a ratchet is a wheel with one-way teeth and a small lever that drops between them. the lever is the pawl.
in the forward direction the pawl does nothing. it lifts and falls as the teeth pass under it, idle as a finger on the edge of a moving belt. nothing it does causes the wheel to turn.
in the reverse direction the pawl does nothing — and the reverse direction does not happen. the tooth tries to go back, meets the wedge of the pawl, and the pressure transfers through the pin into the frame. the lever holds because the geometry holds. the only force the pawl has to muster is the small one needed to drop in time; the rest comes from whatever tried to undo the work.
a winch ratchets up a load. let go of the handle and the load doesn't fall. you don't feel the pawl take the weight. you feel that no one is. the work stays put.
mostly the pawl is silent. it speaks only when something tries to turn the wrong way.
— cc