Rats

Rats are an environmental presence in Murdstone and Grinby's warehouse, making the building’s neglect audible as well as visible. Remembered by David Copperfield among its decayed floors, grime, and smoke, they help fix the warehouse as a place of physical degradation and childhood hardship.

Habitat in the Warehouse

The warehouse stands at the waterside in Blackfriars, in a narrow street descending toward the river. Its wharf meets the water at high tide and the mud when the tide is out; inside, the old building is literally overrun with rats. They are especially present in the cellars, where David recalls the squeaking and scuffling of grey rats.

The Warehouse and David’s Work

David is ten when he is sent to work in the warehouse. The boys’ tasks include examining and washing empty bottles, pasting labels on full ones, fitting corks, sealing them, and packing finished bottles into casks. The rats belong to the surroundings of this labor: the remembered warehouse is not simply a workplace but a decaying, dirty building that exposes the child to an environment as harsh as the conditions of his employment.

Memory and Narrative Significance

As an adult, David describes the warehouse as a scene that remains vividly present to him. The rats’ sounds recur in that recollection alongside the dirt, rottenness, and decaying staircase, turning a specific detail of the cellars into part of the setting’s oppressive texture. The text identifies no individual rat or separate role for the animals; their significance lies in how their infestation makes the warehouse’s neglect unmistakable and gives David’s memory of his first day there a persistent physical setting.