The Monkey's Paw Literary Analysis
The Monkey’s Paw By: Hrithik
1. What is the conflict and the climax of the story?
There is a man vs. self-conflict when Mr. White uses the paw to make his first wish he experiences an inner conflict because he is afraid of the consequences, while at the same time there is an external conflict with both his wife and his son Herbert who keep urging him to make the wish. A man vs. supernatural conflict is a conflict between a character and a force of magic. That is, what is happening with the monkey’s paw, The monkey’s paw is a supernatural object. It is an object that has had a magical spell on it and has had magical powers granted to it. When the Whites interact with the paw, they are interacting with a magical …show more content…
In the end, the opposite happened. Their son died and they became miserable, they got their money but in a completely different way than expected. The second example of irony in the short story would be when Morris talks about the paw, and everything about it seems evil. But the old man still took the paw into his possession. I didn’t expect this, but it was kind of strange because it ended up killing their son. The third example of irony is the story itself. The family in the story has a good life, and they are honest, hardworking people. They have almost everything they need, but the power of the monkey’s paw tempts them, which changes their fate. They loved their son so much and were happy. They lost all that for 200 pounds. For the amount of love that they had for their son, the money was no were close to the pain that they felt when they lost their son. The fact that they were going to be fine and that they could live with their son is ironic seeing that because of 200 pounds that was all thrown …show more content…
This power makes the paw tempting, even to unselfish people who desire nothing and have everything they need. Mr. White, for example, he swiftly retrieves the paw from the fire, even though he himself admits that he wouldn’t know what to wish for if he owned the paw. Its potential also prompts Herbert to half-jokingly suggest wishing for money the Whites don’t need, just to see what happens. The paw grants Mr. White’s wishes by killing Herbert and raising his corpse from the grave in an unexpected and highly disturbing twist. At the same time, however, the paw’s supreme power may be misunderstood, because Herbert’s death may have been entirely coincidental and the knocks on the door may be from someone other than his living corpse. Another symbol is chess because it symbolizes life in “The Monkey’s Paw.” Those who play a risky game of chess, for example, will lose, just as those who take unnecessary risks in life will die. When the story opens, Mr. White and Herbert play chess by the fire, and the game’s outcome mirrors the story’s outcome. Mr. White, the narrator explains, has a theory of “radical changes” concerning chess. He takes terrible, unnecessary risks with his king, risks that make his wife nervous as she watches the game unfold. As he plays, he notices that he has made a mistake that will prove deadly. The risks and mistakes
1. What is the conflict and the climax of the story?
There is a man vs. self-conflict when Mr. White uses the paw to make his first wish he experiences an inner conflict because he is afraid of the consequences, while at the same time there is an external conflict with both his wife and his son Herbert who keep urging him to make the wish. A man vs. supernatural conflict is a conflict between a character and a force of magic. That is, what is happening with the monkey’s paw, The monkey’s paw is a supernatural object. It is an object that has had a magical spell on it and has had magical powers granted to it. When the Whites interact with the paw, they are interacting with a magical …show more content…
In the end, the opposite happened. Their son died and they became miserable, they got their money but in a completely different way than expected. The second example of irony in the short story would be when Morris talks about the paw, and everything about it seems evil. But the old man still took the paw into his possession. I didn’t expect this, but it was kind of strange because it ended up killing their son. The third example of irony is the story itself. The family in the story has a good life, and they are honest, hardworking people. They have almost everything they need, but the power of the monkey’s paw tempts them, which changes their fate. They loved their son so much and were happy. They lost all that for 200 pounds. For the amount of love that they had for their son, the money was no were close to the pain that they felt when they lost their son. The fact that they were going to be fine and that they could live with their son is ironic seeing that because of 200 pounds that was all thrown …show more content…
This power makes the paw tempting, even to unselfish people who desire nothing and have everything they need. Mr. White, for example, he swiftly retrieves the paw from the fire, even though he himself admits that he wouldn’t know what to wish for if he owned the paw. Its potential also prompts Herbert to half-jokingly suggest wishing for money the Whites don’t need, just to see what happens. The paw grants Mr. White’s wishes by killing Herbert and raising his corpse from the grave in an unexpected and highly disturbing twist. At the same time, however, the paw’s supreme power may be misunderstood, because Herbert’s death may have been entirely coincidental and the knocks on the door may be from someone other than his living corpse. Another symbol is chess because it symbolizes life in “The Monkey’s Paw.” Those who play a risky game of chess, for example, will lose, just as those who take unnecessary risks in life will die. When the story opens, Mr. White and Herbert play chess by the fire, and the game’s outcome mirrors the story’s outcome. Mr. White, the narrator explains, has a theory of “radical changes” concerning chess. He takes terrible, unnecessary risks with his king, risks that make his wife nervous as she watches the game unfold. As he plays, he notices that he has made a mistake that will prove deadly. The risks and mistakes