The Monkey's Paw: Time Structure

"The Monkey's Paw" is a short story which moves around the edges of a ghost story and the uncanny. In general terms, the narration immerses the reader into a frightening atmosphere in which the reader can realise that there are certain elements that make the reading something more than a spooky tale; for example the way time is treated in the structure of the story. It is peculiar the way W.W. Jacobs manages to create a rather concrete story by making the reader fill so many gaps. In our opinion, that is due to the fact that there is a complete focus on the development of the story since the arrival of the monkey's paw, and that there are several omissions of facts in the beginning and in the end of the story, which is no coincidence. This type of structure gives the reader questions that have to be answered by their own, questions such as: what happened with the Sergeant that wants to burn the paw? Or which was Mr. White last wish?

The story begins proving this time theory, since there is no date for a time context to be placed by the reader. The characters, though rural, do not ...