Blog 12: Initial Pre-Writing

The Story I will be writing about is "The Monkey's Paw," by W. W. Jacobs. I read this story several years ago and I really enjoyed re-reading it. I am still deciding on what kind of take to use for writing about the story but I noticed a lot of irony in the story and also some foreshadowing.

Plot: the elder Mr. and Mrs. White live together with their son Herbert. One day their friend Sergeant-Major Morris visits and tells about the monkeys paw he has in his possession and of the consequences of using its wishes. He attempts to burn it in the fire but Mr. White takes it out and plans to use the three wishes for himself. After Morris leaves, Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds. The next morning, Herbert leaves for work and a little while after that a man shows up at Mr. and Mrs. Whites house who comes from Herbert's company and stated that he was caught in the machinery and killed, and gave the Whites 200 pounds in compensation. 10 days after Mr. and Mrs. White bury their son, Mrs. White is still hysterical from her sons death and makes her husband wish Herbert back to life, which he does unwillingly. Mr. White does not want Mrs. White to see Herbert because his body was so torn up from the machinery and was also buried for over a week. After waiting for a short time, something starts knocking at the door. Mrs. White frantically runs to the door to open it for Herbert but she cannot reach the lock, so she grabs a chair and drags it too the door to open it. While this is happening, Mr. White was searching for the monkeys paw which had fell on the ground. When he found is he wished his son back to the dead just in time so when Mrs. White opened the door, no one was there.

The irony of the story is to becareful what you wish for, because you might just get it, no matter what the concequences may be. I noticed foreshadowing when Morris was explaining to Mr. and Mrs. White about the monkeys paw when he says " It had a spell put on it by an old fakir/ a vry holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled peoples live's, and those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow." (The Monkeys Paw p 3). When Morris said that I believed it foreshadowed that there was going to be a great loss in the story, such as the son loosing his life.