New Historicism Analysis on The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

Introduction

New historicism is an approach based on the reading of literary text and non-literary text in parallel and usually of the same historical period (Barry 172). It is a method that studies a text’s contemporaneous historical context by interpreting a situation or scenes in a literary text which interrelates with a non-literary text that are connected to one another.  New historicism puts literary text and non-literary text on equal weighting, emphasizing on the parallel reading of literature and history in which new historicists look at the history as represented in the literary texts. This theory does not put non-literary text as the background of a literary text but instead they are co-text.

The “equal weighting” of the existence of literary and non-literary texts has led the American critic Louis Montrose to define this theory as a combined interest in ‘the textuality of history, the historicity of texts’ (Barry 116).  Literary text and non-literary text are interconnected as new historicists emphasize that a literary text is not a product of a single author instead it is a product of other extra-literal works. In the context of new historicism, other extraliterary works are the historical texts.

As there is no definite reading of a text, new historicism concerns the following three important areas which are the life of the author, the social rules within a text and the reflection work’s historical situation found in the text.  The life of the author is considered an important area in new historicism as the background of the author will influence the context that will be inserted in the author’s work. The new historicist will consider the writer, his background, and his attitude towards the happenings around him.

This paper intends to analyse “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents” by Terry Pratchett using New Historicism theory. Terrence Pratchett is the author of the phenomenally successful Discworld series and is one of contemporary fiction’s most popular writers. “The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents” that was published in 2001 won the UK Carnegie Medal for children's fiction in the same year. New Historicism theory can be applied in “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents” as there are some significant events focusing on aspects such as economy, morality, and environments in Britain during the time of publication that were reflected in the story.

Economy

One of the significant events that has been portrayed in “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents” is in terms of the economy; which are the issues of poverty and capitalism. Poverty and capitalism have been affecting Britain for quite a long time. However, these issues, unfortunately, received less attention and research back in the days. According to Dorling et al., poverty refers to the lack of resources that someone owns while being rich is the opposite of poverty where usually being measured by their income or wealth (15). Area rates of poverty and wealth in Britain have changed in significant ways evidently since the 1970s. Dorling et al. also stated that levels of poverty and core poverty in Britain fall at a similar rate for a few decades. (30)

However, the poverty level substantially increases from 1970 to 2000 until it reaches 27% of households throughout the study (30). The number of people who were getting poor escalated as some poor areas were getting poorer while the rich areas were getting richer. There are outstanding differences in the clustering of poverty in Britain at that time as low wealth households can be found in the urban areas and exclusively wealthy households in the South East of England (Dorling et al, 36).  Pratchett once lived in Bridgwater, Somerset which was located in the South East of England. During that time, he might has witnessed the same situation and sufferings that the neighbourhood experienced. He has been seen to instill the same comparison between poor and rich areas in the story when Maurice and the rats just go to the town that seems rich and profitable. The text “’Some of those towns looked pretty poor, Maurice,' said the kid doubtfully.”(Pratchett 8) shows that Maurice, Keith, and the rats choose to only go to rich areas with the intention of robbing. However, when they arrived at Bad Blintz, they were rather disappointed to see the poor condition which contradicts their expectations as seen in the following evidence in chapter 2, line 24.

'Well, it looked rich,' said Maurice. 'All those big fields in the valley, all those boats on the river… you'd think the streets'd be paved with gold!'

'The people look poor,' he said. 'It's the buildings that look rich (Pratchett 8)

Aside from the issue of poverty, Pratchett also tried to address the issue of capitalism in his story.  The story was narrated based on a reflection on true events that happened in the UK where the author of the book resided. The author, Pratchett, reconstructs the story of “The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents” by connecting the political history during the 1990s to 2000 in the UK with how the story was narrated. Pratchett emphasized the negative consequences of Thatcher’s neoliberal policies on the UK’s social and moral perspective by depicting it in the story. Margaret Thatcher was one of the most appealing and controversial leaders of the Conservative Party and a former Prime Minister of the UK (Dorey 2). According to Kotz, neoliberalism can be classified as “both a body of economic theory and a policy stance” (64). 

Neoliberalism is a theory that claims a free market economy or a largely unregulated capitalist system could achieve optimum economic performance. The free market economy will not only incorporate the ideal of free individual choice but also helps to boost the economy in terms of its efficiency, economic growth, technical progress, and distributional justice (Kotz 64).  Thatcher’s neoliberal policies started to be constituted during the 1980s in the UK. The policies changed the economic and social outlook of the UK as it was broadly sought by the subsequent government from the 1980s to 1990s (Albertson and Stepney 319).  These policies promoted and developed democratic capitalism since the motive of the policies was to boost the economy in a time of recession while keeping the taxes and public sector debt (Albertson and Stepney 10). These policies have benefited most of the capitalist people in their economic growth while abandoning and oppressing the poor.

A similar situation has been mainly depicted in “The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents”. The rat-catcher exploited the town’s food supplies that resulted in poverty among society while Maurice exploited the rats by making the rats work for him in order to gain personal benefits. The rat-catcher’s exploitation can be reflected when Malicia stated ‘We were told that the rats had got it all. I see it all now. The rat-catchers get everywhere, they know all the sewers, all the cellars… and to think those thieves get paid out of our taxes!' (Pratchett 36). Maurice’s intention becomes obvious when he says,  'They're so keen on tricking one another all the time that they elect governments to do it for them. We give them value for money. They get a horrible plague of rats, they pay a rat piper, the rats all follow the kid out of town, hoppity-skip, end of plague, everyone's happy that no-one's widdling in the flour any more, the government gets re-elected by a grateful population, general celebration all round. Money well spent, in my opinion.' (Pratchett 2).  Therefore, it is undeniable that Britain’s economic state in earlier times has given a remarkable influence in the writing of  ``The Amazing  Maurice and His Educated Rodents”  from the point of view of the New Historicism theory.

Morality

Other than the economic perspectives, Practchett presented the story by criticizing the morality of the people in the UK resulting from Thatcher’s neoliberal policies.  The consequences of implementing the policies affected the morality of the people in the UK negatively as it failed to build a high moral value among individuals.  Thatcher claimed that the free-market economic values could motivate the adoption of conservative moral values in re-establishing the moral spirit of the British people (qtd. Albertson and Stepney 331). However, as mentioned by Deneen, the neoliberal policies only resulted in decreasing both material things and moral values that cannot be replenished rather than nurturing ethics and family values (qtd. Albertson and Stepney 333). Thus, these events can be viewed in parallel with the literary text at the beginning of the story where Maurice suggested tricking the people in the town for one last time in chapter one.

The rodents were doubting Maurice’s plans to continue tricking the people in the town for money as according to Peaches she said that stealing “is not morally right” (Pratchett 5). Maurice influenced them by stating the importance of money to survive as they needed money to buy a boat, tools, foods, and many other things (Pratchett 5). This was reflected on the current events on the author’s day before the book was published as Thatcher’s neoliberal policies erode the morality of the people as the total theft offences per 10,000 increased by 53% from 1981 to 1991 and it was stated in the crime survey of England and Wales, the rate of all crimes increased by 34% (qdt. Albertson and Stepney 332). Pratchet indicated how the least well-off household will eventually be affected by the economy where money was everything.  The lack of material resources among people will corrupt their morality as everything needs money to survive in this world. Besides, it was also mentioned in the story where Maurice justified the act of stealing as finding and he stated that 'Stealing from a thief isn't stealing, 'cos it cancels out.'  in chapter one (Pratchett 3). This part of the story condemned the system of the government as the thief mentioned could be referring to the higher-ups who implemented the system and at the same time gave voices to the oppressed people resulted by the policies.

Besides, Pratchett also criticized how the free market policies also corrupted the morality of the riches. According to Albertson and Stepney, Thatcher’s policies influenced in increasing the income inequalities during the 1980s as the least prosperous household suffered the lowest growth of incomes and the better off households experienced the greatest growth of incomes. In addition, the increasing income inequalities still give the impacts to certain families in the UK until today (322). Pratchett criticized this act of money-making people by portraying it using the character of the rat-catcher. In the text, it was mentioned by Malicia that the rat-catchers had all of the foods where they thought it was the rat’s fault the food was gone. She mentioned in the text, ‘The rat-catchers get everywhere, they know all the sewers, all the cellars… and to think those thieves get paid out of our taxes!', (Pratchett 36) which exhibited how the rat-catcher exploited the food. The rat-catcher indicated how the political leaders tend to be disproportionate in distributing the wealth or income but at the same time still receiving money from the least well-off people and this is usually the corruption that happened among political leaders. Pratchett apprehended the act of capitalism as it corrupts one’s morality by exploiting money from the people and greedy for material resources such as money. In another example, the rat-catcher did mention they should appear as stupid and he said that they should “Talk thick, be clever. That's the way to do it,” (Pratchett 40). Based on these examples, the author portrayed the corrupted morality of people who exploited the money who decided to be silent in this matter as the policies gave benefits to them the most. Therefore, by using the New Historicism approach, the reader could analyse the story by connecting the true events related to the political leaders and crime rate and that happened in the UK with the literary text in parallel. 

Environment

The issues regarding mice, rats and rodents, which are nothing new in the UK, are portrayed as well in this Pratchett's text. In fact, this issue is one of the disturbing issues around the globe because these species are known to be unhygienic animals and capable of transmitting diseases. According to Singleton et al., “many rodent species are also reservoirs of organisms that cause debilitating diseases in humans and livestock” (10). The Bubonic Plague or the Black Death that happened during the 14th century was known to be caused by this species. Frith stated that Rattus rattus from old English or black rat was the vector host for the Black Death pandemic (11). There was also a plague known as the Great Plague of London which happened in 1665 until 1666 that caused a fifth of London’s population death. Nonetheless, the plague reportedly ended because of The Great Fire of London in 1666. Other than that, the subsequent rebuilding of houses using bricks and tiles also caused interruption for the normal habitat of the rats which also led to their reduction of numbers (Frith 14).

From Pratchett’s book “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents”, most of the rats are characterised to be very dangerous in most of the towns from the story. They were known to be spreading plague as mentioned in the book from Chapter 2, Line 3, ‘Everyone knew about the plagues of rats. There were famous stories about the rat pipers, who made their living going from town to town getting rid of plagues of rats’ (Pratchett 8). Another evidence that shows how dangerous the rats were, is from what had been said by one of the rat-catchers in Chapter 2, 'Now, you don't want to go touching them, young sir,' said a voice above him. 'You can get plague, you know, from rats. It makes your legs explode’ (Pratchett 9). The rats were described as a threatening entity when a contact with them will lead to infectious plague that will also cause legs explosion. This claim can be traced back to the death toll recorded back in 1665 that was caused by the Great Plague, that was 7000 deaths in London alone without considering the number of deaths in other affected regions (Frith 14).

There were various methods that have been used to overcome the pests issue in the UK. However, in the 1950s the UK authority discovered that some conventional poisons did not affect the rats as they have developed resistance towards poisons. The government performed a research which needed a laborious method of trapping rats and also conducting tests on feeding the animals, but then it was stopped in the 1990s. Over the past two decades, the resistance of the rats have increased, and these animals were discovered to breed vigorously, and their descendants were found to have the same resistance. Other than spreading diseases and destroying food resources, they are also able to cause structural damage by gnawing electrical cables (“Mapping British Super Rats”).

From Pratchett’s text, the rats were known to be sentient and are intelligent enough to detect poisons and traps, that could be related with what had happened with the rats when they stopped the research in the 1990s. Some of the poisons and traps could no longer scare the rats. There is a few evidence that could be seen such as from Chapter 3, ‘There’re bound to be plenty of new types of traps, but we learn fast, don't we? Poisons, too. They might be using stuff we've never run across before, so be careful. Never rush, never run. We don't want to be like the first mouse, eh?' (Pratchett 14) and also from Chapter 5:

‘Not to worry,’ said Darktan, who was worried. ‘We’ve come across new poisons before, right?’

‘Not for ages,’ said a rat. ‘Remember that one in Scorte? With the sparkly blue bits? It burned if you got it on your feet? People ran into it before they knew?’ (Pratchett 28)

As the rats are immune to the poison, they have found ways to avoid them. Previously, the government was urged to figure out new poisons to encounter the problems regarding rodents, rats, and mice without becoming a threat to other wildlife or even domestic cats that preyed on these species. This is because of the poison that the rodents are carrying in their bodies might be transferred to the other species (“Mapping British Super Rats”). Therefore, from the perspective of new historicism, it could be inferred that all these incidents that happened regarding rats and plague in the UK and around the globe might influence Pratchett in writing “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents”.

Conclusion

This essay has discussed Terry Prachett’s “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents” in the light of new historicism. New historicism is the parallel study of literary and non-literary texts. Historical texts are regarded as co-text rather than a background of the text. This field of criticism concerns the life of the author, the social construct of the time the text is written and how it reflects the historical situation of that particular time.

Poverty and capitalism are addressed in the story under the scope of economics issues. One issue contributed to the other, where poverty is the product of capitalism. The exploitation done by the Rat-catcher and Maurice are one of the examples of capitalism in the novel. Neo-liberal policies that were introduced in the UK have affected the economic state of the country and have a significant impact for both poor and rich people.  

Moving on to the next point, morality of Britain society also can be questioned in the novel using New Historicism theory.  Morality in simpler words, are the codes of conduct that differentiate what is right and wrong. It is highlighted by Pratchett in the novel by the notion of Maurice and the rat-catchers’ morality. As mentioned above, the last point discussed in this essay is the environmental issue. The rodents are put into retrospect by Pratchett as a way to communicate to his reader that although rats are dirty but the issue in regards to them is not but very intimate.

To conclude, “Terry Pratchett’s Maurice and His Educated Rodents” fits well in the framework of new historicism where morality, economics and environmental issues are of the aspects that are taken into the limelight of this essay.

Works Cited

Albertson, Kevin, and Paul Stepney. "1979 and all that: a 40-year reassessment of Margaret Thatcher’s legacy on her own terms." Cambridge Journal of Economics vol. 44, no.2, 2020, pp. 319-342.

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: an Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester University Press, 2019.

Dorey, Pete. “Margaret Thatcher.” Conservative Orators: From Baldwin to Cameron, edited by Richard, Hayton, and Andrew S. Crines, Manchester University Press, 2015, pp. 1-23.

Dorling, Daniel, et al. Poverty, Wealth and Place in Britain: 1968 to 2005. Policy Press, 2007.

Frith, John. “The History of Plague – Part 1. The Three Great Pandemics.” Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health, vol. 20, no. 2, 2012, pp. 11-16.

“Mapping British Super Rats”. UCSB Geography, 2 Jul. 2018, https://geog.ucsb.edu/mapping-british-super-rats/

Pratchett, Terry. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. HarperCollins, Publishers, 2001.

Singleton, Hinds et al. Rats, mice and people: rodent biology and management. E-book, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, 2003.

Tynan, Kenneth. "The Kansas Farm Murders." The Critical Response to Truman Capote, edited by Joseph J. Waldmeir and John C. Waldmeir, Greenwood Press, 1999, pp. 129-34. ​

ENGL 4620 – Literary Criticism

Sem. 2, 2019/2020

Section: 1

Name of lecturer: Miss Nurul Fateha

Group (1)

Group members and matric number

Raja Hazirah binti Raja Azman (1710606)

Mardhiyah Binti Marzuki (1719174)

Nurul Afiqah Ilyana binti Rizal Sham (1627016)

Norfasihah Diana binti Ahmad Jaman (1710802)

Ilham Rodhiah Binti Abdul Razak (1713284)