The Monkey's Paw

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

Have you ever wondered if wishes could be granted? If you have, you probably thought of everything you could get with them. Being rich, unlimited wishes, fame etc. Well in “The Monkey’s Paw,” written by W.W Jacobs, you wouldn’t want to make a wish. This story takes place in England. In this story, a family named the whites has a chance to increase their fortunes with an magical object, a monkey’s paw. This magical paw from India has the power to grant three wishes from three separate men, the downside of this paw was that the wisher would have to pay the price. The simpson’s give the same message in their parody, but in a way different way. In the parody, it imitates “The Monkey’s Paw,” in a dramatic way. The parody takes place on a halloween night, but in a dream. Homer finds a magical monkey’s paw at a shop that has the power to grant four wishes. As you can already see, even though the parody gives the same message, it has it’s own differences to the original story as well. These two versions share both differences and similarities.

I found this contrast to be distracting from what author Wes Moore was trying to convey. It was harder for me to determine Moore’s motives, because I had thought that the use of fates in the title meant that there were predetermined destinies for the characters. Moreover, the theme Moore portrays is similar to my view of life. I always believed that poor choices lead to bad consequences. Author Wes Moore explains a helpful approach to those struggling to find an identity.

Fate is a mysterious force. There are the non-believers, saying that you are responsible for your actions and not controlled by this so called ‘destiny,’ able to change your life at any point you wish to. Demonstrated in stories such as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, these tales showcase how a crabby old miser and a mysterious man change the course of their futures. Meanwhile, there are many stories, myths, and even religions that emphasize how fate controls your life; that you are on a predestined path. Edgar Allen Poe seems to share this view on the subject. His short story, The Masque of the Red Death, exemplifies how no matter what you do to protect yourself, fate will find you and do its bidding. Despite his

Fate, then, controls our lives and it is a cruel, unmerciful and relentless master. If it is challenged, even in a small way, fate will hit back hard. The message then, is to stay locked inside, appreciate life as it is, and not take “unnecessary risks” – lest severe consequences

In The Monkey's Paw W.W. Jacobs conveys the theme, Fate doesn’t decide your future. In the story Sergeant-Major was telling Mr.White about the paw and how it could grant you three wishes, as he was about to throw it in the fire Mr.White jumped at the chance to take it for himself. On page four of The Monkey's Paw the author states, ‘ “ If

In “the garden of the forking paths” and “There's a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me on the Head with an Umbrella”. The theme is that no matter what the character tries to do to prevent certain things from happening, it is ultimately useless. The stories also state that what your destiny holds for you is bound to happen, the message is just conveyed in different ways in both of the stories. In “The garden of forking paths” the main goal is to find out more about tsui pen, but the goal is altered because his grandson was assassinated. In “There's a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me on the Head with an Umbrella” the author tries to get rid of the man who is hitting him. But after a while he comes to peace with it and ends up not being able to live

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?

Taking place in a countryside home W.W. Jacob’s short story “The Monkey’s Paw” illustrates the White family’s two-day interaction with a seemingly innocent mummified monkey's paw. Each character presented in the short story represents natural human traits that can prove to be negative when greed and curiosity and are involved. The use of symbolism throughout the story proves to be vital to the reader, as it allows him or her to understand the importance of every action done to the monkey’s paw has an opposite consequence. This correlates to everyone on Earth’s predetermined fate and the problems that an individual could face when greed overcomes their needs, even when it is for a better or worst life. When individuals are consumed by greed, like the White family, they must accept the consequences no matter how severe it is when it is something they truly seek in life.

In the story “The Monkey’s Paw” the mood is ominous. The author, W.W. Jacobs uses imagery, specific descriptions of the setting and subjective narration. An example of how he uses description is on page 374, line 1. He states, “the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlor if Laburnum Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly.” It gives of an ominous mood because settings that are seen as dark and cold tend to be related with fear and mystery, fear and mystery are part of a ominous feeling. An example of his use of imagery is on page 382, line 274. The author wrote, “His brow cold with sweat, he felt his way round the table, and groped along the wall until he found himself in the small passage with the unwholesome thing

Why is it people find it hard to register that love is richer than anything anyone can give? In this short story, "The monkey's paw" the whites had to assimilate the hard way that lustful desires implicate unfortunate consequences, being greedy brings sorrow, and family is all one needs. Who knew what this wishing talisman could really do? If the whites only knew they would lose the love and family they always had for something that would be so temporary. Although, money can be great, it does not bring happiness.

The theme of the “Monkey’s Paw”, by W.W. Jacobs is to be careful when being curious. In other words, the sergeant is trying to stray the White family away from taking the monkey’s paw because it causes many bad things to happen to the wishmaker. The White family just gets more and more interested and basically only starts hearing things they want to hear. For example, the sergeant keeps telling the family how the user before him had wished for his own death due to the mistakes that he made in previous wishes from the paw. Another example would be when the sergeant recommends the family to burn it after he says “Better let it burn.”

Fate shouldn’t be interrupted with, because those who did usually ended up sad and unhappy. That was what Mr. White and Mrs. White learned after receiving the cursed monkey’s paw. The paw was initially given to Sergeant Morris, but after using his 3 wishes he decided to show it to Mr. White. Unfortunately, he had no idea that this paw was extremely dangerous. The most responsible person for the tragic events resulted from the monkey’s paw was Mr.

Don’t attempt to change your fate, I’m warning you. “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Monkey’s Paw” are examples of why not to mess with your fate. In both stories, the characters attempted changing their fate and ends in a very bad outcome. The characters, both learned that if you try changing your fate there is going be a horrific consequence.