 Kutzer thinks the tale has a "nightmarish quality". Poor Mrs. Tittlemouse cannot keep one step ahead of the various intruders. Although the house is her own, she has no control over who inhabits it: she finds bees nesting in an empty storeroom and woodlice hiding in the plate rack. She is trapped in her own home, her hours occupied with fighting off invaders from without to the point where she is sure she will "go distracted". Although Mr. Jackson drives the unwanted intruders away, he leaves behind a mess of honey smears, moss, thistledown, and dirty footprints that Mrs. Tittlemouse invests two weeks of her life into cleaning up.
