To Analyse and to Foresee: Students’ Reading of the Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
According to the Poetry Foundation, the theory of reader-response criticism emerged in the late 1960s and is widely known in the United States and Germany. The main theorists are Stanley Fish, David Bleich and Wolfgang Iser, in which the theory emphasises the different reactions of the readers or audiences who actively analyze the text and interpret or understand the meaning of the text purely based on their personal experiences and culturally conditioned ways of reading (“Reader-response theory”). Moreover, Cagri Tugrul Mart highlighted the act of reading a literature that involved the reader's emotions, belief and histories, indirectly giving an impact on how the readers construct the meaning of the text throughout the transaction of the text as every readers’ interpretation is a reflection of the reader and the text as well. (79)
Robert M. Fowler emphasized some of the metaphors that were regarded as the tools in the reader-response criticism such as looking forward, looking back, filling gaps, the temporal experience of reading and the self-consuming artifact (56). In relation to this, the amazing Maurice and his educated rodents which is one of Terry Pratchett’s significant works was described by Francis Spufford as the story of a cat and rats who can talk after accidentally having a magic spillage with a silly boy named Keith who plays flute. Together they had a challenging journey by travelling from town to town as Keith pretended to be a pied piper who managed to lure rats away by using his magic pipe. Hence, by using the theory of reader-response criticism, this paper will analyze Maurice of Terry Practhett’s The Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents in terms of the role as a leader and the reaction of other characters, and the prediction for future development of the chosen character will also be included at the end of this essay.
First and foremost, reacting to the role of Maurice as a leader, Pratchett portrays Maurice as a talking cat who is capable of influencing others’ opinions with his ability to outtalk and silence others. Even though these traits of his are what makes him the leader, but, on behalf of the students, we argue that Maurice is not reliable as one since he is seen as selfish, unethical, and manipulative.
His self-centeredness is visible through how he behaves as a self-seeking cat whose priority is to look out for his own best interest. This can be seen from the text, “Then why are we scrabbling around underground trying to find him? Well, obviously it's because he's the one with the big dream about finding the rat island and without him the rats won't co-operate and I won't get paid, said Maurice.” (Pratchett 60) the text induces that Maurice is depicting a negative form of leadership since securing his benefits is his first priority and that he is willing to do anything even if it is against morality as long as it goes in parallel with his goals.
From a perspective as a student, even though he, by any means, is capable enough of leading the group with his competency, but in students’ view, he will be negatively perceived due to his selfishness and will be pretty much disliked up to the point where it could be hard for the team members to follow his lead. This shows that the behaviors of a leader are crucial to the point where it may influence the management of the team. Thus, we reject the idea of Maurice being pictured as an amazing leader because Rost said that, “the behavioral theory of leadership was about managers who put certain behaviors to work in managing organizations so that the organization was effective and efficient, not behaviors that allowed the organization to be ineffective and inefficient.” ( 97)
Besides, we can see here that Maurice has also shown unethical principles by suggesting to steal the highwayman’s horse as he can see the benefits that he may gain by doing so. “In that case, let’s steal the highwayman’s horse,’ said Maurice, as if the night wouldn’t be properly finished unless they stole something. ‘Stealing from a thief isn’t stealing, ‘cos it cancels out.” (Pratchett 3) The suggestion itself contrasted with righteous morals that should have been upheld especially by leaders. As students, we believe that a leader shall be honest and morally upright to guarantee the efficiency of an organizational structure. As Metwally et al. (13) said, “ethical leadership shapes cultural elements that prompt organizational effectiveness,…” which means, one of the factors for an organization to thrive is the ethics its leadership practices that help in ensuring its followers' welfare at best hence, securing smooth sailing work processes.
Moreover, major support from followers are what drives an organization into success and that is the supposed fruits of socially agreeable ethics shown by the leader. When a leader is doing his best and discusses important decisions properly with his members, he is upholding a sense of collectivity and compassion in the group that will help enhance the performances of their works whilst indirectly gaining their trusts. The fruits of consideration towards different opinions and making suitable decisions which encompasses all aspects in favor of the majority will undeniably strengthen the organization itself in terms of relationship and support. Thus, correct ethical leadership is center in a healthy operating structure.
Furthermore, Maurice’s manipulative behavior is also shown in the text when he wants to protect his stance by saying something to legalise his action of stealing. “If we just leave it, someone yawlp will steal it,’ wailed Maurice. ‘Some thieves will take it away! Much better if we take it, eh? We’re not thieves.’ (Pratchett 3) It indicates that Maurice wants to win his stance by manipulating others’ words that says stealing is unethical. His egocentric actions are proven when he keeps on arguing as long as his decision to steal is accepted, even though it may sound absurd and does not make any sense. In a student community, a leader with this exact attitude might misuse their position, power and compulsion to achieve their own benefit. They will coerce their teammates to accept their stance even if the truth of their arguments are not valid at all, as Tommy et al. found that “What counts is that in manipulation, leaders may use stories, which they them-selves consider false.” (Tommy et al. 419). Thus, having this kind of a leader in the student community may lead to negative outcomes such as the absence of cohesion and honesty in an organization.
Secondly, responding to the reaction of other characters towards Maurice, he seems to be negatively perceived as he receives many dislikes, sceptical reactions, and objections in the story. How he behaves towards others has resulted in many disliking him as an individual, therefore, encountering such unpleasant responses by other characters is pretty much expected. As proven, “He gave Maurice a glare, too. Hamnpork didn't like Maurice. He didn't like most things that had happened since the Change.” (Pratchett 6) Pratchett illustrates Hamnpork, in the eyes of most readers, as one of the rats who has obviously demonstrated his disfavour towards Maurice.
Some may argue that there is no need to discard the negative behaviors since everyone has it, students, however, choose not to disregard such behaviors believing that any form of negativity is rather not to be tolerated to avoid toxic traits in oneself. For the sake of making changes, a displeasing reaction could be effective in response to those behaviors as a means of disapproval and thus, the reaction of the students as the reader might probably be the nearest to Hamnpork’s.
Other than that, some of the rats are being sceptical towards him and cannot seem to fully trust his words in any circumstances. They are always doubtful of him and his unpredictable actions, not to mention, he is a cat. As shown in the text, 'Oh,' said Maurice. 'Er. Good. I've found you all, then.' 'Yes,' said Darktan, in what Maurice thought was a nasty tone of voice. 'Amazing, isn't it. I expect you've been looking for a long time, too. I saw you rush off to look for us.' (Pratchett 43) It is obvious that Darktan is being sceptical towards Maurice and was being cynical because he knows that Maurice ran away and met them only by accident.
The readers might feel the same way as Darktan when they read this scene because they also know what truly unfolds before it. This stimulates a stronger affirmation in readers that Maurice is not a reliable leader because he decided to prioritise himself more than his subjects even when faced with great danger which would cause immense distrust in a group. He also covered it up by taking advantage of Dangerous Beans’ trust in him by agreeing with his assumption although it was wrong. Therefore, it is common for readers to relate to Darktan in this situation as Maurice has portrayed such an irresponsible action.
As students, being sceptical towards a person could ruin a perfectly good relationship and can be seen as judgemental. This might result in hardship to find friends because scepticism definitely is not perceived well in the society and will raise many conflicts between the members as trust and respect is essential in starting a bond with other people. especially , when it comes to making new friends. In essence, scepticism is a natural thing that humans do but it still is not a good attitude to be shown to people.
Even though the rats seem to obey Maurice’s order, however, Peaches and Dangerous Beans prove otherwise as they are being doubtful of their intention to keep their mission in Bad Blintz. “Ahem,' said Peaches. Maurice groaned. 'What Dangerous Beans means,' said the female rat, 'is that all this stealing grains and cheese and gnawing holes in walls is, well…' She looked up into Maurice's yellow eyes. 'Is not morally right.'” (Pratchett 5). According to this text, it is undeniable that Peaches and Dangerous Beans are both against the idea of scamming people to get money.
As for students, they also require a lot of group work which if the students always have trust issues among group members, it will definitely affect the effectiveness of their plans. Hassanein (33) also stated in his article on student experience of group work that peer assessment is very important to intensify a group project. In short, unreliable leadership from Maurice has led to destroyment of the effectiveness of their mission as he also left the rats for another mission.
Last but not least, focusing on Maurice’s characterization, students, as the reader, are predicting some future development in which the chosen character may have either carried on with the same habits or flourished new ones after the ending of the story.
As we have witnessed the character development in the story, we imagine that Maurice will be making progress towards developing his compassion for others as we have seen that after he was aware of himself, Maurice seems to have felt some sense of guilt for eating Additives in the first place. It could be a starting point to where he might begin to feel mindful of others even if he meets characters other than rats in the future. We bet he is going to have higher emotional intelligence and that he will be kinder in terms of building his relationship with others even if it is with the normal cats or rats that have no abilities to talk.
Next, we imagine that Maurice will still retain his habits of asking the rat before he eats it and keep second guessing himself with his guilty conscience since he ate Additives. Maurice will also change his diet into a more variety of choices like fishes, chicks or canned cat food since he will feel guilty to eat so many rats in his life. Even when he stays apart from The Changelings, he will continue to be careful regarding who he eats and will constantly be reminded of those clever rats he had associated himself with whenever he goes.
He will also continue to be aware of his conscience and will also mourn for Additives to express his gratefulness because he was able to inherit the sentience after he ate him. Afterall, Maurice is a changed cat after what he has been through and he is certainly different from other cats in the world.
As this story ends with Maurice and the kid left the rodents behind, we predict that Maurice shall have an awareness that he is going to proceed his new adventure by making it a legal mission. If he still wants to keep his dream to live on an island, maybe he should find a rich person and offer himself to be his or her pet.
As a result, he can join his master for a holiday which he can also decide where they shall be going. Perhaps, they plan to have a vacation on a cruise and Maurice can say goodbye to his master while they have reached an island. After that, his adventure will start again with other rodents which they can have respect and trust on each other so that they can live peacefully without having to cheat for their own advantage.
On the other hand, if we were to say that Maurice still has his mischievous side, as Maurice leaves the Uberwald town, we imagine that Maurice will be starting a new civilization on an island but this time around, with the same species as him which are cats.
Using his ability to talk and manipulate his words, he will be capable of leading the other cats to follow him doing his favourite thing, which is scamming people or stealing in order to gain money, since he favours money so much. Maurice will lure the cats and then eventually, become their leader and can order them around to achieve his goals and dreams. This is possible because he is the “amazing” Maurice, a clever-talking cat and no other cats can be at par with his mischievous level.
Conclusion
In conclusion, by applying theory of reader-responses, this paper analyzed Maurice of Terry Practhett’s The Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents in terms of the role as a leader and the reaction of other characters, and the prediction for future development of the chosen character. Pratchett portrayed Maurice as someone who has negative traits in him and not qualified enough to be a leader even though it cannot be denied that he is a clever talking cat and always full of ideas yet against morality. As a result, some of the rats like Peaches, Darktan and Hamnpork have been sceptical and gave unpleasant reactions towards him as they always have been doubtful towards him throughout their journey together.
Maybe in the future, Maurice will change his way of thinking and start to develop compassion for other animals whether they can think or not. If he is lucky, he can start his own journey to achieve his dream to live on the island or become someone’s pet. In relation to this, students, as the reader, believe that it might be problematic if an organization is led by someone who is not qualified enough to be a leader as it will be hard for the leader and the followers as well to manage the organization to achieve their goals and together overcome any obstacle that awaits them in the future.
Works cited
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Fowler, Robert M. “Let the reader understand: Reader-response criticism and the Gospel of Mark.”Trinity Press International. Pennsylvania, 2001, pp. 50-83, https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/Reader-Response.pdf
Mart, Cagri Tughul. “Reader-response theory and literature discussions: a springboard for exploring literary texts.” The new educational review. 2019, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334605167_Reader-Response_Theory_and_Literature_Discussions_a_Springboard_for_Exploring_Literary_Texts
Metwally D, Ruiz-Palomino P, Metwally M and Gartzia L. “How Ethical Leadership Shapes Employees’ Readiness to Change: The Mediating Role of an Organizational Culture of Effectiveness.” Front. Psychol, doi: 10:2493.
Poetry Foundation. Reader-response theory. (n.d). https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/reader-response-theory. Accessed 24 June 2020.
Rost, Joseph C. “Leadership Development in the New Millennium.” Journal of Leadership Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 1993, pp. 91–110., doi:10.1177/107179199300100109.
Spufford, Francis. “The rat in the hat.” The Guardian. 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jul/13/booksforchildrenandteenagers.guardianchildrensfictionprize2002. Accessed 24 June 2020.
International Islamic University Malaysia
To Analyse and to Foresee:
Students’ Reading of the Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
Nur Amalina Damia binti Mohamad (1712222)
Nur Syifaa Binti Rosidi (1719972)
Nur Afifah Bt Ayub (1617838)
Nur Aina Atiqah binti Othman (1710420)
Nurul Aina Bt Shahabudin (1717548)
ENGL4620 - Literary Criticism
Semester 2, 2019/2020
Section 1
Miss Fateha
25 June 2020
