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Question
Answer the following question in 120-150 words:
The peddler thinks that the whole world is a rattrap. This view of life is true only of himself and of no one else in the story. Comment.
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Solution
The life of the peddler is bound with loneliness. This idea of being completely alone made the peddler a cynic. After stealing the money, the peddler tried to escape through the forest but soon got lost. Left in despair, he recollected his own thoughts on the world being a giant rattrap. A sudden realisation came to him that he had finally got himself caught in the rattrap because he allowed himself to be tempted by the bait, the thirty kronor bills. Even the kindness of the ironmaster and especially his daughter failed to make the peddler optimistic about the world. The rattrap seller expressed himself strongly realising that the worldly bait had, once more, tempted and trapped him. Unlike the other characters in the story, peddler is the only one who got succumbed to loneliness and is far away from the human bonds of love and sympathy that made him the cynic and consider the world as a rattrap.
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In Edla's dealing with the peddler, she was compassionate and generous. Discuss with reference to the story "The Rattrap".
What Christmas present did the peddler give Edla? Explain its significance.
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