Knowledge is a powerful tool for freedom and independence, but balance is critical to avoid what Nicodemus sees as an inevitable end to the colony should they continue on the same path. In Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, knowledge propels the rats to freedom, but it is also the reason they are trapped to begin with. Humans captured the rats with the goal of scientific discovery, and in doing so disregard the lives of the animals they were experimenting with. When Robert C. O’Brien wrote his novel, he was inspired by a real-world experiment conducted by scientist John B. Calhoun, who placed hundreds of rats into what he called a rat utopia. Overcrowding and psychological stress led to a complete collapse of the rat communities in Calhoun’s experiment, and some of the concerns with the outcome of these real-world experiments are reflected in the fictional world of the rats of NIMH.

Knowledge allows the rats to escape NIMH and develop their own civilization underneath the rosebush using electricity, running water, and other technologies. It also eventually allows them to create plows and learn how to agriculturalize their environment to become fully independent from humans. However, this knowledge also creates a point of no return for the rats, who can now never go back to being regular rats.