The Monkeys Paw

Throughout The Monkeys Paw, Jacob uses suspense in numerous ways to draw the reader to the story. One of his many suspenseful tactics was the simple fact that the monkeys paw contained three wishes. Mr. White wished for 200 euro yet the reader has no idea of the outcome of the wish. It wasn’t until mid-story does the reader find out that the wish does indeed come true but with harsh consequences. “ In consideration of your sons service, they wish to present you with a certain some as a compensation” “how much?” “Two-hundred pounds” was the answer. Jacob uses just enough suspense to keep the reader on his toes until the very end.

When Mr. white first got the paw he was skeptical about what the consequences would be from the paw after making the his wishes. He thought of selling but never did but instead decided to keep it. Mr. white at first had no clue what to wish for, “it seems to me I’ve got all I want.” His son finally suggested wishing for 200 pounds, so he wished for just that. After the wish nothing happened so they kind of gave up on the paw and started to disbelieve in it. It then turned windy, windy like it has never been before. Then the old man came and brought them 200 pounds. They were happy at first until they faced a consequence. Mrs. White was in her house when she saw a man dressed very nicely staring at her through her window, finally he came to the door n told Mrs. White the horrible news. “He was caught in machinery,” said the visitor. Mrs. White was upset about the whole ordeal because her son was the only one she had left and now he was gone. The price of the boys service was 200 pounds, so the money the had just received from the wish was just put towards there sons death witch was a cause of making a wish in the first place.

In the long depressing nights they had following the death of their son, Mrs. White was woken up with an idea. She thought about the paw and how they still had 2 more wishes. She thought of wishing her son back to life but Mr. white disagreed because he would not be able to see his son all mutilated before him. He finally gave in, “I wish my son alive again.” He began to tremble after he made the wish causing the talisman to fall to the floor. He was waiting in his living room in shock for a while with nothing but a flickering candle. He finally realized that the wish didn’t come true; with relief he went back to bed.

A little after that he was again woken up by the sounds of knocking at the front door, he began to go downstairs, walking very slowly and cautiously with nothing but a lit match that kept blowing out. At this time my anxiety level increased, not knowing what was going to be at the door.

Mrs. White was excited because she knew it was her son Herbert. Mr. white on the other hand was nervous and didn’t want to answer the door. “Don’t let him in.” “Your afraid of your own son.” Cried Mrs. White. Mrs. White tried opening the door but there was a bolt stopping her, so she yelled for Mr. white to come down to open the door but he refused. Instead he stayed up stairs panicking looking for the paw before the “thing” came inside. The knocks got more and more intense so at this point Mrs. White began to get a little nervous. She ran for a chair to set against the door. At the time the