Ⅰ. Introduction

Recently, I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien. At first, I thought of it as a novel on emotional intelligence. Throughout the book, all of the animals use their intelligence to solve problems—but they also show intelligence through their relationships. As I continued to read, I also found this novel to be one on trust. All of the animals trust each other enough to let them make important decisions. They all trust each other enough to help one another.

At the beginning of the book, Mrs. Frisby’s youngest son, Timothy, falls sick with pneumonia. This would be bad enough, but this year, it is even worse—it overlaps with Moving Day. Moving Day is when all of the animals have to leave the garden or die due to the plow. She goes to see the owl. The owl almost admits that it is hopeless until Mrs. Frisby mentions that she is the widow of Jonathan Frisby. Then, the owl instructs her to “go see the rats.” Mrs. Frisby doesn’t understand this until she visits them and realizes how smart they are. She learns that they are science experiments that escaped from an organization named NIMH. They promise to help her, for Jonathan was another one of those experiments. In the end, they move her home and save Timothy.

Ⅱ. Emotional Intelligence

In Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Robert O’Brien writes a novel on animal intelligence. He shows how advanced rats and mice can be not only through their intellectual ability, but also through their emotional intelligence, demonstrated through the complex relationships they have with each other. The rats of NIMH are incredibly smart, but they also can love, and worry, and trust. All of these feelings are signs of emotional intelligence—something just as meaningful as intellectual intelligence. Animal intelligence—both intellectual and emotional—is one of the book’s main themes.

Because of NIMH, the rats and mice are incredibly smart. They can speak, read, and write. As the owl said, “The rats on Mr. Fitzgibbon’s farm have—things—ways—you know nothing about.” She says this when describing her plan to Mrs. Frisby. It shows how smart the rats are by how an owl—archetypically one of the smartest animals—is impressed by them. But even though they are smart, it is their relationships that truly show their intelligence.

One of the signs of their emotional intelligence is the animal’s distrust of one another. There is a lot of tension between the animals—the mice fear the birds, the mice and rats hate each other, and everyone hates the cat. The mice fear the birds because of their predator status. In the book, they are depicted as evasive bullies, waiting for a reason to eat someone. For example, on page 50, Mrs. Frisby thought, “She knew something about the dietary habits of owls, and did not much like the idea of being trapped inside her house.” At the beginning of the book, this is one of the main rivalries. The mice and rats distrust each other because of their differences—mice are peaceful creatures, while rats are depicted as dirty stealers. Everyone hates the cat for obvious reasons—the cat will eat anybody. All of this shows distrust—a complex emotion. But, this is just one example of distrust in the book.

Mrs. Frisby had never wondered about her husband’s intelligence until she met the Rats of NIMH. She always knew he was smart—he was a good problem solver, he had a large vocabulary, and he could even read. Reading was a skill that almost no mice had. Once she met the rats of NIMH, who had all the skills her husband had and more, she started to ask questions about who he had been. “He had always known so many things, and she had accepted that as a matter of course. But who had taught him to read? Strangely, it also emerged that he had known the rats. Had they taught him? What was his connection with them?” (Pg. 82) Her reaction to his role as a sort of undercover agent shows how complex Mrs. Frisby’s feelings were. She loved him but she still was suspicious of his connection to the rats.

The Frisby family is united through love. They all love each other so much and that is because of all the challenges they have survived together: Timothy’s sickness, the death of Johnathan, run-ins with the cat. All of these things have brought them closer together. Love is probably one of the most complex emotions, and it brings on others. For example, it brings on worry. Mrs. Frisby sometimes serves as an example of a stereotypical worried mother. “First I want to see Timothy. Where is he? Why didn’t you move his bed out here?” (Pg. 62) She does because of all of her love for her children. She loves so much that she feels their pain—and doesn’t want them to feel it. And all of this is part of a deeper emotion—empathy.

Empathy is one of the core parts of Emotional Intelligence. According to Ioannidou and Konstantikaki, 2008, “Emotional Intelligence (EI), often measured as an Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ), describes a concept that involves the ability, capacity, skill or a self-perceived ability, to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one’s self, of others, and of groups.” (P. 1) If these animals can feel empathy, then that means that they are definitely emotionally intelligent.

Even though there is so much distrust, there is still enough trust to make up for any doubt. In the book, everyone is united through all the help the rats and mice of NIMH gave to them. All the rats and mice have helped the other animals many times, making a friend of theirs a friend of practically any animal in the forest. All of these animals trust the animals enough to trust any friend of theirs.

There is also the trust within the rats. They have survived NIMH. They have survived the long journey after escaping from there. They did all of it together. All throughout this, they were just building more and more trust in each other. They knew that together, they could do almost anything. All of this trust was built over years—and that made an unbreakable bond.

All of these emotions can be tied together into one bigger thing—teamwork. Teamwork is a combination of worry, love, trust, and empathy mixed into a big blob of helping each other. For example, at the end of the book, the rats and mice all work together, united by the common goal of helping Timothy. Mrs. Frisby describes the rats' teamwork as a “sight to see.” Teamwork shows intelligence almost as much as empathy—it requires knowledge and understanding of those around you, what they can do, and how you can help them do it.

Ⅲ. Bravery

Robert O’Brien shows how even the weakest and most timid can be brave. He shows how everyone is strong in their own ways. How they can persevere. They keep going even when all hope seems lost.

Perseverance seems to be one of the main forms of bravery, in this book. At every stage, characters use their hope to push through. One example of this is the rats. Their goal is something no rats have even done before—live without stealing. Ever since they became geniuses, they have strived to create a peaceful civilization. The rats are branching away from the norm—they are persevering even though their plan is so hard to complete.

One of the types of bravery in this book is the standard variety: when someone is strong and does a near-impossible feat. One example of this happens when Jonathan dies. As he dies, he puts the cat to sleep—a hard and dangerous feat and one that is crucial to NIMH’s plans. The cat catches him and kills him. This is a very sad moment, but it highlights his bravery at that moment. He has to persevere to put the cat to sleep, but it is still impressive because of the physical feats, not the mental ones.

Another example of physical bravery happens when Mrs. Frisby saves the crow from the cat. The crow is stuck to a fence after he got tangled up in a ribbon on it. Mrs. Frisby rushes over to save him as soon as she sees his predicament. She unties him in the nick of time, right as the cat is about to jump up. The crow flies her away, and both of them are safe. Once again, in this example, Mrs. Frisby’s bravery is based on a physical feat.

Even though there is physical bravery, there is much more mental bravery and perseverance. One of the main examples of this is Timothy.  Once he hears of his sickness, it would make sense for him to feel despair. But, he hopes that he will get better in time for moving day. When he brings the topic up, he is totally calm, “‘It’s the smell of frost melting,’ Timothy went on, ‘I remember it from last year. After that, it wasn’t long until we moved. Mother, when are we going to move this year?’” (Pg. 63) In this situation, his calmness is bravery. He perseveres—a hard mental feat when it seems like all hope is lost. Even though Timothy isn't strong—he is the weakest of the family—he still manages to be the bravest. He’s the bravest because of his perseverance.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

I think that in this book, Robert O’Brien shows what it means to be human—how it involves love, bravery, teamwork, worry, and empathy all mixed together. This book is basically one giant metaphor: How the relationships between rats and mice show the relationships between humans. Through fighting for their relationships, through their perseverance and bravery, the rats and mice are perfect examples of what humans are: imperfect. They show how much humans will fight for what they believe in, even though it can seem hopeless. They show how smart humans are, even though we don’t always use that intelligence for the greater good. This book shows how different humans are from each other.