W. Jacobs The Monkey's Paw

“The Monkey's Paw” was written by W.W. Jacobs, an English author. Although Jacobs usually wrote humorous works of fiction, his 1902 short horror story, “The Monkey's Paw” is arguably his most famous and well-known work. The story begins by describing a dreary and isolated villa experiencing winter in which the characters, Herbert White, Mr. White, and Mrs. White, live. Their lives are interrupted by an abrupt knock at the door by someone we later know by the name of Sergeant-Major Morris who describes his travel to India. He then introduces the story's namesake, the monkey's paw which can grant whomever holds the paw in his right hand three wishes, but the wishes often come with an unexpected price. The soldier tries to deter Mr. White from

The Laburnum villa, on the outside is isolated and, “cold and wet,” but in the small parlour of the villa, a fire burns brightly and a 'homey' scene has been created. A “white-haired old lady [is] knitting placidly by the fire,” and the “father and son [are] at chess,” a seemingly very common and peaceful scene. However, once the paw arrives, the once warming fire starts to die out and faces appear to Mr. White, “the last was so horrible and so simian that he gazed at it in amazement.” Mr. White immediately dampens the fire and, “with a little shiver he wiped his hand on his coat and went up to bed.” The arrival of the paw has darkened the house, which despite the wintry weather has remained untouched by the season's mood, and has become haunted. The house that was once filled with light from the warm fire is now filled with a, “darkness [that] was oppressive,” and the only source of light is now a, “street lamp flickering opposite [that] shone on a quiet and deserted road.” On the other side of this binary, we have India. India is a place very far away from Britain itself and is often only visited by soldiers and traders, Queen Victoria herself never even set foot on the country. India had peaceful trading relations with the British, until the East India Trading Company decided to seize much of the country. After the failed 1857 rebellion, Britain had almost complete control over the country, despite having only a small amount of people in the country. The paw, although very small, dramatically affects the family; even though the people it represents, the Indians, are very far away, they are still capable of inspiring fear. The British, who only have a small force in the Indian Empire, are able to control and inspire fear in the natives. Both the paw and the soldiers seem to hold an awesome and terrible despite having no real power, they have to both rely