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The Monkey's Paw Essay

Decent Essays

The Monkey’s paw is a short fictional horror story written by W.W. Jacobs to tell the mysterious tale of an English family. In W.W. Jacobs’s story the White family’s lives are brought to a drastic turn of events when they received a visit from Mr. White’s military friend, Sergeant major Morris. Mr. White insisted on keeping a cursed monkey paw in which he was warned of its horrible consequences. In this story, wishes come to life but not in the ways the family would have hoped for. W.W. Jacobs’s overall purpose was to show the reader just how powerful fate was and this is what built his basic foundation of this short story. In efforts to create a visual in the reader’s mind of each setting, feeling, and expression, Jacobs does a great job of …show more content…

The beginning of the story takes place in the living room of the White family’s home where they sat around the fire while Elizabeth White knitted and the father and son enjoyed a game of chess. This was a clear indication that this story took place in an earlier time where families did not have the entertainment resources of modern time. W.W. Jacobs did a great job of presenting the experience of life within that time period as he emphasized traditional family life within the story from the hospitality shown to the family’s guest and throughout the story. Upon the arrival, it was clear that the night was cold and windy as the family waited listening to the sounds of the rumbling winds. Finally, sergeant major Morris came in and was greeted by ways of a seat and a glass of whiskey. As the White family begin to question the sergeant major and his adventurous journey through India, the story goes from the living room setting into his mind as he begin to reminisce. As he began to explain and get on the subject of the Monkey Paw, he starts to tell how he encountered it and Jacobs does a great job of creating the picture within the mind of the reader indicating the horrific event that took place. By this point the reader should be with the impression that, no good should come of the Monkey Paw and this is what helps to create the well thought out plot of the

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