In the story ‘The Rattrap’, the peddler betrays the trust of the crofter. This was despite the fact that only the crofter had shown any kindness to him. Kindness is not always rewarded with kindness and trust. Comment.
Answers
The different ways in which the peddler interpreted the kindness of the three people are:-
The peddler realized that for the crofter it was his craving for company that led him to offer his hospitality.
The ironmaster’s hospitality apparently is limited to his acquaintances.
He was touched by Edla’s kindness and it made him want to act differently.
The peddler was a man who went around selling small rattraps of wire. He was leading a sad and monotonus life of a vagabond. He knocked at the door of the cottage of the crofter who turned out to be an old man without wife and children. He showed his kindness and hospitality towards him which the peddler had not excepted. But the peddler stole his thirty kronors. Thus he betrayed the confidence reposed in him by the crofter.