Auntie Shrew

Auntie Shrew is a secondary antagonist in The Secret of NIMH whose characterization makes the animal insult in her name literal. The book treats her as an example of how a female character can be made ridiculous and threatening through familiar misogynist stereotypes, even in a story with a strong and brave heroine.

Identity and Role

Auntie Shrew is identified as a woman and as a literal shrew, a pairing that turns her name into the premise of her characterization. She occupies a secondary-antagonist role; the available account does not specify her actions in the plot beyond describing her as shrieking.

Characterization

Her presentation combines the shrewish woman stereotype with a conspicuous physical detail: a pinwheel of snaggle-fangs. The book groups these features as a cornucopia of misogynist stereotypes, suggesting that her characterization relies on a pile-up of traits that make her seem unpleasant rather than on a more particular account of her motives or experience.

Critical Significance

The book acknowledges a possible defense: the film’s heroine is also a woman, and she is strong and brave. It rejects that contrast as sufficient justification for Auntie Shrew’s portrayal. A positive female lead does not, in this reading, cancel out the stereotype built into another woman’s name, appearance, and characterization.