The Monkey’s paw by W. W. Jacobs is an eerie short story about a son who dies in a horrific way and a family who wants to bring him back. It focuses on an enchanted monkey’s paw that grants three wishes. The paw was enchanted by an old fakir that wanted to prove that fate controlled life and going against it would only lead to regret and sorrow. This plot point can be noted as an underlying theme, but the main theme is “be careful what you wish for, because you might get it”. While this story is superb, a question comes to mind: Would could be learned from this short story? With further analysis, the reader may come to a split conclusion that this story is trying to tell the reader to think before they act, but also to be careful what …show more content…
This ordeal finally revealed to the readers that the paw was a truly sinister item. Days after the funeral Mrs. White, whose judgement was clouded by grief, wished Herbert to come back to life. She then heard a knock at the door and ran to open it assuming it was her loving son. Mr. White, who identified Herbert’s mangled body days earlier, gets an unnerving feeling that the thing on the other side of the door is not his son. So, with a heavy heart Mr. White makes the arduous decision to wish his son away from this earth. Not a moment after, the knocking ceases and Mrs. White realizes that the person at the front door is gone. While this story is unusual because of its content, it teaches us an important lesson on wanting for things. Blindly wishing for insignificant possessions will only lead down the path of demise. When the White’s wished-for money they didn’t consider the consequences. When you delve into the meaning of what Herbert and Mr. White wished for you will realize that it was very selfish. Wishing for money with a haunted puts the user and his family in grave danger. Putting family in jeopardy for the sake of profit is equivalent to stating that money is more important than family. Perhaps this is why the monkey’s paw punished Herbert. A man who wants cash more than his family is so infatuated with possessions that he loses sight of his goals. If something were to happen to his family he would be haunted with guilt because he paid
One of the ways that "The Monkey’s Paw" exemplifies the horror genre is through the use of horror without monsters(topic #1). A representative of Maw and Meggins comes to the White’s home and gives them the news of their son’s short life. “She broke off suddenly as the sinister meaning of assurance dawned upon her and she saw the awful confirmation of her fears in the other’s averted face”(Jacobs 112). The quote means that Mrs. White had suddenly realized what it meant to have been hurt but not be in any pain. When she had realized her son died she realized she needed to tell her husband. What she did not know was that it was part of the curse that Mr. White had wished for. The quotation helps to show that "The Monkey’s Paw" exemplifies the
W. W. Jacobs wrote the short story “The Monkey’s Paw” in 1902. A great number of adaptations of the story have since been created using different forms of media. The two which are being compared here are the play adaptation The Monkey’s Paw dramatized by Mara Rockliff and the 2011 film version The Monkey’s Paw by Ricky Lewis Jr. Both the play and film feature the White family receiving a monkey’s paw by which three wishes may be granted. The paw had a spell put on it by a holy man who wanted to show that fate rules people’s lives and that if people try to interfere, they will be sorry. The main differences between the play and the film are that film gives more background information about how and why the paw was obtained, uses more
The W.W. Jacobs version, and the Simpson’s version of The Monkey’s Paw were both similar and different. For example, one difference is, in The Monkey’s Paw story by W.W. Jacobs, the wishes made all had bad outcomes. Specifically, In the W.W. Jacobs version, a man comes to their house and tells them Herbert died and they would be given, “[t]wo hundred pounds...” (Jacobs 174). This evidence proves, how the White family wished for two hundred pounds, then the received the two hundred pounds, at the cost of their son’s life. On the other hand, in The Simpson’s version, they became rich and famous from their wish. Overall, In the W.W. Jacobs version of The Monkey’s paw, the wishes all had very bad outcomes; but the Simpson’s version had fairly good
The Monkeys Paw is about the White family. A family, which consisted of Mr. White, Mrs. White, and their son Herbert. One night Mr. White’s friend Sergeant Major Morris went to the house. During the evening the Sergeant talked about his experiences in the British territory. Mr. White started talking about the Monkeys Paw, the Sergeant takes it put of his pocket and started explaining what it was and its powers.
Greed is a sin of excess that every single human being has at least a little bit of. When someone has the opportunity to get as much of something as they possibly can, they will go to great lengths to get everything out of it. In the story “The Monkey’s Paw,” by W. W. Jacobs, the White family experiences a big test of greed, and they even tamper with their fate to get it. Before the Whites even knew about the paw, they were living a normal, but decent, lifestyle that got them by day-to-day without any troubles. Once they received this one idol in their life that could grant any three wishes that they could possibly think of, their mind set was altered and their greediness to change their fate kicked into play. Jacobs uses themes of
If one is making a wish then it must be a smart one or don't make one at all. Weeks after their son’s death Mrs. White thinks to use the monkeys paw. She suggests that her husband wish for their son to be alive again with their second wish. He raised his hand "I wish for my son alive again" (Jacobs 8). He made his son come back to life in the same way he was killed. To bring his son to life was a mistake because he does not know what he will be like when he's brought back. The first wish had a negative effect to getting the wish granted so it is only natural that the others will have some kind of consequence to them. To use the monkey's paw again to wish for Herbert to be alive after the talisman had killed him was the biggest mistake. Wishing their son back from the dead will probably result in he not being the same person that he once was. Making a reckless wish to try and make up for the mistake that had been caused by the first wish was a total and utter waste. If Mr. White had listened to the warning that was given to him he wouldn’t have had so much anguish.
Have you ever wondered if wishes could be granted? If you have, you probably thought of everything you could get with them. Being rich, unlimited wishes, fame etc. Well in “The Monkey’s Paw,” written by W.W Jacobs, you wouldn’t want to make a wish. This story takes place in England. In this story, a family named the whites has a chance to increase their fortunes with an magical object, a monkey’s paw. This magical paw from India has the power to grant three wishes from three separate men, the downside of this paw was that the wisher would have to pay the price. The simpson’s give the same message in their parody, but in a way different way. In the parody, it imitates “The Monkey’s Paw,” in a dramatic way. The parody takes place on a halloween night, but in a dream. Homer finds a magical monkey’s paw at a shop that has the power to grant four wishes. As you can already see, even though the parody gives the same message, it has it’s own differences to the original story as well. These two versions share both differences and similarities.
“The Monkey’s Paw” is a supernatural short story by author W. W. Jacobs first published in England in 1902. In the story, three wishes granted to the owner of the monkey’s paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. I agree on how some occasions the events are giving away as you can see in this sentence, how the friend gives Mr. White a magical wish granting monkey paw, now we all know what happens next something always goes wrong on granting wishes. It gives most of its story away before it happens such as his son saying something like he will not see what happens to the monkey paw.
The aftermath of the first wish brought them to the second. Before the news of their son’s death, Mr. White took his wife’s hands, as if they were courting in their younger day. He had his wife all to himself; without the interference of their son. While at the house, after the funeral, Mrs. White cried out to her husband to use to paw to wish their son back to life. The father urged her that the request was too much because if she could not see him at the funeral, she would not be able to fathom the look of him if he came back. She wished for her son to come back and there came a knock at the door, and she ran downstairs in anticipation of her sons return. As she ran downstairs, Mr. White struggled to find the paw, found it and the knocking stopped.
In the final analysis, characters from both stories carried with them a dream that inevitably led them to irrational thinking and an ultimate downfall. In simple
Life Lessons in “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken
“The Monkey’s Paw,” teaches you the lesson of being careful of what you wish for because the outcome may be very dreadful. A strange Monkey’s paw that grants wishes would seem a little bogus to me. The myths of this paw granting the beholder three wishes, anything you can think of. The beholder gets their wish; only to have consequences to pay for the granted wish. The wishes leave the beholder in either shock or grief. Only leading up to the person granting the wishes, to regret that they ever came up the Monkey’s
In the story, The Monkey’s Paw by WW Jacobs, the author explores the theme of the consequences of interfering with fate. , a sergeant comes to a family's home and tells them about the monkey, the monkey paw gives a man three wishes, sergeant wants to destroy the paw but the husband Mr. White decides to take it and use it , but in the end he messes with fate and kills his son.
Fate cannot be tamed and anyone who tries to modify their fate does so to their sorrow. This is the main theme that is exemplified in the short work of fiction “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs. Jacobs successfully creates characters who eventually learn the lesson about fate. Mr. and Mrs. White, the main characters, are visited late one night by a fakir who gives them a monkey’s paw that could grant 3 wishes. But, before the fakir leaves, he warns the Whites, if they use the paw, to “wish for something sensible” (Jacobs 27). Not only does this create foreshadowing, but it also generates conflict between the Whites as to whether or not to use the paw and what to wish for. The author uses the responses of the characters to this conflict, especially
Taking place in a countryside home, W.W. Jacobs’s short story “The Monkey’s Paw” illustrates the White family’s two-day interaction with a seemingly innocent mummified monkey's paw. Each character presented in the short story represents natural human traits that can prove to be negative when greed and curiosity are involved. The use of symbolism throughout the story proves to be vital to the reader, as it allows him or her to understand the importance of every action done to the monkey’s paw has an opposite consequence. This correlates to everyone on Earth’s predetermined fate and the problems that an individual could face when greed overcomes their needs, even when it is for a better or worse life. When individuals are consumed by greed, like the White family, they must accept the consequences no matter how severe it is when it is something they truly seek in life.