How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She watched them for quite a long time. It was obvious that they knew exactly what they were doing, and they looked as well drilled as a group of soldiers. (5.25)
Since we see this through Mrs. Frisby's eyes, we are able to see how strange this looks to another member of the animal kingdom. Comparing the rats to soldiers also makes us think that they are more human than rat.
Quote #2
The rats on Mr. Fitzgibbon's farm just kept to themselves.
One did not prowl in their domain. (9.41-42)
None of the animals are quite sure why they avoid the rats; they just have a feeling that they should stay away. This feeling does a lot to keep the groups of animals on the farm separate from one another and makes it hard for them to team up.
Quote #3
"You might call him our chief engineer […] as, indeed, you might call Justin the captain of the guard—if we had any such titles, but we don't." (13.2)
Are you scratching your head here like we are? Do they have titles or not? It's a little confusing, but this means that the rats all have specific jobs, but that their job only refers to what they do—not what they are. This may mean that the rats are shooting for greater equality, which is certainly a goal to be proud of.
Quote #4
"We're something Dr. Schultz has made. Something new. Dr. Schultz says our intelligence has increased more than one thousand percent […] I think we're probably as intelligent as he is—maybe more […] I think we can learn anything we want." (18.56)
At first, this seems like a good thing. Who wouldn't want to be off-the charts smart? But since learning (in this book) is so often associated with pain and with being different, it seems like the rats had been signed up for 1000 times more pain when Dr. Schultz was finished with them.
Quote #5
"If the ants can do it, if the bees can do it, so can we."
"Do what?"
"Why, live without stealing, of course. That's the whole idea. That's the Plan." (20.78-80)
We just want to point out that ants at a picnic will make off with anything they can get their little mitts on, but that might be taking this statement too literally. The point here is that the rats are looking for role models to guide them in their quest to create a more perfect society. Ants and bees are very independent and are also highly organized, which the rats seem to have taken to heart.
Quote #6
"But people think we spread diseases, though never intentionally, and surely we never spread as many diseases as people themselves do." (21.10)
The rats keep coming face-to-face (snout?) with the terrible things that people think of them. Now that they are super-geniuses, though, they are able to think these stereotypes through and start to question them. So that's something.
Quote #7
"Still, it seemed to us that the main reason that we were hated must be that we always lived by stealing. From the earliest times, rats lived around the edges of human cities and farms, stowed away on men's ships, gnawed holes in their floors and stole their food." (21.11)
Even though the rats are hurt by the fact that humans despise them so much, their new intelligence allows them to look at the issue from the other side. It's this ability that helps them to think up the Plan, which will allow them to live away from the "edges of human cities and farms." Of course, this understanding is also the main wedge between them and belonging with other groups of rats.
Quote #8
"Millions of years ago," he said, "rats seemed to be ahead of all the other animals, seemed to be making a civilization of their own. They were well-organized and built quite complicated villages and fields. Their descendants today are the rats known as prairie dogs." (21.13)
Have you ever heard the phrase "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet?" Well, this is a case of a "rat by any other name would smell a lot sweeter." The rats see the prairie dogs as they boat that they missed, close and cute cousins to rats who stole all of their thunder.
Quote #9
"Surely rats would have developed reading and writing judging by the way we took to it. But what about machines? What about cars and airplanes?" (21.16)
We're not sure about this, but we admire the rats' confidence. These are the types of beliefs that may allow the rats to develop a new and innovative society.
Quote #10
She thought: It's a good plan and a brave one. It would be the first time in all the world that intelligent beings, besides men, have ever tried to start a real civilization of their own. They ought to have a chance. It was not right that they should be killed at the last minute. Or captured. (25.11)
This, right here, is why we love Mrs. Frisby. She is smart, brave, fair, and she tells it like it is. Put this way, who could argue with her? She puts into words all of the feelings that readers are having at the end of the book when it looks like the rats won't make it.