Greed Depicted In 'The Monkey's Paw'

Imagine that you were given three wishes would take the the chance to lose someone or something for them. It's something you have to think about right? Well all of this is in the short story of “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Which is labeled to have the horror genre. Because of the horror included in the short-story of “The Monkey's Paw” by W.W it is a horrifying story.

Creepy and foreboding are two moods that prevails in the short story "The Monkey's Paw." The story begins with cold evening, most of the story takes place in night. The house is an out-of-the-way place. The exposition of the monkey's paw adds the touch of horror to the story, but it is the paw's magical powers that draws the reader's attention into the tale.

Have you ever been reading a book and start to wonder “what happens next?” This is called suspense, a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. These stories use suspense to help develop the overall tone of the two stories. “The Tell-Tale Heart”, by Edgar Allan Poe, and “The Monkey’s Paw, by W.W Jacobs, created a feeling of suspense by using cause-and-effect relationships by showing the characters’ feeling of something frightening might happen.

In the story “The Monkey’s Paw” the theme is don’t mess with fate and this story elements like character, setting, and plot all help contribute to the theme. The character’s emotions, reaction, and actions are a significant role in revealing the theme. The setting, though not realized as much actually shapes the story too. As normal, plot most definitely contributes to the theme.

Thesis: In The Monkey's Paw by W.W Jacobs, the realistic essence of the monkey's paw made it fundamentally creepy.

Whether it be an item, image, idea, or concept, motifs are frequently present within works of literature to create an even greater effect on the reader. Two of which include “The Monkey’s Paw” written by W. W. Jacobs and “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst. In Jacobs’s short story, the White family is introduced to a monkey’s paw, an item with the capability of granting three owners three wishes, by their friend, Sergeant-Major Morris. The family consists of three members: Mr. White, Mrs. White, and their son, Herbert White. Mister White, being the third and final holder of the paw, wishes for two-hundred pounds to pay off the family’s mortgage. As a result of Mr. White’s selfishness and the paw’s

In the vignette “The Monkey Garden”, Cisneros continues the theme of losing one’s innocence through imagery. Being one of the last vignettes, the reader knows the struggles like losing one’s innocence and feeling shameful that Esperanza continues to experience throughout the novel. Cisneros continues these themes when Sally is quite willingly tricked into kissing a couple of friends. Esperanza attempts to come to her rescue; however, Sally doesn’t want to be saved. Since Sally has completely thrown away her innocence by this point, Esperanza in turn feels shameful because of her still abundant innocence.

In W. W. Jacobs’ short story, “The Monkey’s Paw,” the White family’s innocent want for a better life is challenged when a magical talisman plagues their family through its wishes. When faced with death, humans have different ways of dealing with the rollercoaster of feelings that accompanies it. The family has to overcome grief, disappointment, and anger as they live their lives without their son. Through these emotions, the characters are being taught not to act foolishly, but they never learn. Through foreshadowing and situational irony, the story “The Monkey’s Paw” conveys the theme of how innocent intentions can have terrible repercussions.

“The Monkey’s Paw” is no ordinary story, this tale pounds upon the reader with the unrelenting suspense, but how does this story create such suspense? The pacing of the story keeps the reader wonder what has happened and keeps them latched onto this thrilling tale. Foreshadowing foretells the story prior to the actual reveal causing the reader to find these hidden clues guiding deeper into the story. Last but certainly not the least any information taken away from the story contributes to the suspense due to its intense grasp upon the reader forcing them to delve deeper into the story. This eerie sensation given off by this story can be called many things but the true name for this feeling is suspenseful.

Greed is constantly referenced and shown in all characters, except, Juana and Coyotito. Those two are the ones that receive the most pain throughout the book. Greed goes hand-in-hand with Shakespeare's’ “Green-eyed Monster”, Jealousy. These two things are what set this book in motion wealth is a chink in morality, that is when greed and jealousy infect and destroy. It says “Some ancient thing stirred Kino. Through his fear of dark and the devils that haunt the night…”(69). Those devils are Greed and Jealousy. Those two devils take control in one little chink, more common than the oxygen in our atmosphere, worse than torture. It also says “Kino stirred in a dream, and he cried out in a guttural voice, and his hand moved in symbolic fighting.” (72) This could be symbolism of an inner conflict like a deep set resistance in Kino, a part of him that knows where this is going. An inner battle against the pearl and its almost inhuman ability to act on its

In the story, “The Monkey’s Paw”, the White’s acquire a monkey’s paw from an old friend. The friend reveals that the paw is considered magic and then gives it to the Whites, starting a chain of events that brings sorrow to the family. However, just who is responsible for the misfortune that came to the Whites? Sergeant- Major Morris, the friend, is responsible for the whole incident. He told them about the paw, taught them how use it, and he ultimately let them have it.

Two stories and two magical wishes. The Monkey’s Paw and the Story of an Hour share several similarities throughout the passage. In the beginning of each passage, the author creates a sense of mystery and curiosity for the readers. As each passage reveals the characters in the story, the reader begins to relate the characters role from each story and how they act towards the conflict in the text. These different events, conflicts, or plot in both stories connect with death and wishes. The message from the two passages are relatively the same based on the characters, events and plot. The main connections between the two articles are characters, theme, plot and authors point of view.

The Monkey’s Paw has a few characters and is also there is family called the Whites.The characters in this story are Mr. and Mrs. White and their son also some others character. There is character that had the paw and there are also others that had used the paw and

The title, Monkey’s paw is important because it is a magic idol that grants three wishes to three separate men but it is dangerous. In the story Monkeys Paw this Idol ends up in Mr and Mrs White’s happy family and they used all three wishes but little did they know how powerful evil it truly was. The next wishes left them without a son and a monster at their door and seeing demons at night. Eventually wishing death for his son the Monkey’s Paw had shown them to not be greedy the hard way.

The theme of the story “The Monkey’s Paw” is fate and greed. I believe that the moral of the story and the overall message is do not alter with fate. In the short story, Mr. White uses the power of the monkey’s paw to wish for money to pay off his mortgages. Mr. White is tampering with fate and is using the paw for his own greed. Consequently, his wish ends up rebounding and ends in a negative way. In the text, it says “He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow." This quote indicates that the paw is evil and every wish made upon the paw will have a backfiring consequence. In fact, Mr. White is also warned of the consequences that he will have to face if he puts the paw to use. However, he goes and uses it and suffers the consequences of his greed.