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Analysis Of The Monkey's Paw

Decent Essays

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

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