The Monkey's Paw : Short Questions

Some Important Question-Answers

1.What is "The Monkey's Paw" about and who are the main characters?

    "The Monkey's Paw" is a classic, even amazing, story of supernatural suspense. The monkey's paw is a magical artifact. Anyone who owns it gets three wishes granted. They come true—but never precisely as you wish, so that you get what you want at great cost to yourself. In this story, the Whites get the paw from Sergeant-Major Morris. When they wish for wealth, they get money from the company where their son works…because he was killed in an accident. Mrs. White wishes for their son to be brought back. They hear him coming back…from the dead, clearly lurching, zombie-like. The third wish sends him back to the peace of the grave.

2.Why is The Monkey`s Paw not a desirable gift?

    First off, I wouldn't call it a gift. The paw is passed from person to person. In that way, it comes into one's possesion; it is not given as a gift. The sergeant-major got it from a man who wished for death. So it was from that man that Morris (the sergeant-major) came to own the paw.

    Now it is the central idea of the story that there is really no way of knowing for sure that the paw has any super-natural powers of wish granting whatsoever:

        "Morris said the things happened so naturally," said his father, "that you might if you so wished attribute it to coincidence."

    Certainly, after one makes a wish with the paw in one's hand, something happens after the wish. But there is no way to know if the paw granted the wish or if what happened after the wish was made would have happened anyway. Things always happen after other things; that's the nature of time. The last wish made, before Morris got it, was a wish for death. But we really don't know if that man, who asked for death, even died, although that's what's implied. But so what? People die. Then Morris got the paw, and we don't know what his three wishes were at all. At least he's still alive and seemingly OK. Because of Morris's attitude about the paw, however, we assume he thinks it does bad things. Indeed, he throws it into the fire.

    The new owner, Mr. White, makes three wishes with the paw in his hand. The first wish is for money. Then the family gets some money. Is it because of the wish? Who knows? And that's the point of the story.

    So, now to answer your question: is the paw something desirable to own? Sure, why not? Should you use it to make wishes? What do you think? And that's the point of the story.

3.I need the sequence of events of "The Monkey's Paw." Number the main events of the story and make sure you include all the main events.

    1.  Mr. White and his son are playing chess, waiting for the arrival of their visitor, Sergeant Major Morris.

    2.  Morris arrives and shows them the monkey's paw, telling them of its unusual history, and how it grants three wishes to its owner.

    3.  Morris tosses the paw into the fire, but Mr. White retrieves it.

    4.  After purchasing the paw from Morris, Morris leaves, and Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds, the approximate amount needed to pay off what is owed on their home.

    5.  The next day, the Whites are notified that their son, Herbert, has died in a tragic accident at work. The representative from work offers the Whites 200 pounds as insurance compensation.

    6.  The grieving Mrs. White suggests they make a second wish--that Herbert should come back to life.

    7.  Shortly afterward they hear a knock on the door. They believe it to be Herbert, returning from the dead.

    8.  The Whites also realize that Herbert may return in his mangled form, so before opening the door, Mr. White makes his third wish.

    9.  The wish is unknown, but when he opens the door, no one is there.

4.What are the elements of horror, mystery and the supernatural in "The Monkey's Paw"?

    There are many different aspects of this excellent short story that you could focus on to bring out the mystery, horror and the elements of the supernatural. Key to focus on is the way that W. W. Jacobs, in this story, gives us a horrific retelling of the traditional "three wishes" tale that can be found all over the world. The difference between this tale and its many variations is the way that it incorporates terror and suspense in its narration. One key element that makes this story terrifying is the description of the monkey's paw and the way that it is given a life of its own. Note what happens directly after Mr. White makes his wish for money:

        A fine crash from the piano greeted the words, interrupted by a shuddering cry from the old man. His wife and son ran toward him.

        "It moved," he cried, with a glance of disgust at the object as it lay on the floor. "As I wished it twisted in my hand like a snake."

    Note the way in which the sound of the piano is used to foreshadow the disaster that is going to befall the White family. The crash is emotionally jarring, suggesting that something bad will happen. The crash is also surprising, indicating that the money will be provided but in a way that nobody can foresee. Note too the way that the monkey's paw twisted "like a snake." Snakes are creatures that we associate with evil, and so horror is injected through this comparison.

    Through this example and many others, mystery, the supernatural and horror are introduced into this excellent tale.

5.How did the relationship between the characters create their motivations in "The Monkey's Paw"?

    CHARACTER MOTIVATION IN "THE MONKEY'S PAW"

        SERGEANT-MAJOR MORRIS.  Morris apparently loves being the center of attention and to tell stories about his travels in the service. He also likes to drink, and he must have been lonely to come to such an out-of-the-way place on such a bad night. He must have brought the terrible paw in order to entertain his friends with another strange tale.

        MR. WHITE.  The father likes to take the occasional gamble, as he shows during his chess match with Herbert. Retired, simple and otherwise conservative, he allows himself to be manipulated by the others in regards to the paw. First he saves it from the fire, and then he pays Morris for it. Then, when he can think of nothing greater than paying off his mortgage, his first wish is for a mere 200 pounds. He does not have the courage to destroy the paw after the first wish, and he only compounds the terror by completing the wish cycle of the paw.

        HERBERT.  Young and impetuous, Herbert jokes about the paw and its powers, but its impact on Herbert is no laughing matter. The joy of the Whites' life, Herbert is taken from them with the first wish of the paw.

        MRS. WHITE.  A simple, aging housewife, she dotes on her single son, who still lives at home, and her grief at his death prompts her to suggest the chilling second wish. Like the second wish itself, Mrs. White doesn't think things through, and she clearly has no idea what terrors can come with the paw.

6.What was the message or theme in "The Monkey's Paw" and how the author gets the message across to the reader?

    "The Monkey's Paw" is rare in that Jacobs essentially states the theme in the text. Sergeant-Major Morris tells the Whites that "fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow." This is Jacobs' direct theme: that one cannot control his/her fate, no matter how hard one tries to manipulate it.

    One clear example is the White family's first wish. Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds: an attempt to change their fate. They think they're being reserved and rational by not asking for more, but the result of the wish shows that they have failed to change their destiny. They do indeed get their 200 pounds, but at a price they would never be willing to pay.

    A second example is, of course, the climax of the story. The tension-filled moments before Mrs. White opens the door on nothingness are particularly powerful. Although the Whites have used their second wish to have their son back, Mr. White realizes just in time that they are attempting to control something that cannot be controlled. Thus, his last wish returns their lives to the path that destiny has chosen for them, not necessarily the one they would want themselves.

7.Give an example of one good trait and one fault of Mr. White in "The Monkey's Paw."

    When we consider the character of Mr. White in this masterful horror story the first characteristic that we are presented with is a negative trait in his personality. Consider how, in the first paragraph, Mr. White's style of playing chess is presented:

        Father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils...

    It appears, then, that Mr. White is a risk-taker and is not scared of going against convention. Note how this effectively foreshadows his first use of the monkey's paw.

    If you are looking for a positive trait it would definitely have to be his quick understanding of what he has unleashed with his second wish and what precisely is knocking at the door. His quick-thinking enables him to use the third wish and protect both him and his wife from the cadaver that awaits them.

8.What might be an alternate ending for the story "The Monkey's Paw"?

    Since the story "The Monkey's Paw" opens with foreshadowing in references to son, the White's family circle, an unnamed "he" coming, and warnings to wish sensibly, an alternate ending would need to incorporate all these elements. In other words, a "he" related to their warm "family circle," a son, and confirmation of a need to be practical would have to be in the alternate ending to fulfill the foreshadowing and to tie up the threads of the story. One possible alternate ending is that when the knocking, knocking, knocking starts, Mr. White does not find the paw in time. The wife gets the bolt undone. She gets the chair moved. She opens the door and on the doorstep is the collapsed but living body of an illegitimate son of Mr. White who was summoned, though dying of consumption, to their house by the magic of the monkey's paw. The practical, or sensible, element would be that Mr. White wished for reconciliation while his wife was lamenting, while the  fulfillment of the wish would include the young man's desire to reconcile with his extended family before the death he can feel coming touches him with its icy fingers.

9.Who is the main character in "The Monkeys Paw?"

    The main character in this spine-chilling short story is without a doubt Mr. White senior, the father of the family who we are presented with on the "cold and wet" night when Sergeant Major Morris enters their lives with the story of the monkey's paw that comes to dominate the rest of the narrative. Interestingly, the first paragraph shows Mr. White's risky nature and his love of experimentation, which perhaps reflects why he is so eager to try out the monkey's paw with a wish:

        Father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.

    Mr. White, then, is established as a risk taker in the very first paragraph in the story - something that foreshadows his trial of the monkey's paw and the tragic consequences. The rest of the story on the whole focuses on him and his gradual understanding of the power of the monkey's paw and how interfering with the fate that rules our lives only brings us sorrow - as the fakir created the monkey's paw to show us.

10.What is the rising action in the short story, "The Monkey's Paw"?

        The introduction and the history of the talisman is the initial rising action in the W. W. Jacobs short story, "The Monkey's Paw." The Whites inherit the paw from their acquaintance, Sergeant-Major Morris, who reveals the mysterious past of the shriveled hand. When he throws it into the fireplace, Mr. White retrieves it. Morris warns them to wish wisely before leaving for the night.

        The rising action continues as Mr. White makes his first wish.

            "I wish for two hundred pounds," said the old man distinctly.

    Mr. White feels the paw move, and a depressing feeling of uneasiness falls upon the family for the remainder of the night. The next morning, Mr. and Mrs. White are paid a visit from the company where their son, Herbert, works. He has been killed in a grisly accident--"caught in the machinery"--and the Whites are offered a compensation of 200 pounds. Although it could be argued that this is the climax to the story, the action actually continues to rise a bit longer as the Whites exercise their second wish--for Herbert to be alive again. The rising action peaks when the Whites realize that their less-than-specific wish has an alternate possibility--that Herbert may be revived but in his deathly, crippled state.

11.What is the overall message about luck as it pertains to happiness in "The Monkey's Paw"?

    The old adage, "Be careful what you wish for; you may just get it," holds true in "The Monkey's Paw."  Because the greed of the White family is excited by the prospect of having wishes fulfilled, they do not consider the ramifications of their initial wish, nor the warnings of the old soldier to burn the paw, or if they are going to wish, "wish for something sensible."

    So, despite the warnings, the father, insensibly, wishes for two hundred pounds.  Of course, this wish is fulfilled, but there are conditions attached to this wish that the Whites have not "sensibly" considered as the sergeant has warned. And, it is these conditions that effect the horror attached to W. W. Jacobs's story.

12.What does Herbert say that foreshadows his own death in "The Monkey's Paw"?

    There are several examples that foreshadow the death of Herbert in W. W. Jacobs' classic short story "The Monkey's Paw," but few that are spoken by Herbert himself. Perhaps the best example comes at the end of Chapter I just after the Whites acquire the paw from Sergeant-Major Morris and make their first wish--for 200 pounds. Herbert is skeptical about the paw's abilities.

        "Well, I don't see the money," said his son as he picked it up and placed it on the table, "and I bet I never shall."

    Herbert later wonders how money could hurt someone and jokes that it may fall onto his father's head from the sky. He later suggests that such a windfall may make his father a " 'mean, avaricious man.' "

13.How do you explain the three wishes in the short story The Monkey's Paw"?

W. W. Jacobs' short story, "The Monkey's Paw," revolves around the three wishes granted the owner of the shriveled paw. After gaining possession of the paw from an old friend who warned them about its evil, magical powers, the White family decided to test the paw's possibilities. The first wish is made by Mr. White "for two hundred pounds." The next day, the wish comes true when the family receives 200 pounds compensation--for the gruesome death of their son, Herbert. Mr. White makes a second wish, " 'to make my son alive again.' " The reader never knows for sure about the final wish, but when the Whites hear a sudden knock at the door, they believe it to be the mangled Herbert returning from the dead. The third wish is never uttered, but we can only assume that the final wish is for Herbert to return to the grave, for when Mr. White opens the door, no one is there.

Or

W.W.Jacob's "The Monkey's Paw" is a nail - biting story where an uncanny suspense looms right till the end. It is a first-hand evidence to illustrate the fact that "fate ruled people's lives, and those who interfered with it, did so to their sorrow".

After attaining the malicious paw, the Whites decide to put it to test. Herbert asks his father to wish for 200 pounds to clear their home loan. His father does so. The next day, they receive the sum as a compensation for Herbert's death. Coincidence?? Not at all.

The next wish is enforced by his wife who wants her son back from the grave. It was a desperate desire from a mother, but it challenges the eternal law of life.

The final wish is not shown explicitly, but it is Mr. White, who reverses their previous wish. With a hard heart, the father wished his son to return to his grave.