“The Monkey’s Paw,” by W.W. Jacobs is a short horror story. It tells the account of a family, whose lives are changed forever after acquiring the cursed paw of a monkey. W.W. Jacobs uses the plot conflict format to tell this story. A plot conflict essay is made up of five elements that explain the conflict as well as the events leading up to it and its aftermath. The introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution are all elements to a story. The introduction of a story is where the author introduces the characters and the setting. In “The Monkey’s Paw,” the reader meets Mr. and Mrs. White and their son Herbert White. Mr. and Mrs. White are an older couple and Mr. White’s mind is a little slow. Herbert is younger and works …show more content…
In “The Monkey’s Paw, ” Mr. and Mrs. White are mourning the loss of their son after burying him in the cemetery. One night Mr. White wakes to hear his wife crying and tries to coax her back to bed, but she keeps sobbing. Later in the night he is awakened again by his wife who has gotten an idea. She wants to use the second wish to raise her son from the dead. Mr. White does not want to wish his son alive again because he saw the way Herbert’s body looked after the accident. Mrs. White is on the brink of going mad and scares her husband. Mr. White reluctantly wishes for their son to be alive again. When nothing happens and they do not see their son and they both give up on the wish. However, after some time they hear a three knocks at the door. Mrs. White runs to the door as Mr. White grabs her arm and tries to stop her. Mrs. White breaks loose and grabs a chair to be able to reach the door bolt. Mr. White searches frantically for the paw, knowing he has to use the third wish before his wife open the door. The resolution is the ending of the story that ties all the loose ends together and resolves the conflict. In “The Monkey's Paw,” readers are left hanging. When Mrs. White opened the door there was no one around and the road was completely deserted. Because of this we assume Mr. White’s third wish was to send his son back to the grave. The lesson to be learned from “The Monkey’s Paw,”
In the story, there are multiple examples of the conflicts in order to create suspense. An example of a conflict that is present in the story would be man versus fate; this includes all of the White’s Herbert, Mr. White and Mrs. White. This conflict represents the effects of the monkey’s paw and the theme that fate rules people’s life that Jacobs portrays. A worker from Maw and Meggins tells the White family on page 381 that Herbert is “badly hurt,but no longer in pain.” This explained Herbert’s death the day after the paw was wished on. This creates suspense because Herbert’s death also messed with Mr. and Mrs.White’s fate causing them to become sorrowful and slightly insane and the effects lasted for the rest of their life. Another example of conflict is Man versus Machine; this represents Herbert’s struggle against the work machinery.As readers know, Herbert is caught in the machinery at work and is torn apart to his death, which W.W Jacobs makes a gruesome concept to grasp what type of condition Herbert was in and how he looked. However, this creates suspense because when Herbert is wished alive again, readers can only assume along with Mr. White that he is mangled and looks terrifying and might even anticipate an exact description of how he looks. Lastly, the conflict man versus himself and woman versus
In both the film and story Herbert gets sent back into his grimey grave. In the story “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs stated, “...frantically breathed in his third and last wish. The knocking ceased suddenly, although the echos of it were still in the house. “WIth this quote the author is promptly generating suspense to the story for the reader. W.W Jacobs is also presenting to the reader that the Monkey’s Paw is dominant. Furthermore in the film “The Monkey’s Paw” directed by Ricky Lewis Jr. it displays the shadow of a male figure just on the outside of the door. Not only that, but the director also includes the sound of someone knocking at the door. Mrs. White who is yearning to see her son, proceeds to open the door, but is filled with sorrow when a bright light fills her eyes, and she no longer hears the knock. Ricky Lewis Jr. made the delicate decision to keep this incident the same as the original story of The Monkey’s Paw. This is because by Herbert getting wished back into his grave after being wished alive once again, shows the
"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
Published in September 1902, “The Monkey’s Paw,” written by WW Jacobs, used a variety of literary elements to convey horror, suspense, and tension throughout the story. The story is a mystical tale of three different people granted three different wishes by a cursed monkey’s paw. The use of foreshadowing pulled the reader into the dark and cold night when Sergeant Major-Morris visits the White’s home, and told them of the tale of the monkey’s paw and tries to destroy it by throwing it into the fire. Mr. White retrieved the paw and kept it for his own personal use. The use of the wishes from the paw came at a great cost to the family. In W. W. Jacob's, "The Monkey's Paw," he illustrated foreshadowing, imagery, and fate as a theme; thus, it
According to Ann Charters in The Short Story and its Writer, "conflict is the opposition presented to the main Character of a narrative by another character, by events or situations, by fate, or by some aspect of the protagonist's own personality or nature. The conflict is introduced by means of a complication that sets in motion the rising action, usually toward a climax and eventual resolution" (Charters 1782).
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
As living and breathing human beings people are bound to experience some type of conflict. Conflict can be present within a person, between two people, between a person and forces of nature, and even between a person and their society. Conflict is defined as the struggle that shapes the plot in a story (Clugston, 2014, ch.4sect.1 para.4). When reading a piece of literature, especially a short story, one should pay special attention to the central conflict because it is the key element of the story (Clugston, 2014). This essay will analyze “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin and “Sweat” by
Conflict is opposing actions, ideas, and decisions that hold a plot together. Clugston (2014) states “Conflict is the struggle that shapes the plot in a story” (4.1 Plot, para. 4). Conflicts are also encountered in most of the literature we read for pleasure. It can create personal connections and instill deeper meanings to our experiences as we read, especially if we can relate what is read to our personal life.
The men in the two stories were distinct in their own ways, one being very greedy and the other very cautious. In “The Monkey’s Paw,” our main character was Mr.
Each story ever written has many literary elements within it. Elements such as setting, characters, resolution, plot, and lastly conflict, Conflict is a major part of any story. The plot is centered around any sort of conflict in a short story or novel. It creates challenges with the story and within the characters. It keeps a reader entertained enough to see if the characters overcome those hardships. James Baldwin’s story, “Sonny’s Blues”, uses conflict as the main concept of the story, the conflicts and struggles wither make or break the characters in the story.
Throughout Chinese history there has been three main religions or philosophies that were practiced by all within the empire. These include Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Wu-Ch’Êng-Ên is able to depict all of these religions in his novel which is considered a traditional Chinese folk tale “A journey to the West” or also known as “Monkey.” This folk novel depicts the main character Monkey and his journey through life and then later including that of a Buddhist monk Tripitaka, Pigsy and Sandy. All are considered to be examples of human characteristics and flaws of human character, yet all are on a pilgrimage which will ultimately transform their character. Each journey and section of the novel incorporates different aspects of each of the religions which eventually prove to be intertwined in order to attain success and balance.
Conflict is a normal part of everyday life and is an issue that every one faces. It is defined as a state of struggle or fight caused by the actual or perceived opposition or threat of needs, values, interest, status and power. Conflict is also a very important, common and necessary element in stories. It allows the author to add excitement and suspense thus making the story entertaining for readers. In stories, conflict is classified as any difficulty or problem that involves the characters and usually takes place in the formats of a character opposing them self, a character opposing another and a character opposing an object. The “Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman perfectly depicts conflicts and exemplifies the various types
The story begins on a rainy evening with Mrs. White, Mr. White, and their son Herbert gathered in the parlor. Mrs. White is sitting in her chair knitting as she looks on as her husband is losing to Herbert in a game of chess. From the inside, Mr. White can hear the footsteps of someone walking along their walkway and onto their porch. Mr. White immediately gets up to answer the door and is happy to see his longtime friend Sergeant-major Morris. Mr. White introduces Sergeant-major Morris to his wife and son and invites him into the parlor where they could have drinks. After a couple of drinks, Sergeant-major Morris begins entertaining the family about his adventures in India, when Mr. White
The lesson learned in the monkey’s paw is to be careful what you wish for. Mr. Whites wishes caused bad moments in his family. Mr. White wished three times throughout the story. One was for 200 pounds, another for his son to be revived. And the third was for his son to go back to his grave.In total he wished three times.These wished made their lives differently.
“The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken are similar stories because of their characters, and contrasting stories because of the wishes. The characters both receive wishes in a similar way, but the main characters use their wishes in different ways.