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The Monkey's Paw Character Analysis

Decent Essays

“The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken are similar stories because of their characters, and contrasting stories because of the wishes. The characters both receive wishes in a similar way, but the main characters use their wishes in different ways. First, I will be comparing the ways the main characters receive their wishes. In “The Monkey’s Paw” Mr. White receives his wishes from Sergeant Major Morris, who sells The Monkey’s Paw to Mr. White. Sergeant Major Morris warns Mr. White about the paw and says the first person wished for death on their third wish. In “The Third Wish” Mr. Peters was driving his car at dusk, hearing a faint cry, so he stops his car. Then he enters the woods beside him to investigate the noise, finding a white swan trapped in a thorny bush, and Mr. Peters decides to rescue the swan, but it pecks and hisses at him. Eventually Mr. Peters saves the swan and it floats away, but then a little man wearing green clothes and a golden crown appears and grants Mr. Peters 3 wishes. Next, I will be contrasting the differences between the way the characters use their wishes. I think Mr. White uses his wishes in a curious kind of way because he isn’t really sure whether The Monkey's Paw is real or fake. First Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds, and isn’t taking the paw seriously, so consequences are his son dies in a machinery …show more content…

One life lesson I learned from “The Monkey’s Paw” is you should always consider the consequences of your actions. A life lesson I learned from “The Third Wish” is you should always prepare for the worst, but hope for the best, like how Mr. Peters saved his last wish until his death, which shows how he was prepared if something bad was to happen, so he could use the last wish. Finally, I enjoyed reading both of the stories, but I liked “The Third Wish

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