Man is a social animal and he cannot live in isolation. In every field of life we interact with humans. In case a person does not socialize and shirks the company of friends, he becomes a recluse. The story ‘The Rattrap’ highlights this fact.
Initially we come to know that the rattrap seller was a lonely man who used to make rattraps and was left to his own meditations. One day when he knocks on a cottage, he meets a crofter who welcomes him and entertains him. The crofter is also a lonely man and is glad to get the company of the peddler.
Then we also find that the ironmaster and his daughter are lonely. They live in a big house but have nobody else for company, so, they insist that the peddler should spend Christmas eve with them.
