Pawpaw: A Short Story

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

O’Connor describes the children’s mother in contrast to the grandmother by what they are wearing; thus their clothes represent the age from which they are. The Children’s mother “still had on slacks and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief, but the grandmother had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white dot in the print”(O’Connor 118). The children’s mother is representative of the New South in which the Southern Lady is becoming less of a central figure within society. A lady of the old south would never wear slacks and tie her hair up in a kerchief to go out in public. Under an old south mentality these actions would be considered very unlady like. O’Connor illustrates the tension between the old and the new south by the constant struggle between the grandmother, her son, and the daughter-in-law.

As Mary’s story unravels, she continues to suffer long hours of work, starvation, and separation from her family. She reads her holy bible and is constantly reminding herself that God is with her and will see her through these trials. Her spirits are lifted her master agrees to sell Mary to her husband, and her mistress begins the journey with her, but before long the mistress decides not to go any further and they turn back. Not long after, she starts to loose hope that she will ever be reunited with her family. She becomes discouraged, and her spirit

The grandmother is an old woman with deep southern roots. Her constant need to look like a “lady” emerges from her self-righteous attitude and ambition to be perceived as a member of the high-class society. The grandmother’s desire for an elite identity can be found in her attire; this excerpt from the text describes such

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.

I believe that the short story clearly presents the stereotypes of rural Black women, and the challenges and struggles that African women faced with regard to heritage, personal fulfillment, and family relations as the past collided with the present realities. The concepts of family and Black women within this short story are highlighted by the fact that the three main characters among who the story revolves are all Black women and members of the same family. The clash of the past and future, personal fulfilment, heritage struggles, and the stereotyping of rural Black women is visible in the clear contrast of attitudes and ambitions of Dee and her boyfriend, who represent the future, and mama and her daughter Maggie, who in this case embody the past.

“Plantation Life” told by Rachel Adams. Rachel was born into slavery in Putman County close to Eatonton, Georgia. Rachel had a mother and father but her father was sold when she was a baby. Her mom’s job was to weave clothes and many times Rachel got to wear the clothes. Rachel grew up with 17 children and only one of them being a boy. They lived in small log cabins, their beds and pillows were made from old hay. Rachel says as children they were fed cornbread and potlicker, adults were fed meat, greens, and cornbread. Marse Lewis Little and Miss Sallie were the owners. Marse Lewis was kind to his slaves. The overseer, however, was cruel and if they didn’t do what he wanted, they would be whipped. Slaves were also whipped if they didn’t do their task in a certain amount of time. Some slaves learned how to read and write while others didn’t. Rachel

Kathleen Grissom’s The Kitchen House is an intense, gripping novel set at the turn of the nineteenth century, entertaining and educating about life in the Old South. The first person narration switches between Lavinia McCarten, a young, white indentured servant, and Belle, the caretaker of Lavinia who is also the mixed, illegitimate daughter of Master Pyke. Both of the speakers live in the kitchen house of a tobacco plantation called Tall Oaks, Virginia. When the story begins in 1791, Belle is a young woman, and she teaches six-year-old Lavinia how to cook, clean, and serve. As Lavinia matures, she realizes that her fair skin makes her different from the slaves, her true family, and she learns to accept her responsibilities. Through the eyes of the two, readers learn about what life was like during the times of American slavery. Important themes prevalent in The Kitchen House include racism, drug and alcohol abuse, and innocence.

In this letter, a very similar sentiment is conveyed as in her other letters. In this situation, the reader can also see that Mary is curious as to whether or not her brothers are still alive. The local newspaper has reported that one of her family members died in a recent battle. This shows the sentiment of civilians living anxiously on the home front and how they are impacted by news of their loved ones. Moreover, Mary also states that she waits for her husband to return every night until she cannot stay awake anymore, showing the extent of her emotions, even if her words do not convey them.

During their “removes,” Mary becomes too weak to walk any longer, and the Indians, “like inhuman creatures, laugh and rejoice to see it.”They do nothing to provide for her comfort during their long journeys through the rough landscape. Her only refuge is to take comfort in her prayer and hope that God will help her through these hard times. After the first several days, Mary develops a dependency upon the Indians, and begins to get used to their means of living.

When James’ stepfather died Ruth was overcome with grief, so James avoided spending time at home because of the emotional impact he would encounter while watching mommy

Papi was one of the most influential character in the short story known as “FIESTA, 1980” narrated by Yunior. He was also known for his unfaithful life toward his wife, cruelty and negative behavior against his son Yunior for being carsick several times and puked the moment he accelerated the gas of his brand-new lime green Volkswagen van above twenty miles per hour which was bought to impress the family members. The story involved immigrant family from Dominican Republic who lived in new jersey and were attending family party in Bronx New York City in Yunior aunt’s home. The family consists of Papi and Momi(parents), Yunior who was middle son, Rafa who was older than Yunior then Madai was youngest. Everyone was ready to leave for the party waiting Papi arrival from “work” in the beginning but later was suspected to be coming back from his girlfriend (the Puerto Rican woman) as he rushed into shower to remove the indication of being with a woman. Yunior states that “he didn’t say nothing to nobody, not even my mom. He just pushed past her, held up his hand when she tried to talk to him and headed right into shower”. Then Rafa and his brother looked at each other and both assumed their dad had been with another woman. This issue of his infidelity had avoided in the house.

A literal interpretation of the grandmother portrays an elderly southern woman attempting to maintain the proper and genteel values of the South. The grandmother places great importance on her appearance and the opinions of others. This importance is revealed at the beginning of their journey when the story compares the grandmother, a reflection of the past, to the daughter-in-law, a reflection of the present:

We had never had much in the way of money. Enough to get what we needed -- or didn’t need. Let’s put it this way, after we bought the necessities, we had a little left over. Until my mom’s medical bills, that is. She had to get CAT scans And MRI’s and mountains of pills. When she first got diagnosed with chronic migraine, it was hard to understand. I was only seven or 8, when this all went down, and she lost her job. They just couldn’t afford to keep her there anymore, especially with her migraines being so unpredictable and demobilizing.

My papaw, Fred, has always played a role of being easy going and simple. He’s about six foot, has wire glasses, wears khaki Carhart overalls everyday and when you stand close enough, his afternoon smoke will put your senses on overdrive. He drives a small, bright red pickup truck, along with every other man in Kingsport, that you can almost taste the gasoline when it passed. He moved to Kingsport, Tennessee when he left the air force, and was only twenty-one at the time. He had very little to his name, but had hopes higher than all the stars on a clear, country night.