Life Lessons in The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs and The Third Wish by Joan Aiken

W. W. Jacobs wrote the short story “The Monkey’s Paw” in 1902. A great number of adaptations of the story have since been created using different forms of media. The two which are being compared here are the play adaptation The Monkey’s Paw dramatized by Mara Rockliff and the 2011 film version The Monkey’s Paw by Ricky Lewis Jr. Both the play and film feature the White family receiving a monkey’s paw by which three wishes may be granted. The paw had a spell put on it by a holy man who wanted to show that fate rules people’s lives and that if people try to interfere, they will be sorry. The main differences between the play and the film are that film gives more background information about how and why the paw was obtained, uses more

The W.W. Jacobs version, and the Simpson’s version of The Monkey’s Paw were both similar and different. For example, one difference is, in The Monkey’s Paw story by W.W. Jacobs, the wishes made all had bad outcomes. Specifically, In the W.W. Jacobs version, a man comes to their house and tells them Herbert died and they would be given, “[t]wo hundred pounds...” (Jacobs 174). This evidence proves, how the White family wished for two hundred pounds, then the received the two hundred pounds, at the cost of their son’s life. On the other hand, in The Simpson’s version, they became rich and famous from their wish. Overall, In the W.W. Jacobs version of The Monkey’s paw, the wishes all had very bad outcomes; but the Simpson’s version had fairly good

Greed is a sin of excess that every single human being has at least a little bit of. When someone has the opportunity to get as much of something as they possibly can, they will go to great lengths to get everything out of it. In the story “The Monkey’s Paw,” by W. W. Jacobs, the White family experiences a big test of greed, and they even tamper with their fate to get it. Before the Whites even knew about the paw, they were living a normal, but decent, lifestyle that got them by day-to-day without any troubles. Once they received this one idol in their life that could grant any three wishes that they could possibly think of, their mind set was altered and their greediness to change their fate kicked into play. Jacobs uses themes of

     What if in this world there is an item that can grant anybody any three wishes? There may even be serious and dangerous consequences to every wish. The strange thing about the ability to get any three wishes that one wants is that it's true."The monkey's paw" written by W.W. Jacobs uses the well known story of being granted 3 wishes but puts a twist on the story creating a horror type story. In the small parlor of Lakesnam Villa a visitor comes named Sergeant Major Morris. The Sergeant Major visits the house of Mr. and Mrs. White and their son Herbert. The sergeant pulls out the monkeys paw and talks about its magic before throwing it in the fire where

Every year movies come into theaters that are based on popular books and stories. In these movie blockbusters, the general ideas are the same as in the written stories, but the details may contrast from the original plot in the text. In the short story, “The Monkey’s Paw” written by W. W. Jacobs, circles around the idea that this paw of monkeys' holds a special capability to grant three wishes to the person who receives the paw. Coming from India, Sergeant-Major Morris visits the White family and brings the intriguing paw with him. Explaining its purpose and use to them, they are all very fascinated with the idea of what potential power it holds within. Disregarding the warning Sergeant-Major Morris supplied, Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds in the short story, and 300 pounds in the cinematic production.. The consequences would soon become known and affect the White’s stable lives forever. Two other wishes are made to try to reverse the repercussions of the first wish, leaving the White family in despair. When comparing two tellings of the same story there may be many similarities and differences that emerge, providing distinct examples of what is relatively the same and what is definitely not.

The last wishes in both stories are used in drastically different ways. After Mr. White finds the paw, which he dropped, he wishes and “the knocking ceased suddenly…” (Jacobs). Since the knocking stopped, Mr. White’s last wish was to make is now alive son go away, which means that his last

The story somewhat followed the moral because every time Mr. White wished using the monkey’s paw, he evidently created consequences for himself, which causes people to think that the old man should be more careful of what he wishes for. This could be a powerful theme, but it fails to account for some dialog from Sergeant-Major. On the second page of The Monkey’s Paw, it stated: ““It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant-major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow().”” Clearly, any wishes that changed fate in any way would damage the wielder him/herself. Therefore, the only type of wish that would not be damaging are wishes that would do nothing. Wishing for nothing is not really a wish so that implies that every single wish would lead to a repercussion. Under these circumstances, it is impossible to be careful for what you wish for if every single wish will be damaging. As a result, this moral cannot be implied within the story, making the original one more relevant within the

White wished for 200 pounds because Morris warned of the consequences so they wished for something that wasn’t insane but wasn’t small. This greed for money caused consequences. “Herbert says, ‘Why, we’re going to be rich, and famous, and happy. Wish to be an emperor, Father, to begin with; then you can’t be henpecked.’” In this sentence, you see that Herbert was already being greedy with the paw as soon as they acquired it. He was trying to use it to his advantage and abuse the power of the paw. The whites wish for 200 pounds and it came true which was good, but there was also a negative consequence. With the good there was also the bad. The wish for 200 pounds came true, but the money came because their son died. He had died from a machine accident at work that day and they got money because the company didn’t want them to sue so they payed compensation for his death. The wish they made with the Monkey’s Paw had come true, but killed

White makes a wish he thought would be innocent and would benefit the family without listening to what Sargeant-Major Morris warned him about the deadly monkey´s paw. Later after he makes the wish, he finds out the monkey´s paw indeed worked, and the thing he wished for costed the life of his beloved son. Mr. And Ms. White, terrifies of the monkey´s paw, decide not to try it ever again. But Ms. White, inconsolable with her only child´s death, decides to take a risk and wish for her son to come back to life. Later at night, someone knocks harshly on the door and Mr. White, full of terror, uses the very last wish to disappear whatever was outside the door

First of all, the first wish in both stories was for an item or person. They wished for something they each wanted without being very specific, therefore there were consequences. Mr. Peters didn’t exactly wish for a human to be his wife, he only specified “a wife as beautiful as the forest.”. In the case of the old man, his son, Herbert, was killed at work. The old man did not specify how he would get the money. The second wish in both stories was correcting the consequences of the first wish. Such as the fact the Herbert was dead or Mr. Peters’ wife turned into a swan. Finally, Mr. Peters and the old man learn a valuable lesson, be more specific.

Imagery is used very often in “The Third Wish”. Joan Aiken frequently uses imagery in his writing piece. Imagery can describe how the man wants things he does not need and takes things others do not want. Joan Aikens shows his use with Imagery in certain ways that help prove his theme and help readers get a better understanding of the theme and purpose of his writing. One piece from the text on page (105) is, “He stooped down and kissed her goodbye, then took another leaf from his notecase, blew it out of the window, and used up his second wish. Next moment instead of Leita there was a sleeping swan lying across the bed with it’s head under it’s wing,” This piece of evidence from Aiken’s piece shows that not everybody wants what you want, and just because you want it does not mean you need it. The wife that the man was granted with, was living a miserable life while she was his wife as a human, because that time was spent doing whatever the man wanted her to do. Another piece from the text that shows imagery is, “But I miss the old life in the forest, the cool grass and the mist rising off the river at sunrise and the feel of the water sliding over my feathers as my sister and I drifted along the stream” (105). This piece of evidence shows that not everyone around the man wants exactly what he does. His unwilling wife was miserable while doing exactly what Mr. Peters asked for. The man did

The Monkey’s paw by W. W. Jacobs is an eerie short story about a son who dies in a horrific way and a family who wants to bring him back. It focuses on an enchanted monkey’s paw that grants three wishes. The paw was enchanted by an old fakir that wanted to prove that fate controlled life and going against it would only lead to regret and sorrow. This plot point can be noted as an underlying theme, but the main theme is “be careful what you wish for, because you might get it”. While this story is superb, a question comes to mind: Would could be learned from this short story?

When you make wishes, you have to pay for the outcome. Sargent Major Moris wanted to destroy the monkeys paw at the Whites house. he told them that the monkeys paw granted wishes at a huge price, but they decided to use it anyways ultimately paying the huge price. the suspense builds as the prices are paid for each wish. Herbert

With Jacob’s overall message of the dangers of greed throughout the story, someone might perceive the natural eagerness to make one's life better a positive trait instead of a negative trait. However, the first sentence of “The Monkey’s Paw” is the quote “be careful what you wish for, you may receive it” written by Anonymous can be inferred that people can wish for anything they desire, but they are advised to think strongly about their wish. This is because when a wish becomes true it can either make life better, solving current/potential problems, or create a newer and larger problem causing a negative effect on the lives of others in addition to their own. Human nature's natural greed is the root cause of the misfortunes of the White family. Intrigued by the possibility of gaining three wishes, the White’s salivate over the possibility of attaining the monkey’s paw by trying to persuade Sergeant Morris to give it to them. In Part One of the story when Herbert notifies the family of the arrival of Sergeant-Major Morris, Mr. White rises quickly from his chair to open the door and proceeds to offer the guest whiskey in the hopes of loosening him up and make him vulnerable. It can be inferred that Mr. White is interested in attaining the monkey’s paw Sergeant-Major Morris has in his possession. The use of courtesy is just a disguise to take

First, I will be comparing the ways the main characters receive their wishes. In “The Monkey’s Paw” Mr. White receives his wishes from Sergeant Major Morris, who sells The Monkey’s Paw to Mr. White. Sergeant Major Morris warns Mr. White about the paw and says the first person wished for death on their third wish. In “The Third Wish” Mr. Peters was driving his car at dusk, hearing a faint cry, so he stops his car. Then he enters the woods beside him to investigate the noise, finding a white swan trapped in a thorny bush, and Mr. Peters decides to rescue the swan, but it pecks and hisses at him. Eventually Mr. Peters saves the swan and it floats away, but then a little man wearing green clothes and a golden crown appears and grants Mr. Peters 3 wishes.