How Does Mr. White Create Suspense In The Monkey's Paw

The Monkey’s Paw, written by W.W. Jacobs, is a short story written about the consequences of messing with the role of fate. Mr. White is a simple man living with his wife, Mrs. White, and his adult son, Herbert. One evening Sergeant-Major Morris, a family friend returned home from India, and greets them with slight hello and pulls out the soon to be frightening sight of the monkeys paw, saying that it will grant a man three of his most wanted wishes. But that it was made to prove that when you mess with fate, bad things happen. Even with the clear warning, Mr. White uses the monkey’s paw to grant his wishes, and soon pays the price. I believe The Monkeys Paw qualifies as a horror story because of its ability to control the amount of suspense

throughout the story and how the setting influences the way we feel about the events that are happening.

There are many techniques that are used to create and deliver tension and suspense
Throughout 'The Monkey's Paw'. Suspense is a state or feeling of excitement or anticipation about what might happen. From the very beginning of the story we can see that the
language used sets the scene and conveys the atmosphere of the story; "the night was cold and wet".

The kind of suspense used immediately implies that the story will be based on evil and sinister plots, that 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 and phrases that create suspense all by themselves; "the words died away on his lips", "beastly", "slushy". All of these words used keep in with the Gothic and horror genre that keep your heart pumping from beginning to

end.

The setting of the Monkeys paw also influences the way we feel and assume about the story.

As we, the readers, think about what might happen next or how the characters location and time might not be the best for them; the author is basically creating a new world for us to portal threw. The author gives us little hints about how the characters feel, "That's the worst of living so far out," balled Mr. White with sudden and unlooked-for violence; "Of all the beastly, slushy, out of the way places to live in, this is the worst. Path's a bog, and the road's a torrent. I don't know what people are thinking about. I suppose because only two houses in the road are let, they think it doesn't matter." This statement promptly let's the reader know that the Whites also seem a little inattentive with their simple life. The location or setting of the home relays a sense of isolation and separation from the town. Mr. White gets mad doubting that Sargeant Major Morris is likely to come for a visit because of the weather and because of the lay of the road. The Whites live in a rural area, they don't get many visitors walking outside in their neighborhood. They have been cut off from civilization and are alone. It is a little spooky. The remoteness of the Whites home helps the reader comprehend that the knocking on the door that occurs after Mr. White's second wish is most definitely their son that has risen from his grave. The reader does not know who is knocking on the door for sure,

but because of the rural area in which they live and the fact that it is unlikely that anyone would be walking near their home, the Whites believe and so does the reader the pounding noise is being created by their son Herbert.

To conclude, the "Monkeys Paw", written by W.W Jacobs, uses the setting and amount of suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole story. Mr. White carelessly did not think threw his first wish which had a big impact on the rest of his life. The moral of this story is don't take things for granted, be thankful for what you do have, and be careful what you wish for.