Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Wind in the Willows, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Friendship and Mentorship
Manners, Conduct, and Consequences
Nature, Leisure, and the Modern World
Home, Identity, and Adventure
Greed, Arrogance, and Social Class
Summary
Analysis
Rat is restless, and he doesn’t know why. It’s still summer, but the leaves are just starting to turn, and change is in the air. There seem to be fewer birds every day, and Rat is very aware of this. The narrator explains that like everything else, “Nature’s Grand Hotel has its season.” Guests pack up and depart, and those who stay behind for the off season become depressed and defensive as they try to convince their friends to stay too. Those who leave clearly don’t know how great the “hotel” is in the off season.
This passage’s description of autumn, and the migratory birds that leave the English riverside for the south, again emphasizes that nature is a powerful force—Rat, and other “guests” who stay behind, can’t convince anyone to stay. Rat may just be annoyed because he doesn’t feel as powerful and in-control as he usually does in the summer, when life is exactly how he likes it.
Themes
Literary Devices
Rat is so anxious that he struggles to settle on any one task. He wanders around fields and through the wheat, where he can usually chat with the mice. But today, the mice are busy digging or planning other houses aboveground. One field mouse apologetically acknowledges that it is too early to move, but they have to get started before it’s too late. Annoyed, Rat returns to the river, which never leaves for the winter.
The new houses the mice are planning are presumably winter homes; they probably have to leave the field before farmers harvest the wheat. For them, the changes are practical—their safety depends on moving. Rat has a home that’s safe and comfortable all year, so he doesn’t quite grasp their urgency (this highlights Rat’s relative privilege, too).
Themes
In some of the trees by the river, Rat spots several swallows. He asks the swallows if they’re really leaving now. One says that they’re just making plans—talking about the journey and what they’ll do is half the fun. Rat admits he doesn’t get it; change is hard and scary. Another swallow says Rat has it all wrong. The urge to fly south is pleasant, not anxiety-inducing, and traveling is how the birds get to catch up with one another. One bird says he stayed behind once and it was nice at first, but then was just cold and depressing. He eventually headed south and thoroughly enjoyed the warm sun. The birds forget Rat as they dive back into conversation about the south.
For Rat, it would be difficult to leave his cozy home on the river, which he’s spent so much time furnishing and making his own. But the birds and the mice in the previous passage see things differently: just as Rat feels compelled to stay home and enjoy his cozy fire and the river, they feel compelled to make their homes in different places depending on the season. They still have things in common, though: recall how Rat and his friends spent all last winter by the fire, talking about the summer. That serves much the same purpose as the birds talking about the south now—it allows them to connect and relive happy times.
Themes
But Rat isn’t offended. Rather, he’s fascinated. What would the south be like? Rat closes his eyes, imagining, and when he opens them the river looks gray and cold. He interrupts the birds and ask why they ever come back here, if the south is so great. One explains that the urge to fly north again is much the same; they all want to enjoy English streams and meadows during the summer.
Suddenly, Rat starts to see the world a little differently—he’s developing empathy for the birds and their way of life. But his question as to why the birds don’t stay in the south shows that Rat doesn’t quite grasp how powerful nature is—within the logic of the novel, animals migrate simply because that’s what nature tells them to do.
Themes
Get the entire The Wind in the Willows LitChart as a printable PDF.
Rat leaves the birds, feeling an urge to go south. There are seas, villas, and olive groves to explore, but instead of setting off, Rat buries himself in a hedge near the lane. But after a while, a wayfarer rat interrupts Rat’s reverie and sits down beside him. The wayfarer is older and worn. After some silence, the wayfarer lists all the things he can hear, like moorhens and cows, and says that Rat’s life on the river is great if one is strong enough. Rat says his life is the best, but without conviction. The wayfarer says that really, life on the river is amazing—he’s done it for six months now and is heading back to his life in the south.
The birds’ tales of the south aren’t enough to convince Rat he should pack up and go. Retreating into the hedge is an attempt to take comfort in the landscape he loves and feel better about his year-round life on the river. The wayfarer, though, makes it clear that Rat could live a different life if he wanted to. They’re both rats, but the similarities end there: the wayfarer seems to have spent most of his life living a totally different lifestyle than Rat.
Themes
As the rats converse, the wayfarer shares that he’s been on a farm a bit north from here, but he’s really a seafaring rat. He was born in Constantinople to Norwegian rats. These days, he calls any port between London and Constantinople home. Rat asks about the wayfarer’s “great voyages,” but the wayfarer says he sticks to ships that travel along the coast. When Rat asks for more stories about the south, the wayfarer is happy to oblige.
Rat’s query about the “great voyages” suggests that he has a very specific idea of what life is like for a rat on a ship. But the wayfarer gently insists that Rat probably doesn’t have a nuanced understanding of his life. Nevertheless, through listening to the wayfarer’s stories, Rat will get to vicariously experience some adventure and learn about other ways of living.
Themes
The wayfarer says he left Constantinople this last year due to family troubles. He spent several days in Greece and the Levant and then the ships traveled to Venice. Venice is amazing: a rat can wander, feast by the Grand Canal, and enjoy shellfish. The wayfarer spent some time in Sicily, and then moved on to Corsica. Rat remarks that it must be a hard life, but the wayfarer winks—it’s hard for the crew, but not for a rat who sleeps in the captain’s quarters. Resuming his tale, the wayfarer describes how the crew arrived in Alassio and took barrels of alcohol to shore, where he slept in olive groves and watched the peasants work. Then they journeyed to Marseilles, where the wayfarer ate more delicious shellfish.
The wayfarer’s tone as he talks about the food he eats and the easy experience he has sleeping in the captain’s quarters mirrors Rat’s earlier assertion that there’s nothing worth doing as much as “messing about in boats.” Both rats live lives of luxury, where all they have to care about is their own amusement and pleasure. But Rat and the wayfarer amuse themselves in very different ways. The wayfarer doesn’t have a home like Rat does—instead, he seems to view the whole world (or at least Europe) as his home.
Themes
At this, Rat asks if the wayfarer is hungry and agrees to bring a picnic to share. He hurries home, packs foods he’s sure the wayfarer will enjoy, and returns to the roadside. As they eat, the wayfarer describes the rest of his trip through Spanish, French, and then English ports to an inland farm. Rat is spellbound. The wayfarer stares Rat in the eye as he speaks, and his eyes seem like the sea, or like rubies. Rat can’t tell if the wayfarer just talks, or if he’s singing—or if he’s listening to the wind instead. The wayfarer describes fishing, perilous nights, and harbor lights. Finally, the wayfarer says it’s time for him to continue his journey. He’ll reach the port and find a ship heading south—and he knows Rat will come too.
Rat is essentially playing host here, and it’s important to him to make sure his guest feels comfortable and heard (hence choosing particular foods). The wayfarer starts to really enchant Rat’s imagination with his stories, making Rat feel like he’s already traveling the world and not stuck at home. It’s interesting when the wayfarer says he knows Rat will follow. After all, in the first pages of the book, Rat told Mole that the Wide World wasn’t something to concern himself with. Now, it seems like Rat might go against that and leave his home for the Wide World after all.
Themes
As the wayfarer walks away, Rat packs his picnic basket, returns home, and then packs a satchel. He’s about to step outside just as Mole returns home, surprised to see Rat in this state. Rat dreamily says he’s going south—but Mole, frightened, holds Rat back. Rat’s eyes are gray and distant, not their usual brown. Once Rat stops fighting, Mole settles him in a chair. Rat falls asleep and wakes later, looking dejected—but his eyes are brown again. He attempts to explain to Mole what happened, but he can’t convey all he heard and felt.
Mole, as Rat’s pupil, has internalized his mentor’s advice—so it’s shocking for him when Rat prepares to go against his own warnings and leave home. Mole essentially returns Rat’s favors and kindness by restraining Rat and making sure that he doesn’t make the mistake of leaving the riverbank. Mole’s experiences (and indeed, Rat’s advice) have taught Mole that such a far-off adventure is too risky.
Themes
All Mole knows for sure is that Rat isn’t leaving, but Rat is still sad and disinterested in daily life here. Casually, Mole brings up the harvest and soon, Rat happily joins in the conversation. Then, Mole fetches paper and a pencil for Rat and remarks that Rat hasn’t written any poetry in some time. Rat insists he’s too tired—but later, when Mole walks past, Rat is absorbed in his work.
This passage shows how mature and generous Mole has become over the last year and a half he spent with Rat. It’s important to him to lift his friend’s spirits, which he does by reminding him how happy their life is here—and by getting Rat back into poetry, something that makes Rat feel fulfilled. Rat’s mentorship of Mole has been so effective that Mole has become something of a mentor himself.
Themes
