The Rat

The Rat may refer to:

The Rat (novel)

The Rat (German: Die Rättin, literally The Ratess) is a 1986 novel by the West German writer Günter Grass.

Structure and content

The plot is composed of many narrative strands and oscillates between fairytale, travelogue and surreal novel. It also contains cinematic perspectives and some poems. Grass incorporates some narrative threads of his success novels The Tin Drum as well as the Butt; further passages on maritime disasters, the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, anticipate aspects of his book Crabwalk.

Grass has conceived the novel as a counter-image to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's picture of the education of the human race: Humanity (Grass used deliberately old-fashioned word "mankind") have indeed learned "the virtue to eat with spoons, diligently the subjunctive and practice tolerance", all enlightenment but not their tendency to get their violence under control.

In the dreams of the narrator, who seems to be in a spaceship orbiting the devastated earth, a speaking female rat compels the narrator to review the destruction of humanity, and follow their dominant position by rats. Rats build accordingly, in a world destroyed through deforestation, pollution, and nuclear warfare, a new civilization based on solidarity.

The Rat (Beavis and Butt-head)

"The Rat" is the ninth episode of Season 8 and 209th episode overall of the American animated television series Beavis and Butt-head. It aired on MTV on December 1, 2011, with "Spill".

Plot

Beavis and Butt-head wake up after napping on the couch and find a rat causing havoc in their house and eating their nachos. They go to the hardware store to get a mousetrap, and find it difficult to set it up, constantly trapping their own fingers in it. Eventually they set it with a corn chip as bait and return to the couch. Butt-head sends Beavis to check on the trap, but Beavis falls for the bait and traps himself again. Later, they hear a noise in the kitchen and find the rat trapped, but still alive. Butt-head sweeps the rat towards Beavis, who accidentally releases it from the trap. The rat is grateful and follows Beavis in admiration.

The pair go to work at Burger World, with the rat in tow. Beavis lets the rat work in the kitchen with him, and takes it out on the tray when a woman orders. She is shocked and calls the manager, who is angry with Beavis and Butt-head. As the rat went missing while they were being told off, they search around for it, and find that it has given birth to a litter of babies.

Rat (zodiac)

The Rat (子) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Rat is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 子.

Years and the Five Elements

People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "Year of the Rat", while also bearing the following elemental sign:

Basic astrology elements

Description

See also

References

Year of the rat (disambiguation)

Year of the rat refers to a year associated with the Rat zodiac symbol in the Chinese calendar.

Year of the Rat may also refer to:

Year of the Rat (play)

Year of the Rat is a play by Roy Smiles about a (fictional) encounter between George Orwell, Cyril Connolly and Sonia Brownell on the island of Jura. Connolly and Brownell were working on Horizon at the time Orwell was on Jura, in bad health, writing Nineteen Eighty-Four.

In the 2008 staging at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Hugo Speer played Orwell, Claudia Elmhirst played Sonia Brownell, and Nicholas Blane, Cyril Connolly.

Both men pursue Brownell, who is sorrowing over a failed love affair ( with the writer Maurice Merleau-Ponty). Connolly shared memories with Orwell of prep school, Eton and the Spanish Civil War. Orwell was working out his anger at the Communist purges under Joseph Stalin, and the iniquities of his time. 'Rat' ( a sort of agony aunt), 'Pig' (Stalinism), and Boxer ( the working classes), punctuate the action.

The play ends after Orwell has died, with Sonia packing up his books and wanting to know more.

References