Green Tea & the Monkey

In "Green Tea", Reverend Jennings ends up succumbing to his hauntings. While in "The Monkey" Hal Shelburn ends up fighting his hauntings to the very end. Upon Reverend Jennings first encounter with the evil monkey, he ends up being completely consumed by its demonic nature. It's only until years later of being terrorized by the perception of the monkey does he attempt to get help from Dr. Hesselius. Meanwhile, the monkey continues to disrupt all of his everyday tasks and drives him more insane as the days goes by. Reverend Jennings is not much of a fighter and eventually listens to the evil monkey's directions to end his own life by slashing his throat. For the most part, Reverend Jennings does not really deal with his hauntings. If Dr. Hesselius could have given him a much more quicker solution, maybe he could have possibly defeated his hauntings. Instead being unable to effectively life his life normally and subsequently committing suicide he has given up in confronting the evil of the monkey. Contrarily, Hal Shelburn attempts to do everything he can when he realizes the evil nature/aura coming from the monkey. The fact that it took years later for him to encounter it again is a testament to his actions. Despite Hal trying to get rid of it as a child by putting it back in the attic or throwing it into a well, the monkey keeps coming back. Regardless of the monkey’s ongoing reappearance, Hal still attempts to get rid of it once and for all by putting it into the bottom of Crystal Lake. Despite a news story reporting fishes dying thereafter, implying the monkey's cymbals are continuing to clap, Hal still did all he could to get rid of its horror by his story's end. Arguably in hopes he could save his family by doing so, Hal proves to be the more courageous fighter compared to Reverend Jennings. Both men are certainly tested to their limits with evil monkeys making the men paranoid and full of anxieties. However, one man ends up losing to the haunting of a monkey clearly hallucinated in his head, while the other continuously fights against a legitimate supernatural threat. Despite all the casualties in his childhood as a result of Hal's evil monkey, at the moment, Hal has saved his wife and sons from its horrors.

Hal Shelburn, although flawed, is a good father. While, Dr. Hesselius is characterized as negligent and/or irresponsible father figure. Despite Hal clearly having more affection towards and favoring his younger son Petey, he still attempts to mend his relationship with his older son Dennis. At a point his frustrations and anxieties culminate and he slams Dennis against a door. Though in the hopes he can build a better bond with his eldest son later and mend any negative