Literary Analysis Of The Monkey's Paw

The Monkey’s Paw Literary Analysis

Imagine this: your friend allows you to see and eventually take a miscellaneous knick-knack that you’re skeptical about. Your friend then proceeds to warn you about not using it’s powers, and if you do use it, you must be sensible since whenever you do use it, there are serious consequences. Would you still use it or even take it? The same thing happened in the short story, “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs. In the story, a family is visited by a family friend who brings (and attempts to get rid of) a magical monkey’s mummified paw which grants just about your every wish, but in turn, you must suffer the consequences. The family forcibly buys it off the friend and they almost immediately begin to wish with

Primarily, the story tells you about the family’s life before all of the trouble and nonsense brought about by the monkey’s paw; before a lesson is learned, you must make a mistake. From before the characters in the story had to learn the theme, the author expressed, “Father and son playing chess; whose ideas of the game involved some very unusual moves… the white haired old lady knitting by the fire” (1). This quote shows how calm and tranquil everything was before the monkey’s paw came about to mess up the lives of the acclimated family. The description taken from the exposition of the story contrasts with what happens when they wish upon the monkey’s paw, and how they learn the lesson of ‘be careful what you wish for’. Secondly, after the family makes their first wish for £200, they are visited by a man who had come to inform them that their son had died, and that the company must present the family with exactly £200, or otherwise known as what they wished for. The story quotes, “‘Two hundred pounds,’ was the answer” (6). This quote is important in representing the theme of the story because it shows how when they wished, they weren’t careful and they didn’t listen to what the sergeant had to say. In turn, their son died and they got their money. Though, they are much more dispirited with their wish being granted and them having to suffer their consequence. Finally, at the climax of the story, Mrs. White wishes her son to be alive again while she is still grieving. She was clearly not thinking that rationally and wasn’t being careful, nor would she listen to her husband, therefore once again showing the theme of “The Monkey’s Paw.” The story says, “A cold wind blew up the staircase, and a long loud cry of disappointment and pain