History Headscratchers / TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents

* To be fair, they really are incredibly thick.

* Why did the Ratcatchers find it necessary to use ''shoelaces'' as fake rat tails, when showing off how many rats they'd allegedly killed to the unwitting villagers? They were running a rat-killing pit and breeding more rats in captivity, so why didn't they harvest ''real'' tails from the rats that were killed by the terriers or died in the cages? Shoelaces cost money, cutting the tails off dead rats they'd have to clean up anyway doesn't.

[[folder: Aglets]]

* Why did the Ratcatchers find it necessary to use ''shoelaces'' as fake rat tails, when showing off how many rats they'd allegedly killed to the unwitting villagers? They were running a rat-killing pit and breeding more rats in captivity, so why didn't they harvest ''real'' tails from the rats that were killed or died in the cages? Shoelaces cost money, cutting the tails off dead rats they'd have to clean up anyway doesn't.

* [[spoiler:Maurice and Dangerous Beans]] die, and {{Death}} shows up to claim them. This leads to a touching and amusing scene, admittedly, but there's still something odd about the situation. [[spoiler:Beans]] is a rat. Unless there's a forgotten explanation, shouldn't the task of claiming him have gone to someone else? [[AC:Squeak.]]

-->'''Dangerous Beans''': [[ApeShallNeverKillApe No rat should kill another rat.]]
-->'''Peaches''': Even ''keekees''?
-->'''Dangerous Beans''': They are rats too.

*** The implication that they're the same sort of people who would cheer like mad for a sports team or musical group whose members are of an ethnic minority, then thoughtlessly go right back to treating people of that same ethnicity with prejudice, is there too, if you're looking for an Aesop in all this.

*** Although our rats were a bit confused by the idea behind non-lethal traps and suggested it was useless.

*** The implication that they're the same sort of people who would cheer for a sports team or musical group whose members are of an ethnic minority, then thoughtlessly go right back to treating people of that very ethnicity with prejudice, is there too, if you're looking for an Aesop in all this.

** Right. It's not just the killing, it's the fact that they "ooh" and "ahh" at the amazing rats and buy rat mugs and eat rat burgers (with no rat, of course) and cheer at the rat clock, and then they cheerfully go home lay down the poison and traps just as they always do. You'd think they'd at least pause to think that maybe what they're doing is cruel, and that they'd decide to use non-lethal traps instead to let them loose. There is a drop of dissonance in that there's clearly a difference between the sapient and non-sapient rats, but the point is that the humans aren't changed by their encounter with the Clan at all (apart from the humans of Bad Blintz, of course).

** It's not the fact they're still using traps and poisons that Terry's criticizing there, it's the fact that they do so ''thoughtlessly'', just because it's what they've always done. People whose minds were more open would at least pause to wonder if there's an alternative, or if they might be unwittingly killing other sentient rats like the Clan.

-->'''Dangerous Beans''': They are rats too.

-->'''Dangerous Beans''': [[ThouShaltNotKill No rat should kill another rat.]]

** It's by no means true that none of the protagonists have a problem with killing non-sapient rats. The older rats don't, and the younger ones let Maurice away with it because, well, he's a cat, but:

-->'''Peaches''': Even ''[[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman keekees]]''?

-->'''Peaches''': Even ''keekees''?

* At the end, [[spoiler:the people who continue to put down traps and poison after seeing the Clan are described as having minds that "can't be changed with a hatchet".]] Seriously? After all of the protagonists have no problem with killing non-sapient rats, ''including the Clan themselves'', ''this'' is the Aesop you go for?

** He was there too. Maurice caught him. [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu There was a bit of awkwardness about that.]]