Exam-useful questions from this chapter, grouped by marks, each with a full model answer. Try writing the answer yourself first, then check it against this one.
1 1-Mark Questions
Q. What is the peddler’s trade?
Answer: He travels around selling small rattraps of wire, which he makes himself from material he gets by begging in stores and at big farms.
Q. Why does the peddler resort to begging and petty thievery?
Answer: Because his rattrap business alone is not profitable enough to keep body and soul together.
Q. What does the peddler suddenly realise about the world?
Answer: That the whole world is nothing but a big rattrap, existing only to set baits of riches, joy, shelter, food, heat and clothing for people.
Q. What card game does the old crofter play with the peddler?
Answer: Mjolis, a Swedish card game, which they play until bedtime.
Q. What does the old crofter show the peddler as proof of his savings?
Answer: Thirty kronor, in three ten-kronor bills, kept in a leather pouch hanging by the window.
Q. Whom does the ironmaster mistake the peddler for?
Answer: Nils Olof, an old regimental comrade who has apparently fallen on hard times.
Q. What name does the peddler sign at the end of his letter to Edla?
Answer: ‘Captain von Stahle’, the title the household treated him as having (‘as if I was a captain’); the ironmaster had called him by it at the forge.
Q. What does the peddler say he never pretended to be, once the ironmaster realises his mistake?
Answer: He says he “never pretended to be anything but a poor trader”.
2 2-Mark Questions
Q. Why does the peddler go back to the crofter’s cottage after leaving it the first time?
Answer: He returns to steal the thirty kronor he had seen the old man keep in a leather pouch by the window. He smashes the window pane, takes the money, and hangs the leather pouch very carefully back in its place before going away.
Q. How does getting lost in the forest connect to the peddler’s own rattrap philosophy?
Answer: He had always thought of the world as a rattrap that catches anyone tempted by a bait. Lost in the forest after the theft, he recalls these thoughts and realises his own turn has come: “He had let himself be fooled by a bait and had been caught.” The forest closes in on him “like an impenetrable prison from which he could never escape”.
Q. Why does the ironmaster invite the peddler home?
Answer: He mistakes the ragged stranger for Nils Olof, an old regimental comrade. He also says that it is “too bad we didn’t have any company for Christmas”, since Elizabeth is dead and his boys are abroad, and so he insists the man come home.
Q. Why does the peddler refuse the ironmaster’s invitation at first?
Answer: He is carrying the thirty kronor he has just stolen from the crofter, and fears that going to the manor house, among people who might recognise him or investigate him, would be like throwing himself voluntarily into the lion’s den.
Q. What doubts does Edla have about the peddler when she first meets him?
Answer: Noticing that he looks afraid the moment she lifts his hat, she privately suspects that either he has stolen something or else he has escaped from jail. Despite this, she still promises he may leave as freely as he came.
Q. How does the ironmaster’s attitude change once he sees the peddler clearly in daylight?
Answer: He realises at once that the well-dressed man before him cannot be his old acquaintance Nils Olof. His warmth turns to suspicion; he demands an explanation and hints that the sheriff might want to look into the matter.
Q. What reasons does Edla give her father for wanting the peddler to stay?
Answer: She says the man walks and walks the whole year long with probably nowhere he is welcome, and she wants him to have one day of peace. She also argues that since they themselves invited him and promised him Christmas cheer, it would be wrong to chase him away now.
Q. What does the peddler leave behind for Edla, and why?
Answer: He leaves a small rattrap containing the thirty kronor he had stolen from the crofter, along with a letter. He does this out of gratitude for her kindness (“Since you have been so nice to me all day long”), asks her to give the money back to the old crofter on the roadside, and does not want her to be embarrassed at Christmas “by a thief”.
3 4-Mark Questions
Q. Describe the peddler’s philosophy of the world as a rattrap, and explain how the story first proves it true and then partly overturns it.
Answer: The peddler believes the whole world is a big rattrap that offers riches, joys, shelter, food, heat and clothing as baits, and closes in on anyone tempted to reach for them. The story first proves this true of himself: after stealing the crofter’s money, he gets lost in the forest and realises he “had let himself be fooled by a bait and had been caught”. But by the end, one reading is that the story partly overturns his bitter philosophy: it is not punishment or a closing trap that changes him, but Edla Willmansson’s kindness, which his letter thanks her for, and he leaves the stolen money for her to give back to the crofter. The world can be a trap, the story suggests, and genuine kindness is what the story offers as a way out of that pattern.
Q. Trace the events that lead the peddler to realise he has fallen into his own rattrap.
Answer: After stealing the crofter’s thirty kronor, the peddler dares not use the public highway and turns off into the woods. The forest turns out to be big and confusing; he walks and walks without coming to the end of it, and finally realises he has only been walking around in the same part of the forest. All at once he recalls his thoughts about the world and the rattrap, and realises that his own turn has come: “He had let himself be fooled by a bait and had been caught.” The forest closes in upon him “like an impenetrable prison from which he could never escape”. As darkness falls he sinks down, tired to death, thinking his last moment has come.
Q. Contrast the ironmaster’s kindness with Edla’s kindness. Why does the peddler’s letter credit Edla’s kindness?
Answer: The ironmaster is warm and generous towards the peddler, but only because he mistakes him for an old regimental comrade, Nils Olof. The moment this mistake is revealed in daylight, his warmth turns to suspicion; he mentions the sheriff and tells the man to get out. Edla’s kindness, by contrast, does not depend on who he is: she is compassionate towards the stranger even while privately suspecting he may be a thief or an escaped convict, and she keeps her word regardless of who he turns out to be. That is why his letter credits her: “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.” He leaves the stolen money for her to give back to the crofter.
Q. Describe the peddler’s ‘rattrap’ speech when he is confronted by the ironmaster. What does it reveal about his character?
Answer: When the ironmaster hints that the sheriff might have something to say about his conduct, the peddler strikes the table and declares that the whole world is nothing but a big rattrap, and that the good things offered to people are only bait to drag them into trouble, warning the ironmaster that he too may one day be tempted by ‘a big piece of pork’ and get caught in the trap. The speech reveals that the peddler is not simply a passive victim of circumstance: he has a sharp, philosophical mind, a subtle sense of humour that even the ironmaster appreciates enough to laugh at, and the courage to speak an unwelcome truth to a powerful man rather than simply beg for mercy.
Q. Explain how the story builds towards its climax on the Christmas Eve morning when the peddler is unmasked.
Answer: The tension builds carefully: the ironmaster’s mistaken warmth the night before, the peddler’s fear and reluctance, and Edla’s persuasion bring the peddler to the manor house, and on Christmas Eve morning the valet bathes him, cuts his hair, shaves him and dresses him in the ironmaster’s own suit. Then, in broad daylight rather than the uncertain reflection from the furnace, the ironmaster looks at him again and realises his mistake. The scene turns from warmth to accusation almost instantly (“What does this mean?”), forcing the peddler to defend himself openly with his rattrap speech, which is the emotional peak of the story before Edla’s intervention resolves it.
Q. What role does Edla Willmansson play in the transformation of the peddler?
Answer: Edla’s kindness towards the peddler does not depend on who he turns out to be, which sets it apart from her father’s. She speaks gently to him even when she privately suspects he may be a criminal, insists he be allowed to stay even after her father tells him to get out, and tells him, on her father’s behalf, that he may keep the suit as a Christmas present and will be welcome again next Christmas Eve. One reading is that this treatment, rather than any threat or any mistaken flattery, awakens the peddler’s better nature: his letter thanks her for being “so nice to me all day long”, and he leaves the stolen money with her to give back to the crofter rather than simply vanishing.
Q. Describe the setting of Ramsjö Ironworks and its importance to the plot.
Answer: Ramsjö Ironworks is described as a once-large plant with a smelter, rolling mill and forge, now closed down (the narrator’s present; in the story the forge is still working), set amidst the mines of Sweden. The forge, with its furnace, bellows and glowing iron, is where the peddler takes shelter after escaping the forest, and it is here that the ironmaster first mistakes him for Nils Olof. The setting matters because it is a place of both hard labour and warmth (the furnace’s fire), which can be read as mirroring the story’s larger idea: a harsh world that can still offer real warmth and kindness to those who need it.
Q. How does the title ‘The Rattrap’ capture the central idea of the story?
Answer: The title refers to more than the literal wire traps the peddler sells. It stands first for his cynical philosophy that the world traps anyone tempted by its baits, then for the forest in which he himself gets trapped after his theft, and finally for the literal small rattrap he leaves behind holding the stolen money for Edla to give back to the crofter, turning his own bitter metaphor into an act of honesty and gratitude. The title therefore captures both the danger of temptation and the possibility of redemption, which is exactly the theme and sub-theme the book itself gives for this chapter.
4 6-Mark Questions
Q. Discuss whether The Rattrap is a story of redemption through kindness rather than through force or judgment.
Answer: Through most of the story, the peddler is treated as a problem to be managed: the blacksmiths ignore him, the ironmaster’s warmth turns out to rest on a mistake, and once that mistake is revealed the ironmaster mentions the sheriff and, the next morning, wonders how many silver spoons are left. None of this changes him; if anything, his own rattrap philosophy would predict that force and suspicion simply confirm how the world always treats a man like him. What changes him is Edla Willmansson’s behaviour: she notices his fear, privately guesses he may be a thief, and still chooses to speak kindly to him, keep her promise, and treat him as a guest rather than a suspect. Her kindness is not naive; it is offered with open eyes, and it is precisely this that the peddler cannot fit into his cynical view of the world. In response, he declines the one dishonest thing he could have gotten away with without any consequence, keeping the stolen money, and instead leaves it for Edla to return to the crofter, and thanks her, and signs off with a borrowed title he is not ashamed to use one last time in her honour. The Rattrap is therefore a story that suggests unconditional kindness, not punishment or judgment, is what has the power to awaken decency in someone who has been failed by the world.
Q. Write a detailed character sketch of the peddler.
Answer: The peddler is a poor, unnamed wanderer who survives by selling handmade wire rattraps, supplemented by begging and occasional theft. At the start of the story he is deeply cynical, having built an entire philosophy around the idea that the world is a trap that catches anyone tempted by its offers of riches and joys, shelter and food. This cynicism does not stop him from acting selfishly: he steals from the very crofter who showed him genuine hospitality. Yet the story steadily reveals other sides to him: quick thinking (playing along with the ironmaster’s mistake for a possible reward), a subtle sense of humour (his rattrap speech, which even amuses the ironmaster), and, crucially, a capacity for real change. Faced with Edla Willmansson’s unconditional kindness rather than judgment or force, he responds not with further deception but with an act of honesty, leaving the stolen money for her to give back to the crofter and thanking her, signed with the title the household had given him, offered as a mark of gratitude and respect. One reading is that he ends the story as an example of the book’s own note about the author’s stories: that essential goodness in a person can be awakened through understanding and love.
Q. Write a detailed character sketch of Edla Willmansson, and show how she differs from her father.
Answer: Edla Willmansson is the ironmaster’s daughter, introduced as “modest and quite shy”, but she proves to be firm and consistent. Sent by her father to persuade the stranger to come home, she does so with genuine warmth rather than mere duty, noticing his fear and privately guessing that he may be a thief or an escaped convict, yet still promising him he may leave exactly as freely as he came. When her father, on discovering the mistaken identity, wants the man sent away, Edla is the one who insists he stay, giving her own reasons: her wish that a man who is probably welcome nowhere should have one day of peace, and a sense that their own invitation and promise must be honoured. This is where she differs sharply from her father: his kindness the night before was warm but conditional, resting entirely on believing the stranger was an old comrade, and it curdles into suspicion the instant that belief is shown to be false. Edla’s kindness never depended on who the man turned out to be. It is this difference, kindness with open eyes versus kindness built on a mistake, that one reading takes as the reason Edla, not her father, is the one the peddler’s letter thanks.
Q. Explain, with close reference to the text, the three levels at which the ‘rattrap’ metaphor operates in the story.
Answer: The metaphor works at three connected levels. First, it is the peddler’s own philosophy: walking alone and embittered, he decides that the whole world, with its lands, seas, cities and villages, is nothing but a big rattrap, offering riches, joys, shelter, food, heat and clothing exactly as a rattrap offers cheese and pork, closing in on anyone tempted to touch the bait. Second, the metaphor turns back on the peddler himself: having stolen the crofter’s money and fled into the forest, he gets hopelessly lost, and as despair sets in he recognises that he has let himself be fooled by a bait and has been caught, as he had imagined the world trapping others (reading the forest as a rattrap is an interpretation; the book does not name the bait). Third, the metaphor becomes literal and constructive rather than destructive: at the end of the story, the peddler leaves an actual small rattrap for Edla, with the stolen money inside it, for her to give back to the crofter, and a letter calling it ‘a Christmas present from a rat who would have been caught in this world’s rattrap if he had not been raised to captain.’ What began as a bitter idea about how the world destroys people ends as an act of honesty and gratitude, which is exactly why the metaphor, followed through all three levels, is the key to the story’s meaning.
5 Case Studies
(A) 1 mark According to the passage, what did the peddler suddenly realise about the world?
Answer: That the whole world is nothing but a big rattrap, existing only to set baits for people.
(B) 2 marks According to the passage, what does the rattrap-world offer, and what happens once someone is tempted by it?
Answer: It offers riches, joys, shelter, food, heat and clothing, exactly as a rattrap offers cheese and pork. As soon as anyone lets himself be tempted to touch the bait, it closes in on him and everything comes to an end.
(C) 3 marks Based on the passage, explain why this idea gives the peddler ‘unwonted joy.’
Answer: The passage says the world had never been very kind to him, so thinking ill of it gave him unwonted joy; believing the world is only a trap lets a man who has been treated badly feel that everyone is caught in the same way. The passage does not say more about whom he thought of.
(A) 1 mark According to the passage, why does Edla want the stranger to stay?
Answer: She wants him to enjoy one day of peace, since there is probably nowhere in the country where he is welcome and can feel at home.
(B) 2 marks What two separate reasons does Edla give in the passage for not wanting to chase the stranger away?
Answer: First, her wish that a man who walks the whole year long, unwelcome and afraid of arrest, should have one day of peace. Second, her sense that since they themselves invited him and promised him Christmas cheer, it would be wrong to now chase him away, whatever mistake led to the invitation.
(C) 3 marks Based on the passage and your knowledge of the story, evaluate whether Edla’s kindness is justified, given that she already suspects the stranger may be a thief.
Answer: Edla’s kindness is justified precisely because it does not depend on the stranger being innocent. She reasons from her own family’s promise and from basic compassion for a friendless wanderer, not from any certainty about his character, so even if he had turned out to be exactly the thief she fears, her position, that a promise once made should be honoured and that no one should be turned away at Christmas, would still hold. The story suggests that this unconditional kindness is what moves the peddler to act honestly: his letter thanks her for being “so nice to me all day long”.