Tension and Suspense in the Monkey's Paw There are many techniques that are used to create tension and suspense in 'The Monkey's Paw'. From the very beginning we can see that the language used sets the scene and conveys the mood of the story; "the night was cold and wet". Pathetic fallacy immediately implies that the story will be based on evil and creates tension as it intrigues the reader. We can see that the language used helps the story to become fast paced which contributes to creating tension and suspense. We can also see that there are many words that create suspense by themselves; "the words died away on his lips", "beastly", "slushy". All of these words used keep in with the Gothic genre that characters are described negatively and the descriptions of objects are negative. The dialogue used also builds up tension and suspense: 'As I wished, it twisted in my hand like a snake' 'Well, I don't see the money,' said his wife From this we can see that by having a section in dialogue, it heightens the tension at that point and quickens the pace of the story. Furthermore, we can see that a simile has been used which helps the reader to visualise what Mr White went through. We can also see that the punctuation used in the story also helps to create tension and suspense, "What's that?" By italicising the text, it adds emphasis onto it and shows the reader that the character is shocked and speaking in a raised voice. This intensifies the tension and makes the reader want to read on to find out what happens. The fact that the story is in a narrative perspective also creates tension and suspense. As the story is written in the third person, the reader is more removed from the story and the emotional impact. This is a definite contrast to the Red Room, which is written in the first person. The story is more emotive if in first person, as it is as if you are looking through someone's eyes and sharing the same feelings
the name of a poisonous plant. This is quite scary as the home of the
Many narratives are told in different perspectives these days. I believe the book Make Lemonade is told in the first person point of view.
protagonist. From open to close, the story only details a few days of life. This
There is no doubt in the fact that The Monkey’s Paw (written by: W.W. Jacobs) and The Goldfish (written by: Etgar Keret) are very similar. What a lot of people fail see though, is that even with them being so similar, they aren’t. Each one has its own meeting and its own story to be told.
talks to his son. ‘Hark at the wind’, tells us that Mr White is very
“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.”(McGill). The short story The Monkey’s Paw by William Wymark Jacobs has many instances of characters not giving their full attention when somebody was attempting to speak to them. When the sergeant came to the home of the White’s and showed them the monkey’s paw, the White’s did not listen to the sergeants warning of the monkey’s paw of it bringing great consequences whenever they made a wish. Mrs. White did not listen to Mr. White when he tried to explain why they should not wish for their son to be alive. Mrs. White rushed down the stairs ignoring Mr. White’s warnings of opening the door to let their son into the home. Listening more to people other than someone’s self is an ideal that has been lost in society.
1 The Monkey’s Paw “The Monkey’s Paw” is a short story written by the author W. W. Jacobs. Thestory was first published in England in the collection The Lady of the Barge in 1902. In the story, the person who receives the paw is granted three wishes.
...houghts and feelings; their inner journey is described verbally, so that the audience receives a first-person recount from the key characters.
child in order to fully see the story through the narrator’s eyes; in fact, this point of view
Unusually heard sounds can be scary and frightening. Creepy sounds can make the stories more suspenseful because they make it to were you want to know what happens next. This is because if you like the character you do not want anything to happen to them so you want to keep reading so that you know what happens to them. Sounds that are not usually heard such as a heart beating or other scary sounds like the death groan from "The Tell-Tale Heart" or the amount of panting and shuffling from the dead son from "The Monkey's Paw" help with the suspense because it makes it to where you know something bad is going to happen.
First Person is when the author chooses one character to tell the story. You will often see the words, “I,” and “me,” through out. The narrator will most likely be in the middle of the action, or telling the story from a past perspective.
put on it by an old fakir. The story continues and then Mr.White and the
In the short story, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs, I came to the conclusion that Sergeant Major Morris was responsible for the sorrows that resulted from the monkey's paw. For instance, he was the one who owned the paw in the first place, allowed Mr. White to keep it, and even told them how to use it, stating on page 377, "Hold it up in your right hand and wish aloud."
The Simpsons episode “The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror II” is about a magical monkey’s paw bought by the Simpsons, a modern day family that lives in a town called Springfield. The family uses the paw to grant themselves four wishes. The wishes, they soon find out, all include repercussions that harm the family in some way. The book “The Monkey’s Paw” is about a family that is given a monkey’s paw by a friend that says it can grant three wishes. The family’s home in this story is Laburnum Villa, sometime in the past. At first the family is skeptical of the friends claim that the paw is magic saying, “If the tale about the monkey’s paw is not more truthful than those he has been telling us, we shan't make much out of it.”(Page 4, W.W. Jacobs). They then proceed to use the paw and are surprised to find that what they wish for is in fact granted but comes with terrible consequences. While “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror II” both share similar plots, the settings of the stories and the
first person point of view is the most limited for the perspective is only from one individual.