The Monkey's Paw Research Paper

Horror Genre The horror genre is a variety of fiction that is predetermined to scare the reader. Readers cherish these stories because of the adrenaline filled, heart pumping, and the anticipation feeling they experience they have while reading. Scary stories play on authentic terrors and horrors that help the reader feel like they are included in the story. The short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe is the story of a man who attempts to persuade the reader of his sanity while describing a murder he committed. “The Monkey’s Paw” is a short story by W.W Jacobs and tells the story of a family who strives to intervene with fate, the family is then forced to face the consequences of their actions. Based on the criteria of the horror genre, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is evidently classified as a horror because of Poe’s use of suspense and theme of the story. Additionally, in “The Monkey’s Paw”, Jacobs most prominently illustrates an external source of horror, making this short story another outstanding example of the horror genre. The story “The Monkey’s Paw” is a horror genre because it uses different types of literary techniques. Suspense is a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. In

The theme of a story is the main message or topic of the story. In “The Monkey’s Paw”, the theme of the story is stated when it says, “Fate rules people's lives and those who interfered with it did so their sorrow.”(Jacobs 107) This quote conveys that fate rules people's lives and, if you intervene with fate you will regret it and be sad. The message of the story is to not intervene or come across fate. The characters in “The Monkey’s Paw” intervene with fate because the characters don't believe in or accept the message of the story which was a warning. The characters eventually regret intervening with fate because afterwards, they face severe