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Monkey Paw Analysis

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“Monkey Paw” by W.W. Jacobs shows that magic can affect you in good and/or bad ways if you don’t earn what you wish for. In the story there is a magical monkey 's paw that can grant you wishes - with a cost. Every Time the family wishes for something, the paw brings bad luck to the family. For example the family wished for two hundred pounds to pay off their mortgage and in exchange there son died and they got a sympathy grant of two hundred pounds. Why would this happen? In “Monkey paw”there was a ‘magical paw’ that 's could grant any three wishes per person, their friend ( a sergeant ) brought the monkey paw with him when he went over to their house, he warned them that those who used the monkey paw for wishes would get something bad …show more content…

I believe the central idea in this story is you have to earn things not just get them handed down to you, the story Monkey’s paw shows this because it grants you wishes with a good, and bad twist so you still somehow have to pay for what you get. The theme first emerges when the sergeant first brings the monkey 's paw, the theme shows because the paw is magical and can grant you 3 wishes, the second reason that helped shape the theme was when the family was wishing for things but they didn 't realize they had to earn them it just wish for them so they got good and bad magic when wishing, for example when they wished for 200 pounds and they got it by their son dieing, this shows you have to earn things not just get them. In the real world this is all true, you can’t get things by magic or it just floating down from the sky, you have to earn things like everyone else no matter how rich or famous you are you have to earn things not just take them. I think that the family shouldn 't have wished off the paw in the first place because if they wouldn 't have their son would still be alive but they decided to wish because they wanted a shortcut in life. I think this theme matches the story because in the story the paw can grant 1 person 3 withes and I think it 's trying to show how important it is for you to earn things for yourself and not just get them handed to you from the sky, you have to learn how to earn things yourself,

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