Ralph S. Mouse

“The grandfather clock, as old and tired as the inn itself, marked the passing of time with a slow tick…tock…that seemed to say, ‘Wait…ing, wait…ing.’”

The grandfather clock, which stands in the inn’s lobby, becomes a central symbol in the novel. Not just a device to mark the passing of time, the clock is also a safe haven for Ralph and his motorcycle during the day. The author uses personification to make the clock come alive, portraying it as an old man. The perceived slow ticking of the clock alludes to the sluggish business at the inn as fewer and fewer travelers stop in.

“‘Just checking the floor for dust,’ fibbed Ryan, as he quickly slid Ralph into his parka pocket.”

The characters that can communicate with Ralph often must lie to cover their secret. Ralph’s ability to talk to humans adds a fantastical element to the story. It also adds narrative tension as there exists a divide between those who can perceive and understand Ralph and those who just view him as an ordinary pest.

“As far as Ralph could see, teachers behaved like ordinary people except that, unlike parents, they said, ‘Oh, dear, school will soon be starting.’”

Cleary injects some of her signature humor into the text through Ralph’s perceptions of teachers. Ralph has many misconceptions about what happens at school. He does, however, get one thing right—every year parents eagerly anticipate the start of school, while at the same time teachers dread it.

“You know how some people get all worked up about mice.”

Ryan warns Ralph to stay hidden during the day at school, reminding him of the negative perceptions humans have of mice. This idea becomes a central motif in the story as Ralph fights against these stereotypes to protect himself and other mice.

“The linoleum-floored hall, unlike the halls of Mountain View Inn, was a broad smooth highway with no rough carpets to wear down the already thin tires of a little motorcycle.”

The author uses a metaphor to compare the school hallways to a highway. One of Ralph’s chief concerns is the wear and tear the inn’s carpet is causing to his motorcycle. Ralph thinks he will spend his nights at the school racing up and down the smooth hallways, but his dream never comes to fruition.

“Ralph tried to listen above the steady lub-dub, lub-dub of Ryan’s heart, but soon grew bored.”

Cleary often uses onomatopoeia in her stories. Incorporating figurative language, she conveys the sound of Ryan’s heart as Ralph hides in his shirt pocket. The rhythmic sound eventually lulls Ralph to sleep, not unlike the grandfather clock’s ticking.

“One girl was chewing her pencil and staring into space. That’s funny, thought Ralph. I didn’t know people gnawed things too.”

Ralph spends most of his days at the school carefully observing the students in Room 5. He mostly notes the differences between humans and mice. However, in a humorous moment, Ralph finds a common trait in children and mice, the tendency to chew on things.

“Why can’t mice behave like that? Ralph wondered.”

As he watches the orderly way Miss K conducts her class, he wishes that mice were more civilized. The tension permeates the narrative as Ralph often finds himself at odds with his animal-like nature. When Ralph lived at the inn, his “uncivilized” relatives and their constant demands were a source of frustration, stress, and guilt. However, observing the class teaches him how to bring some order to the inn as he instructs his relatives to wait in line for rides in his car.

“Wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie.”

Miss K reads the poem “To A Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785” by Scottish poet Robert Burns. The author alludes to the original Scottish-language version, which uses dialect. The poem recounts an incident when Burns accidentally destroyed a mouse’s nest while plowing his fields and was so overcome with guilt over interfering with the creature’s home, that he spontaneously wrote the poem while still in the field.

“Ready or not, he must begin his trial.”

When Miss K and the students force Ralph to run the maze, it causes him tremendous anxiety. He abhors being put on display but also feels the need to demonstrate his intelligence. He sees the exhibit as the ultimate test of both his mousiness and his human-like intelligence.

“No one thought there was anything unusual about Ryan speaking to Ralph when Ralph was in plain sight. Children often talked to their pets.”

A prominent theme in Cleary’s works is the line between adults’ and children’s understanding of the world. At the inn around the adults, Ryan must lie about talking to Ralph. However, when he is around other children, he can freely speak to the mouse because the behavior is normal to his peers.

“The room was full of confusing odors—popcorn, tomato sauce of tacos eaten by those who bought school lunches, peanut butter, bologna, egg, orange, banana eaten by those who brought lunches from home. Ralph caught a whiff of grape bubble gum, the reek of sweaty socks, and the scented-soap fragrance of Miss K.”

Cleary incorporates sensory detail to make the reader feel as if they are inside an elementary classroom full of strange smells. The list also highlights the sensory overload Ralph experiences as he tries to home in on the peanut butter at the end of the maze.

“How good it felt—warm, cozy, and comforting—after all he had been through this terrible afternoon.”

Ralph’s days at school are exhausting as he contends with stress, fear, overstimulation, and confinement. Since he can’t ride his motorcycle at night, Ralph rests, forced to trade his nocturnal nature for comfort and recovery.

“Many were carrying clippings from the Cucaracha Voice.”

Cleary incorporates humor into the narrative with the ironic name of the newspaper. Cucaracha Voice translates from Spanish to “the cockroach voice.” Like mice, cockroaches are considered pests and people actively exterminate them from their homes.

“Just because you get to live in a hotel you think you’re better than anybody.”

Brad misjudges Ryan, thinking that he is wealthy since he lives in a hotel. Once Brad learns that Ryan and his mother live at the inn because she is an employee, he sees Ryan in a different light. The two boys soon form a friendship over shared family struggles.

“One boy said, ‘My father says bad news sells more papers than good news.’”

As the students realize that the news reporter misrepresented their school and class, they become angry over the injustice. Through the boy’s quote, Cleary attacks the “If it bleeds, it leads” idea in journalism. News organizations are notorious for placing too much emphasis on negative stories and ignoring positive or uplifting headlines because they know the sensationalized material will garner more attention.

“Of course, Room 5 would tell the truth. Room 5 always told the truth, except when they fibbed a little.”

Cleary briefly breaks from the third-person voice by citing Room 5 almost as a collective voice. The moment is a wink to a child’s proclivity to stretch the truth. It also returns to the motif of fibbing as a way children conceal the fantastical elements in the story that adults don’t understand or comprehend.

“‘She must have confused her book characters,’ was Miss K’s amused answer.”

Cleary alludes to two classic children’s novels when the newspaper misnames Miss K Bambi instead of Heidi. Bambi: A Life in the Woods by Felix Salten is a classic German children’s story that Disney later adapted into a film. Heidi by Johanna Spyri is one of the most famous children’s books of all time.

“He slipped behind a row of textbooks on health in a bookcase under the window and sat there, pondering large problems such as the unfairness of life and the shortage of liberty and justice for well-meaning mice.”

Ralph’s dual nature is on full display at this moment. While he hides from the teacher and the children like a frightened animal, he simultaneously ruminates on deep emotional issues like a human.

“Of course they would work quietly. Didn’t they always work quietly when the teacher left the room?”

This is another moment when Cleary unifies the voices of the students in a wink to the audience. Though they promise to work quietly while Miss K leaves the room, everyone knows the truth that children will take any opportunity to put aside their work and socialize.

“He listened to the radio sing a mournful song about a lonely truck driver in jail who longed for his eighteen-wheel rig and the open highway.”

Ralph spends every night in the school alone except for the school custodian who listens to country music while he cleans. Ralph at first finds the tunes strange, but the longer he spends alone in the school, the more he identifies with the songs’ themes of isolation, regret, and sadness.

“Ralph had no choice. He had to trust Ryan unless he bit him instead.”

Ralph once again wrestles between his human-like intelligence and his animal instincts. Humans assume that animals bite out of anger or meanness, but it is merely an instinctual survival response.

“The old clock was still managing its familiar slow tick…tock. To Ralph, it sounded like an old friend.”

At the end of the novel, Cleary personifies the clock again. However, it has changed from a tired old man to a welcoming, friendly presence. Ralph knows that the inn is his home.