We’ve all heard the stories of the well, the lamp, the genie. The magical item that mystically grants three wishes to whoever its beholder. And let’s be honest here, we’ve all thought about it. We’ve all wanted that wish to come true whether that be getting the love of that special someone, achieving that wealth of immeasurable proportions, or gaining popularity and fame associated with starhood.
But while we have dreamt on all the “coulds” that are associated with such an arcane object, have we ever considered the consequences? Have we really tried to understand the background forces that govern such overwhelming power?
Let me guess. You haven’t, I haven’t, and probably the majority of us never had. And that’s understandable, like this wizardry only exists in fiction anyways so why should be care. However, that seemingly random question is exactly the catch of The Monkey’s Paw written by W.W. Jacobs in 1902.
Growing up, W.W. Jacobs was raised on a wharf located along River Thames, a river that runs through London. And due to his upbringing in proximity to London during the Victorian Era, the ideals of the era embude the setting, actions, and themes of his short story. Even seemingly nonchalant details like overpopulation, economic disparity and serial killers like Jack the Ripper all shine through creating this thrilling horror.
The story follows Mr. White and his family and his acquisition and use of “The Monkey’s paw”, a magical item that has the profound ability to grant any wish of the beholder. And even though the family is content with their current financial situation, they are tempted by the immeasurable. And so, the story follows the twists and turns that occur following the seemingly innocent wish of “two hundred pounds” (or roughly $257 USD).
And as you read on, three main points really make this piece stand out as a unique short story as it’s filled with themes of desire, despair, and fear.
So all about that desire:
Desire is like one of the cardinal sins, one of the seven deadly sins of human nature. It’s greed. But even though it’s classified as such a sin, it’s also quite a commonplace occurrence. We’ve all experienced at some point in our lifetime, whether that be last night when you snuck an extra cookie right after dinner or back in elementary school when you kept the swing to yourself even after that person counted to a hundred. And because it’s such a common day appearance, such a common thought that pops in our head, it’s what makes the characters of this story so relatable and genuine.
But greed leads to despair:
But quickly, as you’ll learn from this short story and many other facets of life, karma strikes. Just like how the monkey’s paw has the power the grant any wish, it also has a great drawback. It’s basically an evil genie of a sort. And this aspect, this twist to a children’s classic is what brings out the thriller and horror aspects that make this story stand out from all its cliches and counterparts.
Which ultimately ends in fear:
And just like Newton’s third law, what comes up, must comes down. When there’s good moments, there’s mad moments. When a wish is completed, there are drawbacks. And this pattern, this relationship helps the short story truly separate from the cliches. Instead of promoting the happy, your dreams will come true tropes, it instead delves into the concept of human nature and question the morality and forces that drive greed (and by extension all seven of the deadly sins).
And not only that, these actions, these behaviors can be directly translated to our day to day lives. It helps illuminate some of the consequences that seemingly irrelevant actions have on our surroundings and the path of destruction that greed can lead you down. This was one of the earlier stories that explores a darker theme that hasn’t really been delved in by other authors at the time and is a pioneer in its content.
So overall, I highly recommend that you give The Monkey’s Paw a read. It really helps capture the essence of human nature and really helps explore the driving forces behind human nature and their not so great behaviors. It explores an area of a cliche that really isn’t seen and provides a thrilling twist in it’s spooky atmosphere. And, as a side note, it’s a great read for the upcoming spooky holiday that’s coming up.
Great blog! You really looked at the short story as a whole and the deeper meaning of some of the elements in the story. Your summary was really good, as it didn’t have any spoilers and you had some solid research on the author. I liked how you talked about how karma will get you and how desire leads to a road of despair and bad things. The whole story gives off a “spooky” vibe, which is great because who doesn’t love a good scary story? The monkey’s paw seems like a pretty neat thing, granting wishes galore, and you didn’t give away what happens next and now I’m wondering what happened after the family the money they wished for. I’m like on the edge of my set wondering what’s going to happen next, which is great because it shows you did a good job getting me to want to read the story. Some suggestions I have for your next blog: you lost your voice a lot during this blog, and it was harder to pick out spots where I could tell it was your voice and you were passionate about writing the blog. Having some analytical pieces in your blog is good- don’t get me wrong- but your voice is what really ties the whole things together. Another suggestion is maybe writing a little more about the literary elements of the story like the writing style or how the time period influenced the story, etc. Just some things to think about for your next blog. Overall, good job and I can’t wait to read the story :)
Having heard of The Monkey’s Paw on different occasions throughout my high school career, I was interested to see what this story is all about. Reading your blog, it seems as if it won’t disappoint. There seems to be an interesting mix of magic and morality permeating the piece, providing a unique balance of entertainment and a lesson to be learned.
Overall, I like how you had this piece formatted. The use of contrast between short and long paragraphs kept the blog easy and interesting to read. You also did a nice job of weaving the morality aspect of the short story throughout your piece rather than overwhelming the reader by leaving it in one place. Weaving it throughout made me curious about this aspect of the story and kept me reading to see how it played a part in why I should pick it up for myself. I’m excited to add The Monkey’s Paw to my reading list!
I enjoyed this blog, because it gave me a background to multiple references that may be made about it. For example, in the show “Rick and Morty” they actually end up using a monkey paw instead of a normal genie, which I didn’t really pay attention to until now. There is one problem I find with this blog though, I am pretty sure that in many genie stories, in reality the genie attempts to twist peoples words in order to make them suffer. Alas I still enjoyed the read, and you gave me context to a pop culture reference so thank you.