The Rattrap Class 12 MCQ Quiz – Test Your Understanding!

What does the rattrap peddler symbolize in the story "The Rattrap"?

No one can imagine how sad and monotonous life can appear to such a vagabond, who plods along the road, left to his own meditations. But one day this man had fallen into a line of thought, which really seemed to him entertaining. He had naturally been thinking of his rattraps when suddenly he was struck by the idea that the whole world about him — the whole world with its lands and seas, its cities and villages — was nothing but a big rattrap. It had never existed for any other purpose than to set baits for people.

On the basis of the extract, choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below.

1. The world offers living beings a life full of pleasure.
2. However, only compassionate people can enjoy those pleasures.

“Since you have been so nice to me all day long as if I was a captain, I want to be nice to you, in return, as if I was a real captain — for I do not want you to be embarrassed at this Christmas season by a thief; but you can give back the money to the old man on the roadside, who has the money pouch hanging on the window frame as a bait for poor wanderers.

The rattrap is a Christmas present from a rat who would have been caught in this world’s rattrap if he had not been raised to captain, because in that way he got power to clear himself.

“Written with friendship and high regard,

Captain von Stahle.”

The word ‘frame’ has been used to indicate a rigid structure that surrounds something such as a picture, door, or windowpane. There are other meanings of ‘frame’ too.

Choose the option that DOES NOT list the meaning of ‘frame’.

…it was a big and confusing forest which he had gotten into. He tried, to be sure, to walk in a definite direction, but the paths twisted back and forth so strangely! He walked and walked without coming to the end of the wood, and finally, he realized that he had only been walking around in the same part of the forest. All at once he recalled his thoughts about the world and the rattrap. Now his own turn had come. He had let himself be fooled by a bait and had been caught. The whole forest, with its trunks and branches, its thickets and fallen logs, closed in upon him like an impenetrable prison from which he could never escape.

The consequence of ‘his own turn’ having come was that the peddler had ___________

No one can imagine how sad and monotonous life can appear to such a vagabond, who plods along the road, left to his own meditations. But one day this man had fallen into a line of thought, which really seemed to him entertaining. He had naturally been thinking of his rattraps when suddenly he was struck by the idea that the whole world about him — the whole world with its lands and seas, its cities and villages — was nothing but a big rattrap. It had never existed for any other purpose than to set baits for people.

The mood of the extract can be best described as __________.

Imagine that the peddler from ‘The Rattrap’ turned his life around, and decided to write of his experience. Which of the following is likely to be the peddler’s book, from the popular books shown below?

“Yes, that was a fine fellow you let into the house,” said her father.

What light does the given line throw on the ironmaster as a father?

“Left to his own meditations”, one day the peddler fell into “a line of thought, which really seemed to him entertaining”. What does the peddler’s conception of the world as a rattrap, signify about him?

Why does the vagabond fail to resist temptations despite his philosophical insights?

…it was a big and confusing forest which he had gotten into. He tried, to be sure, to walk in a definite direction, but the paths twisted back and forth so strangely! He walked and walked without coming to the end of the wood, and finally, he realized that he had only been walking around in the same part of the forest. All at once he recalled his thoughts about the world and the rattrap. Now his own turn had come. He had let himself be fooled by a bait and had been caught. The whole forest, with its trunks and branches, its thickets and fallen logs, closed in upon him like an impenetrable prison from which he could never escape.

How would you characterize the mood of the above extract?

What does the gift of the rat trap signify?

Though the reader does not meet Captain von Stahle in person, they encounter the captain symbolically. How?

What does Edla's character represent in the story?

“Since you have been so nice to me all day long as if I was a captain, I want to be nice to you, in return, as if I was a real captain — for I do not want you to be embarrassed at this Christmas season by a thief; but you can give back the money to the old man on the roadside, who has the money pouch hanging on the window frame as a bait for poor wanderers.

The rattrap is a Christmas present from a rat who would have been caught in this world’s rattrap if he had not been raised to captain, because in that way he got power to clear himself.

“Written with friendship and high regard,

Captain von Stahle.”

Why did the peddler gift a rattrap as a Christmas present?

What is the significance of setting the story's events during Christmas?