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Foreshadowing In The Monkey's Paw By W. Jacobs

690 Words3 Pages

In the short story “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs, there is immense foreshadowing throughout the entire story, which in turn creates a large amount of suspense and tension. You can see this in this in a passage from the first part of the story, when Sergeant Major Morris hesitantly gives Mr. White the Monkey's Paw, The Sergeant states ‘"If you must wish," he said gruffly, "Wish for something sensible."’. This moment foreshadows greatly, and through a single statement causes tension and suspense, leaving the reader wondering why the Sergeant is so adamant that Mr. White and his family should be careful with the object.

Near the end of Part 1, after the Sergeant exits the house, Mr. White quickly, though distinctly states “I wish for two hundred pounds”. Soon after, nothing turns up in his hand he …show more content…

White and his wife. A week after their sons burial, in the middle of the night, Mrs. White cries for Mr. White to use the Paw to bring back their son, but Mr. White refuses, pleading "He has been dead ten days, and besides he - I would not tell you else, but - I could only recognize him by his clothing. If he was too terrible for you to see then, how now?", but she does not listen and forces him to wish their son alive. They wait, but their son does not come back. This then creates the most tension and suspense in the story - what if their son is coming back? They go back to bed, but hours later awake to knocks at the door. As his wife rushes to the door to let the monstrosity inside, Mr. White frantically searches for the Monkey’s Paw. This is by far the most suspenseful moment in the story, because if he does not find it within the small amount of time that he has, their lives could be ruined forever, beyond what their minds could perceive. When he finds it, he wishes their son away, and so comes the cries of disappointment from his wife when she opens the

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“The Monkey’s Paw” In his story, “the monkey's paw,”w.w jacobs creates a mood of suspense through his use of foreshadowing in his story, a powerful object that grants wishes intrigues the characters but their curiously eventually brings dark consequences and deep regret to begin with the use of dialogue in this short story creates supunes when the text stated “wish on the paw to bring our son alive and then there is a knock on the door page 122 the reader began to want to know what is going to happen next which contributes to a scary mood additionally jacobs describes events in a dreadful way when he states my last wish i want my son to be gone Page 112 this description of the events makes the reader feel a sense of will it happen lastly

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A perfect fusillade of knocks [reverberates] through the house, and he [hears] the scraping of a chair as his wife [puts] it down in the passage against the door. He [hears] the creaking of the bolt as it [comes] slowly back and at the same moment he [finds] the monkey’s paw, and frantically [breathes] his third and last wish” (Jacobs 13). He wishes for their son to leave and not return again. At that same moment, the knocking stops and his wife opens the door. When she opens the door and sees nothing outside, she lets out a loud wail of sadness and disappointment (Jacobs 14).

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“The Monkey’s Paw” “The Monkey’s Paw” is a drama written by W. W. Jacobs about a small family who experiences a disturbing and extremely coincidental situation. This family consists of three members, Mr. and Mrs. White, and their adult son Herbert. During an ordinary visit with an old family friend, Sergeant Major Morris, the White family comes into possession of an old, shriveled monkey’s paw. This paw would supposedly grant its owner any three wishes that that person might desire. This play describes the three wishes that Mr. White made to the monkey’s paw and how these wishes were seemingly granted.

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They were terrified and in desperation Mr White grabbed the monkey's paw and used their third and final wish. “But her husband was on his hands and

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Think Question 1: Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. How does the author of “The Monkey’s Paw” use foreshadowing in the first chapter to suggest that the spell placed on the paw might not bring happiness to whoever possesses it? Cite textual evidence from the selection to support your answer. Response 1: W. W. Jacobs uses foreshadowing in "The Monkey 's Paw" by having Sergeant-Major Morris recount his experience with the monkey’s paw. After Herbert asked Morris if he already requested his three wishes, Morris replies with, “‘I have,’...and his blotchy face whitened” (Jacobs).

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That creates suspense because the reader wants to know why he wished for death. It foreshadows that the paw brings bad luck. Sergeant Major Morris also tells the Whites “…don’t blame me for what happens” (Jacobs 91). It foreshadows that something very bad is going to happen. Herbert foreshadows his death by saying the quote “Well I don’t see the money…and I bet I never shall”(134-135 Jacobs).

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The character Sergeant-Major Morris, who was a man in the story and who gave the Whites the paw, was now switched with his wife, whom proclaims that he died. The story and play of the Monkey’s Paw were both alike and different in many ways. Both the play and the short story showed the stories excellent ways of literature. They both included the main theme of do not mess with fate. They also showed me many other things.

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In the short story, The Monkey 's Paw we are first introduced to the White, the Mrs.White, Mr.White, and their son, Herbert White. Later in the story, we are introduced to Sergeant Major Morris who brought the mummy-like monkey’s paw to the Whites house. The theme of the Monkey 's paw is to never interfere with fate. The theme is shown through many forms in the short story. The forms are the events, the foreshadowing, and the actions.

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