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Answer -
Though the rattrap peddler indulged in begging as well as petty thievery to keep body and soul together, yet from the beginning of the story he attracts our sympathy. His clothes were in rags, his cheeks were sunken, and hunger gleamed in his eyes. He was a vagabond whose life was sad and monotonous. His idea of comparing the world with a big rattrap in which human beings are entrapped looks so appealing to us. He evokes our sympathy also because the world has never been very kind to him.
The way he has to seek shelter at various places and has to meet usually “sour faces” also evokes the reader’s sympathy towards him. Perhaps that is why he wins the sympathy of the old crofter and Edla and to some extent of the ironmaster. Edla felt that she should do something for “the poor hungry wretch”, who walks and walks throughout the year. Wherever he turns, he is l chased away. That is why our sympathy is with the peddler. I think despite detesting him [ as a petty thief, our overall sympathy with the peddler is justified.