How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Who am I, then? Thought Mrs. Frisby. I suppose that will have to come from Nicodemus as well. (11.68)
Good question! Mrs. Frisby definitely has a tendency to underestimate herself though. She'll learn who she is by learning what she is capable of—not by asking Nicodemus.
Quote #2
"The real point is this: we don't know where to go because we don't know what we are. Do you want to go back to living in a sewer-pipe? And eating other people's garbage? Because that's what rats do. But the fact is, we aren't rats anymore." (18.56)
If it weren't for the tail, Nicodemus could don a beret and a turtleneck and fit right into a discussion of existentialism in a smoky Paris café. Knowing what we are—that's one of the biggest questions anyone will ever have to face. Unfortunately, at this point in the book, all the rats know is what they are not. What they are? That's going to take all of their new brainpower to figure out.
Quote #3
"Where does a group of civilized rats fit in?" (18.56)
Does he want the long answer of the short answer? The short answer is nowhere. The long answer is that a group of civilized rats has to develop their own civilization, because neither human nor rat civilization is quite ready for them. We have the sense that even as Nicodemus asks the question, he already knows the answer.
Quote #4
"What will happen when he announces that there's a group of civilized rats roaming loose—rats that can read, and think, and figure things out?" (18.59)
We're pretty sure that people would grab their pitchforks and form a mob led by exterminators. This puts the rats' identity crisis in a different light: it's not just that they want to figure out where they belong. It's that not figuring this out could wind them up in a whole heap of trouble.
Quote #5
"Occasionally we came upon other rats, and a few times we talked with them, but not for long. Because after just a few words, they would begin to look at us strangely and edge away. Somehow they could tell that we were different." (19.6)
This might be the saddest part of the whole book. Not only are the rats kidnapped and changed against their will, but they are also changed so much that their own kind rejects them. They have become outcasts.
Quote #6
"Had we, then, no use in the world?" (21.12)
Oof, talk about an identity crisis. This kills us because the world hasn't actually been good to the rats, if you think about it. And yet, they still wonder what good they can do for the world, how they can be useful.
Quote #7
"And yet, here we were, rats getting caught up in something a lot like the People Race, and for no good reason." (22.24)
Rats as people and people as rats? This sounds like something more than your average identity crisis. Could it be that Nicodemis has a point and rats and people have more in common than just giving birth to live young? Maybe.
Quote #8
"We did not have enough work to do because a thief's life is always based on somebody else's work." (22.27)
Here's another identity that the rats want to cast off. Depending on how you look at it, this is either happy (because the rats are working towards a better life) or sad (because they would never be in this dilemma if the humans hadn't tinkered with them. Can't a rat catch a break once in a while?
Quote #9
"That's silly. Is it stealing when farmers take milk from cows or eggs from chickens? They're just smarter than cows or chickens, that's all. Well, people are our cows. If we're smart enough, why shouldn't we get food from them?" (22.52)
Jenner doesn't paint the most flattering picture of humans here, but his logic is pretty easy to follow. This makes it easy to understand why the Plan doesn't appeal to him.
Quote #10
They were, after all, the children of Jonathan Frisby. (28.18)
Mrs. Frisby means that because they are the children of Jonathan Frisby, they'll be able to handle anything the world throws at them. But it could also mean that the children will have to face the same identity crisis as do the rats. Talk about a double meaning.