva reading Der Rattenfänger. This is important and shows the significance of both of these characters. Throughout the novella Eva is constantly accusing other characters or things as being Ratcatchers. The Ratcatcher is symbolised as the Pied Piper of Hamelin when he takes the children of Hamelin into the mountains and to be never seen again, this symbiosis Eva being dragged to England without he mom and dad to a land where she knows everyone. The Ratcatcher plays a big role in the novella; he is the main antagonist of the novella but as an important symbol in the novella context. At the beginning of the novella, Helga is reading Eva’s favourite book about The Ratcatcher, but throughout is often referred to as ‘Der Rattenfanger’. Similarly, Faith is in the scene too in a strange kind of freaky flash back sort of thing. The Ratcatcher in this scene is portrayed as an evil and dark mysterious figure, who gives a sense of fear and loss, especially, we realise this when Eva asks Helga what an abyss is: “What’s an abyss, Mutti?” this symbolises that The Ratcatcher is nothing but loss and no way of coming back from the abyss. When Eva gets to England she is about to be sent away to the country side because of the bombing raids. When she is supposed to go away this is symbolism of the Ratcatcher and she is about to be taken to a strange place this the same
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