Compare and Contrast
“The Monkey’s Paw” vs. “The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror II”
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
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stories conflicts are different. The plot for the first story, “The Monkey’s Paw”, is similar to the plot for the second story, “The Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror II”.
One example of this is that in the first story the family acquires the monkey’s paw from an old man and then use it to make 3 wishes. This relates to the second story due to the fact that the Simpsons receive a monkey’s paw and use it to make four wishes. Another example is that in both stories the families use some of their wishes for selfish purposes. In the first story Mr. White, the husband, wishes for 200 pounds which resembles the second story where the family wishes for fame and fortune. Both of these wishes do not benefit anyone, besides the family, in any way. One final example is that in both the first and second story the wishes all lead to horrible outcomes that leave the families worse off than they were before they started
wishing. A difference between these two stories is each of their settings. The first story takes place in the past unlike the second story which takes place in present day. In addition the first story takes place in a rural area with few people where, “The paths a bog, and the road’s a torrent.”(Page 1, W.W. Jacobs). Whereas the second story takes place in an urban area with an immense population. Another difference between the two settings is the fact that first story’s entire storyline took place in one place, the Laburnum Villa. The second story, on the contrary, takes place in two places which are Morocco and Springfield. One more difference between these two stories are their conflicts. In the first story the conflict occurs after the first wish. In the second story the conflict arises not after the first wish but instead after the third wish. Another example is that the in the first story the conflict only affects the main characters unlike the second story. This story affects not only the family but the entire human race as well. One final difference between the stories conflicts is that in the first story the conflict is never really solved. On the contrary the conflict in the second story was solved.
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 name of a poisonous plant. This is quite scary as the home of the
In the story The Monkey's Paw the foreshadowing creates tension and suspense because during the story there was so many things going on and you didn't know what was going to happen next. I say this because in the Monkey's Paw the author writes He raised his hand. "I wish my son alive again." This quote explains foreshadowing by suspense because when he wishes for his son to be alive again it gives the audience suspense if he is going to actually be alive again or if it's not going to come true and they are going to be disappointed.
One may stutter over the conception that a monkey’s paw holds the power to determine fate, rather than siding with freewill. In the short story, “The Monkey’s Paw,” an average family, located in the middle class discovers a monkey’s paw and are told that they had three wishes upon that magical, yet deceiving item. However, their decisions cost them several, unintended consequences, due to greed within the human mind. The author, W.W. Jacobs uses symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony to convey the peril of wish fulfillment and the dangers of interfering with fate.
The tone in the beginning of the Monkey’s Paw is dark and mysterious. The text indicates that they are playing chess by the fire, and the night was cold and wet. These descriptive words describe the mysterious night the Whites were having.
As a whole, while both short stories may seem like don’t have anything in common, they happen to have a number of both similarities and differences when discussing the theme of limiting luxury. This is important because there is more to a story than just the surface, and when you dig a bit deeper you are able to discover other parts of the story that may connect to other pieces of literature that may not have been obvious before. After comparing both stories, it is clear that they share ideas and it leads to the idea that there is a whole other layer of a story than what is obvious on the
“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.
will be price to pay for the wish and then the manager of "Maw and
Comparing The Monkey's Paw and The Signalman. In these two short stories, both authors write gothic tale stories. Both authors use gothic tale features e.g. darkness, isolation. and use of the senses.
The “Monkey’s Paw” reveals an intriguing story of destiny and death. The Theme challenges the classical ideas of destiny and fate.
put on it by an old fakir. The story continues and then Mr.White and the
The stories of “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” deal with similar forms of conflict. In “The Monkey’s Paw”, the White’s decide to keep the Monkey’s Paw despite the warnings from the Sergeant, who stated “better let it burn” when being pushed by the Whites, who wanted to use it for 3 wishes. In the story, they wish for 200 dollars to pay off the house. They get the 200 dollars, but at the price of losing their son Herbert in a Machine incident. They try to make a wish to bring him back, but the wish turns him into a monster. The whole story is a haunting tale about the Whites being too greedy and paying the price. In “The Third Wish”, Mr. Peters rescues the “king of the forest”. As a reward, he gives him 3 wishes. He does warn him about the possible misfortunes that could occur. Mr. Peters
at me, I said forcing a smile, as if you dread me”. They do not
Monkey’s Paw Prequel There was once an old fakir who lived in India. He created something that was called “the monkey’s paw.” The monkey’s paw could grant three wishes. The old fakir saw a man walking by who was just staring at the ground looking at the dirt.. The old fakir said “Would you like to buy this monkey’s paw?
Mr. White is the most responsible for the unfortunate events that resulted from wishing on the monkey’s paw. To begin, Mr.White went against what Sergeant Morris said, “If you keep it don’t blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the fire like a sensible man.” This detail confirms that Mr.White is the most responsible for the sad events that took place, because if the monkey’s paw had been destroyed in the fire he would have never been able to use it. By not burning the monkey’s paw Mr. White was allowed to use it. Causing the doomed events to follow. Also, Mr.White was the only one to make a wish. This fact is significant because if Mr. White had not wished for two hundred pounds then his son would not have died. His son would not have died