Rats

Rats are living companions in Christopher John Francis Boone’s account, not merely objects in his surroundings. Toby is carried out of the house, travels with Christopher on his attempt to reach London, and becomes the focus of a dangerous rescue at a railway station. His later death closes this part of their shared story: Christopher buries him in a large pot of earth and is refused another rat because his mother’s room is too small.

Toby as Companion

When Christopher leaves home, he takes Toby out of his cage and puts him into the pocket of one of his coats. The cage is too heavy to carry all the way to London, so the pocket provides a practical way to bring his pet along. Toby’s presence accompanies Christopher into an unfamiliar journey, linking the decision to leave with the continuing responsibility of caring for an animal.

Toby also appears in Christopher’s encounter with a policeman. When the policeman notices the animal looking out of Christopher’s pocket, Christopher explains that it is his pet rat. The brief exchange makes the relationship public: Toby is not an unidentified animal or a stray, but Christopher’s own pet, whom he carries with him.

The Rescue at the Station

At a small station, Christopher looks for Toby and sees him down beside the rails, distinguishable by his white fur and a brown, egg-shaped marking on his back. Toby is eating an old sweet wrapper. Christopher climbs down from the platform and approaches him, holding out a hand for Toby to smell so that he can recognize Christopher.

Toby runs away when Christopher tries to catch him. As Christopher follows, a man attempts to intervene; Christopher screams, and Toby darts past his feet. Christopher catches him by the tail, then lifts him with both hands. Toby bites Christopher’s thumb and struggles to get free. The train is approaching, and Christopher is still down by the rails with Toby in his hands.

The man pulls Christopher back onto the concrete platform as the train enters the station. Afterward, Christopher returns to the bench and puts Toby inside his jacket. The episode shifts abruptly from a search for a missing pet to mortal danger: Christopher’s effort to recover Toby brings both of them into the path of an incoming train, and the man’s intervention gets Christopher off the tracks.

Toby’s Death and Burial

Later, Toby dies at the age of two years and seven months, which Christopher describes as very old for a rat. Christopher wants to bury him, but his mother has no garden, so he places Toby in a large plastic pot filled with earth, the sort used for a plant. The makeshift burial preserves Christopher’s wish to give his pet a resting place despite the lack of a garden.

Christopher asks for another rat, but his mother refuses because the room is too small. Toby’s death therefore ends not only this particular companionship but also Christopher’s hope of replacing it with another rat. The account gives the refusal a concrete domestic limit: the obstacle is the size of the room.

Narrative Significance

Toby’s story is told through specific acts of carrying, searching, recognizing, and burying. Christopher’s journey makes Toby’s dependence on him visible, while the station episode shows how care can become dangerous when Christopher pursues the animal into an unfamiliar, hazardous space. The later burial and refusal of a replacement give their relationship a distinct ending rather than treating Toby as a temporary detail of the journey.

The narrative keeps Toby’s animal presence concrete: he has a recognizable coat pattern, eats discarded paper, escapes Christopher’s hands, and bites when held. These details resist reducing him to a symbol alone. At the same time, his life and death matter through Christopher’s actions—taking him along, searching the tracks, seeking another rat, and finding a way to bury him—so the account registers both Toby’s vulnerability and the bond Christopher experiences with him.