The Monkey’s Paw Themes
- Fate: Through the conceit of the monkey’s paw, the story explores the importance of fate in human life.
- The unknown: The story dramatizes the tension between the known and the unknown, showing the dangers of the latter.
- Grief and loss: The story depicts the psychological effects of grief and loss.
What is a brief plot summary of "the Monkey's Paw"?
The Monkey's Paw Summary
- Sergeant-Major Morris explains that the paw will grant any three wishes. However, both Morris and the owner before him regret using the paw.
- Mr. White wishes for money to pay off the mortgage. ...
- The distraught Whites then wish to revive their son, only to reverse the wish upon realizing the potential implications.
What is the plot of the monkeys Paw?
The Monkey's Paw is a story about a mystical charm, a monkey's paw that is brought into the home of the White family by Sergeant Major Morris, who has served in India.
What is the mood in the story monkeys Paw?
The overall mood is one of foreboding. However, the mood inside the house turns gloomy with the arrival of Sergeant-Major Morris, who brings a wish-granting monkey's paw. The mood becomes more menacing each time the money's paw is mentioned, overtaking the household's warmth.
What is irony for short story The Monkey's Paw?
In the story "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs, the irony, or difference between what the Whites think will happen and what actually happens, is that the monkey's paw, an object of their desires to have wishes fulfilled, becomes a curse rather than a blessing.
What is the monkey's paw about?
Jacobs’ ‘The Monkey’s Paw’. On Tuesday, we summarised ‘The Monkey’s Paw’, W. W. Jacobs’ popular and widely anthologised short horror story about a mummified paw which has the power to grant three wishes to three men.
Why did the White family use the monkey's paw?
The White family choose to use the monkey’s paw to wish for two hundred pounds – a not insubstantial sum in 1902 – thus opening themselves up to the charge of personal greed (especially as the money is wanted for nothing more life-threatening than clearing up the house).
What makes the monkey's paw so unsettling?
What makes ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ so unsettling, and such a masterclass in writing horror fiction, is that Jacobs doesn’t give us a clear reason why Mr White should deserve such a fate. If the monkey’s paw represents the empire striking back (see below), we are given no indication that White or his family is or has been particularly heavily involved in colonial India (and thus, one might argue, fair game).
What does the number 3 mean in fairy tales?
As in many classic fairy tales, the number three is invested with great narrative significance: there are three members of the White family, three men can use the monkey’s paw to request wishes, and each man gets three wishes. There are three knocks at the door after the Whites use the monkey’s paw to wish for their son to be alive again.
How many knocks at the door after the Whites use the monkey's paw?
There are three knocks at the door after the Whites use the monkey’s paw to wish for their son to be alive again. The story itself is divided into three parts. ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ was first published in Harper’s Monthly Magazine in September 1902 and proved instantly popular, being reprinted later that same year and adapted for ...
Is the monkey's paw a fairy tale?
You can read ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ here. ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ is a modern fairy tale, and indeed fairy tales and magical stories from the Arabian Nights (featuring djinn, or genies, who can grant wishes, as the story of Aladdin attests) are both mentioned by characters in the story. As in many classic fairy tales, the number three is invested ...
What is the message of the amoral monkey's paw?
The amoral monkey's paw, having received a wish, simply fulfills it in the most direct and literal way possible, not thinking about whether the price of attaining the wish is worth more than the wish itself. The message of the story, therefore, is that taking short-cuts to our desires can cost us much more than we imagine.
What is the theme of the story "The Price of Taking Shortcuts to Try to Improve One's Life?
The theme of this story is that the price of taking shortcuts to try to improve one's life is not worth the cost. Mr. and Mrs. White, urged on by their son Herbert, succumb to temptation and decide to use the magical monkey's paw left by Sergeant-Major Morris to take a short cut to greater prosperity. They do this even though they have been warned ...
