Monkey's Paw: Themes In The Monkey's Paw

This is revealed to the reader in the characterization of each story. In The Monkey’s Paw, Mr. White and Herbert start out the story as greedy, taking advantage of the chance to get money through means of a magical paw. At the end of the story, they realize that they saw what they needed and didn’t appreciate what they already had. In The Necklace, the woman only sees what she doesn’t have, money and fancy clothes. After 10 years of hard work, she accepts that she has all that she needs in her husband and the life that she has.

Do you let greed control you and make decisions that you regret later? In the story "The Monkey's Paw” The family is happy with what they have but when the opportunity arises to have more than they could wish for, will they regret the decisions they have made? In the story we read about a mother and father who have a son and are very happy. They are then greeted by an expected visitor. The visitor is a old friend who was a general in the military and has just come back from India. The man brings a paw that is supposed to be cursed but has a gift where it will give three wishes, the family is warned but ignores the advice and the family takes advantage of it. As a consequence for their actions, their son dies and are they very devastated. In the story “The Monkey’s Paw” The father learns that greed can control you and courage makes you act on behalf of others.

The overall message in the story and in real life is that things can be too good to be true. For example, in life you could get a call saying that you won a free trip to the Caribbean. Once you look into it, you found out that you have to do something or pay a sum of money to go on the trip. This is to good too be true because even though it says it is a free trip, it turned out not to be. This is why I think it is the overall message in the story because things in life always come at a cost. In the story, Sergeant- Major Morris gave the White Family the Monkey’s Paw because they asked and begged for it. The White family thought that they were getting a chance to grant three wishes of their choice, but they didn’t consider the dangers in which Morris warned them about.

“The Monkey’s Paw” holds back a lot of information, a perfect example of this is when Herbert’s boss comes to tell Mr. White about his son’s death he wouldn’t say Herbert had died he only said, “He was badly hurt, but he’s not in any pain.” It leaves the readers imagination to decide on what happened to Herbert; this state of unknowing creates suspense forcing the reader to continue to read to figure out what happened. Another example of this literary device is when Mr.White says to Mrs.White "He has been dead ten days, and besides he - I would not tell you else, but - I could only recognize him by his clothing. If he was too terrible for you to see then, how now?" this is almost self-explanatory, during those 10 days the no information is given as well as Herbert’s appearance, so the reader is left to decide based on all the give information; what had happened to Herbert. THe intentional lack of detail was a great contributor to the story and would not have reached the level of suspense that it did without the withholding of

Think Question 1: Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. How does the author of “The Monkey’s Paw” use foreshadowing in the first chapter to suggest that the spell placed on the paw might not bring happiness to whoever possesses it? Cite textual evidence from the selection to support your answer.

Dynamic characters add mystery to a story. Since they are always changing, people never know what is going to happen. In “The Monkey’s Paw”, Mr. White could have made many different decisions about what to do with the paw. The fact that he chose to make wishes was only one of the few things he could have done with it.

Have you ever wondered what it would like through the eyes of a killer? In each of the story’s they have examples of cause and effect, for example from the killer 's perspective he went crazy because he killed the old man. From the victim’s perspective in monkey’s paw after using this paw it costed them their son and losing their son made them depressed. The-Tell-Tale-Heart by Edgar Allan Poe and The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs have cause and effect relationships that create suspense.

The Monkey’s Paw is a short story describing about the White family that were corrupted by the Monkey’s paw which grants wishes, but will create consequences. The Man in the Bottle is based off the Monkey’s Paw but there will be a man who appears and will grant the wishes that Mr. and Mrs. Castle. These two versions of the story are both similar and also different in many ways making them unique stories.

The conflict in the story is not only the monkey’s paw but was somewhat Mr. White’s attitude. If he never was that greedy the story would have changed he would have agreed with Morris and burned the monkey’s paw but he didn’t want to do that creating the plot. Any change in the plot could have/ would have altered the course of the story but also altering the theme. In “The Monkey’s Paw,” the downfall of the White family is when they receive the two hundred pounds as a compensation for the son’s death which was actually caused by messing with fate. They did receive the two hundred pounds but it came at an even greater price their son’s death. Cause of this, messing with

The author of each story writes to entertain their audience. In the Monkeys Paw, the story starts off “Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlor of Laburnum villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly”. This first sentence in the passage immediately makes the reader wonder about the setting and what’s going on. In other words, the author W.W. Jacobs grabs the reader’s attention by making the readers think and be curious about

Two hundred pounds they are so lonely without their son. Mr. White then begs to wish his son

In the short story, “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs, one identified mood is suspenseful due to the consequences of the wishes made using the monkey’s paw. The day after Mr.White had wished for 200 pounds using the monkey’s paw, the family was still hung up on it, especially Mrs.White. When she received the mail she checked to see if the wish came true because she remembered the Sergeant saying the wish happens so naturally it almost seems like a coincidence. On page 35 it states, “All of which did not prevent her from scurrying to the door at the postman’s knock, nor prevent her from referring somewhat shortly to retired sergeant-majors of bibulous habits when she found that the post brought a tailor’s bill.” Mrs.White’s actions show that even though the wish was made last night they are still waiting for the 200 pounds to show up and they are paying attention, as it could happen any time, and randomly.

“(of the paw)...which betokened no great belief in its virtues.” This is foreshadowing later events in the story when the wish made by the monkey paw comes true. Jacobs adds onto the foreshadowing by writing the family making jokes about how the wish will come true the next morning. The quote, “She was watching the mysterious movements of a man outside…” leaves many questions in the reader’s mind. Neither the reader nor the character know who the enigmatic character is and what they are being introduced for. The author closes part two by telling the reader Mr. and Mrs. White were being given two hundred pounds for their son’s death. With the reader’s previous knowledge of Mr. White’s wish, they are left surprised by the turn of

Suspense, every horror story needs them to be great. Every great horror story draws readers in. So, when stories have great suspense and it will make the story unpredictable. Edgar Allen Poe and W.W. Jacobs caused a feeling of suspense in their stories by using cause-and-effect relationships.

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality”-Edgar Allan Poe. All great horror stories represent that quote. There is one story that does not. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs is not a horror story because there is not a monster, it is not believable, and it does not have a creepy setting.