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Symbolism In The Monkey's Paw

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There are many red flags in The Monkey’s Paw, like the story only taking place at the White’s home. Another red flag is that there is not a lot of information about each character, for example, how they look like, what they do etc. We know the family is not well off because Mr. White wishes for money, which gives us a bit of context, yet not enough. This leads to the other red flag dialogue, most of the story is just the characters talking about what is going on. Furthermore, there is no main character and if there is one it is not obvious. Every character talks and is affected by the money’s paw; thus, we truly do not know who is the central character. Lastly, there is also no opponent for the main character. Things I would keep from the story are: Herbert and Mr. White playing chess to show their father-son relationship, the Sergeant-Major Morris showing up to the home, the son dying, and the ability to grant wishes on the monkey’s paw, however, I would cut it back to one wish.
I think the main character/hero of …show more content…

White the monkey’s paw knowing it is cursed. Why would Morris burn the money’s paw in Mr. White’s home? I think there is a clear motive behind his actions, even though it is not stated in the story. It’s possible that Morris got cursed himself and he is trying to get rid of the curse by giving the monkey’s paw to Mr. White. I can indicate from the story that Mr. White and Morris are probably friends so Morris would know Mr. White’s weaknesses and hurt him. It is possible that Sergeant-Major Morris is also going through tough times and bought the monkey’s paw to fix his problems, but instead made his life worse. I am assuming the village they live in is small; thus, is easy for them to interact with one another. I am not sure about their actual friendship, yet it is possible there has been problems between Mr. White and Morris in the

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The short story “The Monkey’s Paw” and the movie adapted from the text both have multiple similarities and differences; this includes the characters. There are four main characters in the short story, which include, Mr. White, Mrs. White, Herbert White, and Sergeant-Major Morris. In the text Mr. White is depicted as an older man that believes the tale behind the monkey’s paw and falls in the path of its destruction. He seems to be quite slower at catching on to certain things compared to Mrs. White and tends to make dangerous decisions, as shown in the game of chess at the beginning of the short story.

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White caused his son’s death, many people who have read “The Monkey’s Paw” may believe that Sgt. Major Morris was to blame for the family’s misfortune; this however, is completely untrue. An argument to support this claim may be that since the Sgt. Major was the one to bestow the cursed paw upon the family and even instructed Mr. White on how to activate it, he was the root cause of the trouble. Quite contrary to this belief however, the Sgt.

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In the beginning of the story "The Monkey's Paw" readers are introduced to the monkey paw with two different viewpoints one from Sergeant-Major Morris ,someone who knows what it can do. Then there is another one from Mr.White someone, who does not know anything about it yet. These different points of view are used to create suspense. With 2 completely different viewpoints we can predict and use the experienced viewpoint, Sergeant-Major Morris to enhance our prediction which gives us a sense of foreshadowing. Sergeant-Major Morris talks about the monkey's paw, then throws it into the fire while Mr.White rushes to get it out.

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Death by the Hands of One’s Loved Ones Whether it be an item, image, idea, or concept, motifs are frequently present within works of literature to create an even greater effect on the reader. Two of which include “The Monkey’s Paw” written by W. W. Jacobs and “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst. In Jacobs’s short story, the White family is introduced to a monkey’s paw, an item with the capability of granting three owners three wishes, by their friend, Sergeant-Major Morris. The family consists of three members: Mr. White, Mrs. White, and their son, Herbert White.

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Major Morris, the friend, is responsible for the whole incident. He told them about the paw, taught them how use it, and he ultimately let them have it. The first point that makes Sergeant-Major Morris the most responsible is that he decided to tell the Whites about the monkey paw. When asked about what he meant by a monkey’s paw, he replied, “Well, it’s just a bit of what you might call magic, perhaps, ” (McDonnell, Miller, Hogan 9).

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Thesis: In The Monkey's Paw by W.W Jacobs, the realistic essence of the monkey's paw made it fundamentally creepy. Point 1: The monkey's paw is a symbol for inclination for greed, exposing our superior wants as people, even the most humble. Point 2: Consequences for the actions of those using the paw develops the image of regret and fear. Point 3:

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#1 about “The Monkey's Paw” The cause is that Morris said If you keep it, don't blame me for what happens. Sargent-Major Morris was the when Mr. White the paw, that night he gave it to him because he wanted it for it's power, Morris told Mr. White that the last wish will be evil. The fear in the charters words what they say it is like they

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The film clip states, "but I only could only recognize him from his clothes." (1:39-1:42) This quote wasn't mentioned in the text, but has deep significance with how Mr. White actually feels about bringing Herbert back to life. Both versions of "The Monkey's Paw" emphasize suspense but one can infer that the film adaptation of "The Monkey's Paw" by Ricky Lewis Jr is more thrilling, frightening, and tragic due to a visual representation of the story with suspense devices, such as lighting, camera angles, filters, and music.

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Arthur St. John Adcock is an English novelist and poet as well as a journalist. He mentions that “the uncanny grimness of ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ by a pathos that is wrought to a pitch of almost painful intensity when the knock comes on the door at night and the heart-broken mother, after struggling desperately with the bolts, flings the door open and there is nothing there” (Adcock 3). The family makes an avoidable mistake by wishing with the monkey’s paw, but when they finally realize that, it is already too late. Their first innocent wish flips their lives upside down and they bring themselves irreversible pain and sorrow through a few words. Carl Mowery, a professor at several universities with a doctorate in rhetoric and composition, gives a great statement about the story as a whole.

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There is betrayal among character in Macbeth, Hamlet, and As I Lay Dying. When Macbeth talks to the witches, he learns that he will become king in the future. Macbeth then starts to think about killing King Duncan (ShakeMac 1.3.65-88). Macbeth talks to Banquo about killing Duncan, and Banquo suggest letting Duncan die on his own. Lady Macbeth is excited that her husband will be king.

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In The Monkeys Paw, Mrs. White used the magical object (monkey’s paw). One out of the three wishes granted using the monkeys paw was to have her son back. The outcome of this was pounding at the door, not knowing exactly who was behind the door. The Monkeys Paw is all about granting wishes and not expecting its outcome. This is comparable to The Story of an Hour because Mrs. Mallard wished to have her husband back in her life, but she didn’t expect the outcome of actually seeing her husband alive.

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With Morris’s face whitening, it tacitly tells the audience that something terrifying happened when Morris made his wishes. This foreshadows that something dreadful will happen once the Whites make their wishes. Question 2: Compare Mr. White’s feelings about the monkey’s paw when he makes the first wish, second wish, and third wish. How does his attitude change?

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582 Words | 3 Pages

The conflict in the story is not only the monkey’s paw but was somewhat Mr. White’s attitude. If he never was that greedy the story would have changed he would have agreed with Morris and burned the monkey’s paw but he didn’t want to do that creating the plot. Any change in the plot could have/ would have altered the course of the story but also altering the theme. In “The Monkey’s Paw,” the downfall of the White family is when they receive the two hundred pounds as a compensation for the son’s death which was actually caused by messing with fate.

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“The Monkey’s Paw” is not that type of story. It is not something that makes the reader sleep with the lights on and pull the covers up to their

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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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