How Does W. Jacobs Create Tension In The Monkey's Paw

The authors of both stories, last but not leastly, use suspenseful moods, the feeling that the story creates within the reader, and dangerous/mysterious tones, an author’s attitude toward the subject or audience of the story, throughout the story. In The Monkey’s Paw, the author says, “...The clock tick.s. A chair creaks. Finally, a quiet knock is heard. Mrs. White jumps up.” This is an example of a suspenseful mood and mysterious tone. In the

W.W. Jacobs is known for his scary horror story The Monkeys Paw, he is also known for his humor. Jacobs dad worked on a boat as a deckhand. He also the manger of a South Devon Wharf. He worked on the boat called South Devon Wharf. Jacobs liked what his dad did, working at the docks and his stories always have something to do with working at the mariners and in and out of precarious predicaments. The Jacobs was a young and poor family. W.W. Jacobs was a shy and quite and very pale. He always visited his family in rural East Anglia, that had a effect on Clayburry stories published in Light Frights.

Jacobs uses his characters even further to build up suspense by describing their physical reaction as well as their dialogue. Mr White's "brow cold with sweat" shows us how his fear has lead him to the point of sweating proving that he is afraid of the wish he just made. This also convinces the reader that the paw holds forces not to be reckoned with and that if Herbert did come back it would be a horrific rather than cheerful moment. Also Mr White "caught his breath" when ordered to find the paw, showing that he was scared and dreaded the moment when he would have to wish for his son back as he knew it would lead to doom. This realisation of the potential hazards they would face if Herbert were brought back creates fear and suspense. The description of the character's physical actions is very useful, as it depicts the emotions and thoughts of a character to an extent that dialogue cannot.

The “Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Monkey’s Paw” both convey suspicion and growing fear of what will happen “The Monkey’s Paw” is about a monkey’s paw that grants three wishes, but in the worst way. The “Tell-Tale Heart” is about a man who murders an old man, but his guilty conscience betrayed him by making him hear the old man’s heart after he died. "The Monkey's Paw" creates suspense through a slow paced timeline, and "The Tell-Tale Heart" creates suspense throughout the plot, the murder, and finally the heart beating after death causing him to surrender and confess.

While both short stories can be considered entertaining, W. W. Jacobs’ “The Monkey’s Paw” does an overall better job at using characterization, irony and foreshadowing to create the long-lasting effect of suspense. Throughout the story, Jacobs creates a theme which can be interpreted in many ways such as: “Be careful what you wish for.” or “Evil can come in the most unexpected forms,“ (such as the paw). If the theme of evil and regret is present before the story is even introduced, the reader is automatically pulled into this preconceived idea that there will be a great amount of suspense. This idea continues to be confirmed as the story develops.

Sharon Russell said in “What is the Horror Genre?”, “But that suspense is intensified by our knowledge of the genre. We know that characters involved in the world of horror always meet something awful when they go where they shouldn’t .”(Lines 20-23) This can be interpreted meaning what the reader feels is deepened when they know more about the background knowledge. Sharon Russell states an example when she wrote about how the reader knows characters are involved in horror when they meet something when they go somewhere they shouldn’t have. “The Monkey’s Paw” meets Sharon Russell’s expectations for this because in partⅠ, W.W. Jacobs wrote how the Mr. White ignores Sergeant-Major Morris’s warnings about how ghastly the paw actually is. Throughout the lines one through one hundred twenty-nine, Major Morris shares with the Whites how the paw is hurt him and how the paw affected the first man, who wished for death. “Better let it burn,” said the soldier solemnly. “If you don’t want it, Morris,” said the other, “give it to me.” “I won’t,” said his friend doggedly. “I threw it on the fire. If you keep it, don’t blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the fire again like a sensible man.” (“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs Lines 108-112) Although the suspense throughout the entire short story matched Sharon Russell’s definition of horror using suspense, lines

In the short story the monkey's paw by W.W. Jacobs a man wishes to die. Mr. White tries to alter fate and wishes for 200 pounds after finding out that the first man wishes for death after his first 2 wishes. In the monkey's paw by W.W. Jacobs the author creates suspense by using dialogue, excitement, and foreshadowing to create suspense.

Many works of literature include a wide variety of literary elements to help convey the ideas of the author. Pieces such as short-stories may only have a few elements while a novel could have multiple. In “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Lottery”, examples of foreshadowing and symbolism can be found throughout both stories.

This disturbing fiction provides compelling access to ways authors build tension using facts, character interactions, and dialogue.

How are “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Monkey's Paw” Cause and effect relationship Alike?“The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Monkey's Paw” Cause-and-Effect Relationship are alike because they both have that feeling of suspense that gives you chills. I think the suspense is like this because they both have one person going mad and dieing in both stories. The Cause-and-Effect relationship between “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Monkey's Paw” by William Wymark Jacobs, has a very much feeling cause of suspense between the characters.

This story is about the White family at the Laburnum Villa in the night; Someone close to them passes away, and they try to use the Monkey’s Paw to bring them back. What causes suspense to build up is that stories foreshadow what’s going to happen, and it creates suspense. I feel that this statement foreshadows what’s going to happen because Sergeant-Major says “Well it’s just a bit of what you call magic, perhaps.” I think the meaning of this quotation is that basically Sergeant-

Suspense is a literary device that creates a feeling of growing tension and excitement in a reader; an author creates suspense to entice the reader into their story. For instance, in A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens creates suspense by using foreshadowing into the main character’s, Ebenezer Scrooge, future and imagery of the ghosts who guided Scrooge. Similarly, in “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, W. W. Jacobs and Edgar Allan Poe, respectively, create suspense in their gothic fiction short stories. Jacobs and Poe develop suspense by adding unstable characters to their stories.

In Monkey’s Paw, the author W.W. Jacobs builds mystery throughout the course of the story. He builds this mystery feeling by starting the family out in their house playing a chess game. Next, Sergeant Morris comes in the house and tells them a story about the paw that is “not worth hearing” when he clearly wants to talk about it. He then builds more mystery proclaiming that the paw is magic which gives you three wishes.

Suspense is defined as “a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen”. In the famous short story, “The Monkey's Paw” written by W.W Jacobs, there are many suspenseful scenes throughout the story. Various adaptations of this story assist in delivering the suspenseful mood of the plot to the audience; however, the video adaptation of “The Monkey’s Paw” enhances the suspense of the original version. In the video it show reasons that show how the video leaves you in a suspenseful mood.

In both the “Tell Tale Heart” and the “Monkey’s Paw”, there is suspense used for the setting of the story. Although both of the stories fall under the same genre as each other, they use their way of narrating the events in different ways. In the “Tell Tale Heart” for example, they use a first person point of view to create mystery and suspense for the audience. In the “Monkey’s Paw” they use setting, fear as well as other factors to create the atmosphere for the story.