Under the Lions 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

Frank Robert's short story "The Inheritor" explains the conflict between the protagonist and himself, and how his heroic and illogical conscience wins that battle. By saving the "ewe" (female sheep) and killing the "dingo" (a type of Australian wild dog), he establishes the central idea of the story: people do not always make the wisest decisions. "He knew it was compassion seeking to force him into foolish action by perversion of logic..." Even by knowing his actions, the protagonist rescues the ewe by fighting the dingo. He went through all the trouble -- "...his forearms were bleeding freely [,] and there were many gashes on his stomach and chest from the dog's paw" -- to save a sheep. If he let the predatory dog feast on the large animal,

In his article “The Loss of The Creature,” Walker Percy presents the case that human or “creature’s” experiences are most often trivial because of our preconceived notions. Percy believes we can only truly enjoy these experiences if we leave the “beaten track.” Only then can we see the true beauty of the experience.

The abundant animal imagery in Timothy Findley's book The Wars is used to develop characterization and theme. The protagonist, Robert Ross, has a deep connection with animals that reflects his personality and the situations that he faces. This link between Robert and the animals shows the reader that human nature is not much different than animal nature.

"The Monkey's Paw" is a short story which moves around the edges of a ghost story and the uncanny. In general terms, the narration immerses the reader into a frightening atmosphere in which the reader can realise that there are certain elements that make the reading something more than a spooky tale; for example the way time is treated in the structure of the story. It is peculiar the way W.W. Jacobs manages to create a rather concrete story by making the reader fill so many gaps. In our opinion, that is due to the fact that there is a complete focus on the development of the story since the arrival of the monkey's paw, and that there are several omissions of facts in the beginning and in the end of the story, which is no coincidence. This

It is within his experience of living in a remote area in the ruthless desert, that Abbey first-hand experiences this nostalgia of the wildness within us, when he experiments and tests his survival skills by killing a rabbit with a stone. As a person who values the lives of every critter, whether he dislikes like them or not, Abbey questions himself and his ability to fend for himself. Testing his self-reliance capabilities, through the act of throwing a stone and successfully making his kill, he acknowledges his primal, animalistic self that lies inherently within him: “For a moment I am shocked by my deed; I stare at the quiet rabbit, his glazed eyes, his blood drying in the dust. Something vital is lacking. But the shock is succeeded by a mild elation” (34). But Abbey isn’t done, as Abbey tries to feel guilty about his deed, but in his attempt he fails to and reflects to himself on his consciousness “I examine my soul: white as snow: white as snow. Check my hands: not a trace of blood. No longer do I feel isolated from the sparse and furtive life around me, a stranger from another world. I have entered into this one. We are kindred all of us, killer and victim, predator and prey” (34). Completely satisfied with his results, he walks away contently without remorse. In this instance, Abbey tests the concept of the

In Walker Percy’s essay titled “The Loss of the Creature,” Percy repeatedly attempts to instill the philosophy of realism in the mind of the reader. However, the manner in which he chooses to approach this goal is fairly peculiar, and uncommon among essayists. The essay is one of examples, mostly describing the pitfalls of expectation, and leaving much room for interpretation. It is felicitous that just as Percy desires to ingrain the value of the principle of discovery in the reader’s approach, the reader himself must discover the actual meaning of the essay. By looking through the examples, the reader soon picks out a

Realism wishes to “revolt against the exotic subject matter… and for this reason it is also commonly referred as bourgeois realism.” One finds this aspect of realism as well in “The Lady with the Dog” in which

When looking for things to do in our lifetimes, we tend to look at what other people do in order to take inspiration and do whatever they did for ourselves. However, there is a point where instead of naturally discovering what life has to offer for ourselves, we instead rely on how others experienced it and use that as a guide to shape our expectations for something. In Walker Percy’s writing “The Loss of the Creature”, he explores a concept he calls, “loss of sovereignty”. What he means by this term is that people will surrender free thoughts of their own and rely instead on what other people's brains think, then live off others thoughts instead of their own. To add explanation, people surrender their own thoughts and expectations, Percy says, “The consumer is content to receive an experience just as it has been presented to him by theorists and planners. The reader may also be content to judge life by whether it has or has not been formulated by those who know and write about life” (3). This shows that if the person experiencing something new in this world for the first time, they will fear that they would not know what to look out for. So they rely on others, especially the so-called “experts” to guide the road for them instead. The overall message Percy argues when it comes to Part I of “The Loss of the Creature” is that people will not let their own natural thoughts dictate what they personally think about experiencing something and instead, use others experiences to

To simply be alive consists of the acts of breathing and having blood pump through the body, but to be a human being consists of much more complexity. The nature composed of a human being involves having self sovereignty on our own emotions, opinions, desires, faiths as well as having a moral subconscious. Yet, what occurs when a situation allows an individual to react in a behaviour that doesn’t follow these defining factors of human nature? In Yann Martel 's Life of Pi, he creates the conflict of a cargo ship sinking, and the only notable survivors on the life raft consists of a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, an orangutan, and a 16-year-old Indian boy. The protagonist of the novel, Pi Patel, is faced with a personal survival conflict

A pet is something that many people view as a companion, something more than just an animal; yet others don’t see any value in them whatsoever. To these people, a pet can be a nuisance or even a waste of money. This is just one example of how different people can view the same thing in complete opposite ways. This idea also runs through Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, as Kingsolver uses five different narrators to allow each one to tell their own version of the family’s time in Africa. The fact that each character sees the same events differently is one of the most important themes in the book. The other themes, such as the role of a woman and the idea of balance are all explored by different characters, because Kingsolver

In Helen Macdonald’s memoir, H is for Hawk, she explores her journey of grief and recovery following the death of her father and how a goshawk and the wildness it embodies allows her to rediscover herself and restore her own humanity. In the very first chapter Macdonald takes time to assert her opinion of the sanctity and power of the wild, a world separate from and yet connected to our own, very much like the land of Faery from Gaelic and later English mythologies. To Macdonald the wild is a place and a presence that is both alien and familiar. Macdonald hunts down these places that to her seem to be more deeply connected to that force, wildness within and beyond all things. Macdonald relishes in these places’ beauty, as her father had taught

“At the Dark End of the Street,” is a novel that takes back to the terrifying experience Recy Taylor had in Abbeville, Alabama. Taylor was gang-raped by six white men in the 1940s. This scene immediately shows readers the civil rights movement during the 20th century and how important it was in understanding what was happening. Danielle McGuire is the author of “At the Dark End of the Street,” which was published in 2010. However, “This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed,” is a novel that focuses on King’s protection during the Montgomery bus boycott that took place in Montgomery, Alabama. Charles E. Cobb is the author of “This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed,” and was published in 2014. Both of these novels focus their points on different and similar aspects of the civil rights movement. When Cobb wrote “This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed,” he focuses on the protection African Americans needed in order to not get killed completing everyday tasks, like going grocery shopping. Even on public transportation, civil rights activist felt threatened to the point of bringing weapons and concealing them on their personnel. Even though both novels take place during different times of the Civil Rights Movement they both show the similar hardships important figures played during this movement.

After the Civil War, realism became a dominant form of writing in the United States, with writers attempting to write about everyday life. After realism came naturalism, a form of writing similar to realism, but with more pessimism. One of the reasons for this pessimism stems from free will and the question of whether people possess it or not. In realism, it is definitely true, while in naturalism it seems less so, but the options are often less than ideal. Because choices do exist for characters, free will is still there, which indicates that naturalism is a derivative form of realism. In Stephen Crane’s “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets,” the characters may have little chance to escape the world they inhabit, like Maggie, Jimmie, and

The animal’s behaviors subsequent to the zebra’s death not only reflect animal instinct but portray human-like traits as well. In the story, the