The Monkey's Paw Literary Analysis

The Monkey’s Paw is a story about the White family and what happens to them when they get their hands on a magical monkey’s paw. Do they make wise decisions or just ones that turn into sadness? You will see that the story has many cause and effect situations that moves the plot. You may think something is silly and full of nonsense but in reality it has so much power. Have a look at how this family undergoes the effects of this mystical and magical monkey’s paw.

The exposition reveals that the family lives in a small parlor of Laburnam Villa, it was a cold and wet night, and they had a fire burning brightly. Mr. White is playing chess with his son Herbert White while Mrs. White, a white-haired old lady, was knitting near the fireplace. After

White tells his family that they now can be rich, famous, and happy but he can’t come up with his first wish. He and his wife decided to wish for two hundred pounds of money, he holds up the paw in his right hand and wishes. That night he sat alone by the fire and strangely he starts seeing faces in the fire and the last one he sees is a horrible monkey-like face, he puts the fire off and goes to bed. That next morning after their son goes to work, they start saying how the idea that their wish was going to come true was nonsense and they didn’t believe in it anymore. Later on, a fancy man with a silk hat of glossy newness came by their place with a worried look to bring them some news. He was from “Maw and Meggins”, the man told them that Herbert was caught in the machinery and died. For the service that their son gave them, the company is giving them two hundred pounds of money. They suffered a great loss and couldn’t believe the betrayal and what they had to pay because of the desire that came from the monkey’s paw. They spent days without even talking to themselves and depressed. After ten days of their son’s death, Mrs. White insanely commands his husband to use the second wish to bring their son back from the dead. Mr. White strongly believes it’s a bad idea but ends up doing it anyway. “At the foot of the stairs the match went out, and he paused to strike another; and at the same moment a knock, so quiet and stealthy as to be scarcely

The knocks keep coming each time louder and louder, Mrs. White rushes to the door but can’t open it right away. Her husband regrets making the wish more and more, and right before she is unlocking the door Mr. White finds the paw and makes his third wish. The falling action shows us how the knocking stops and Mrs. White opens the door to only a cold wind rushing through the parlor. The conclusion closes this story with the mother having such disappointment and misery over not seeing her son and the husband comforting