First Things First…
We’re kicking off this October with a horror classic. I don’t think I’ve ever read this story, and I’m not sure I’ve even seen any adaptations besides when The Simpsons did it. It’s one of their best “Treehouse of Horror” skits ever, and I bet a lot of people know the gist of the story because of it.
3 Things I Like
3. The Face in the Fire
The atmosphere is gloomy throughout the story, starting with the opening line…
“Without, the night was cold and wet…”
Talk of the monkey’s paw—especially Morris’ fear of it, which we’re about to get to—adds to that creeping feeling. So does the look of the paw, which Morris describes as “dried to a mummy,” and which causes Mrs. White to shrink away with a grimace.
Then, it culminates that night with the final paragraph of the story’s first section, when Herbert White sees a portent of sorts in the fire…
“He sat alone in the darkness, gazing at the dying fire, and seeing faces in it. The last face was so horrible and so simian that he gazed at it in amazement. It got so vivid that, with a little uneasy laugh, he felt on the table for a glass containing a little water to throw over it. His hand grasped the monkey’s paw, and with a little shiver he wiped his hand on his coat and went up to bed.”
There’s nothing subtle about it, but I still love the foreshadowing that something very bad is going to come of the Whites taking the monkey’s paw for their personal gain.
2. Fearing the Paw
“I threw it on the fire. If you keep it, don’t blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the fire again, like a sensible man.”
Sergeant-Major Morris
Sergeant-Major Morris, the fool who brings the monkey’s paw into the Whites’ life, is clearly afraid of it. He never says what he wished for or how it screwed him over, but it’s obvious he feels that way about it.
When it first comes up, he immediately tries to shift the conversation away from the paw. He then explains about the first man who used the paw before him. He says…
“The first man had his three wishes, yes. I don’t know what the first two were, but the third was for death.”
Well, that doesn’t speak well of how the first two worked out for him.
Then, he suddenly throws the monkey’s paw into the fire. And when Mr. White saves it and wants to keep it for his own use, he warns him of the potential of unintended, dire consequences.
1. Lesson (Re)Learned
What I knew about this story going in—and what makes it so famous—is that the wish is actually granted, but in the meanest way possible, with the worst unintended consequences imaginable.
What I didn’t know and find so interesting is that Mr. White already knows the moral of the story before he makes his wish.
When he first has the monkey’s paw in his hand, he eyes it dubiously and says…
“I don’t know what to wish for, and that’s a fact. It seems to me I’ve got all I want.”
If only he would’ve trusted his instincts that there was something very wrong about the monkey’s paw, and specifically of trying to mess with fate to gain a prize you haven’t worked for.
Instead, he goes ahead and makes a wish, as his son suggests. And it’s not even an extravagant wish, relatively speaking. It’s not like he asks for unlimited wealth, or millions and millions of dollars. He only asks for the specific amount it will take to finish paying off his mortgage. Yet even that means he has to relearn—the hard way—a lesson he already knows.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Nobody Is Mad at Morris?
This is just a little thing, and the story is still fine without it. But I found it odd that neither of Herbert’s parents express any anger at Morris for bringing the monkey’s paw into their lives.
Don’t get me wrong… he does his best to warn them off it. And they don’t listen. They need to own that, however painful it is.
But it’s human nature to be intrigued by a magical item the likes of which Morris describes. And then, by throwing it in the fire, he makes it even more alluring.
If these are his friends, why even bring it into their house? Why tempt them?
2 Things I Don’t Like
2. Confusion About Father and Son
It’s confusing on the first few pages exactly who everyone is. The author seems to use “Mr. White” to refer to both the elder and younger men, so there are instances when I wasn’t sure which he was referring to. But sometimes he uses “the old man” for father and calls the son by his name, Herbert. He definitely could’ve written this more clearly.
1. Only One Wish Pays Off
Mr. White’s first wish of 200 pounds, which is granted by way of compensation from his son’s employer after Herbert is killed in the machinery at his job, is the only wish that pays off. Knowing the roundabout, cruel way this wish is granted—and having some familiarity with the story through other adaptations, where wishes are granted in a similarly convoluted way—I was disappointed that we only see the one wish pay off.
When Mr. White is convinced by his wife to use his second wish to bring Herbert back to life, I was curious about the unintended consequences. But in his fear that his son would arrive fresh from the grave, mutilated and decomposing, he seemingly uses his third wish to negate his second wish.
Sure enough, when Mrs. White opens the door, believing the knocking they heard is their reanimated son, the street is empty.
As far as I can tell, his second and third wishes are granted much more straightforward. So most of what we know of this story, and why it’s been a pop culture phenomenon for more than 100 years, comes down to just that first wish. I never knew that, and I wanted a little more.
Tim Matassa
