“He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow.” Sergeant-Major Morris Of course, the arrival of a messenger with a token payment for a human life also lends the consequences of the wish upon the paw a sense of believability: it could be that everything that seems to occur as a result of the supernatural is, in reality, mere coincidence. Perhaps no other quote from “The Monkey’s Paw” feels quite as real as this one, in which business and insurance collude to deny responsibility and escape punishment. In a story with a plot that is so far removed from reality, it becomes essential for the purpose of maintaining its effectiveness as horror to situate the story within a world as recognizably ordinary as possible. "They admit no liability at all, but in consideration of your son's services they wish to present you with a certain sum as compensation." Maw & Meggins Messenger Even if one is not familiar with what a fakir is, the word itself if enough to conjure up the exotic and unfamiliar. Jacobs provides quite a bit of meaning within a short sentence, only needing a eleven words to provide the reader with more than enough information about the monkey’s paw to allow the reader to take off on their own flight of fancy. Morris eventually tells the truth about the talisman. "It had a spell put on it by an old fakir.” Sergeant-Major Morris The brusque manner in which Morris hastily changes the subject provides a bit of foreshadowing while further underlining the disquieting mood set up by the story's descriptive opening line. White’s query is the first time that monkey’s paw is mentioned by name. "What was that you started telling me the other day about a monkey's paw or something, Morris?" Mr. White’s tirade probably just needs to pack it in and go rent a movie version of the story–or watch the parody of “The Monkey’s Paw” on one of the earliest entries in The Simpsons’ "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween anthology specials. And, finally, what fantastically evocative imagery! Any reader who can’t picture exactly where this story is set by the time they reach the end of Mr. White is not exactly content with his lot in life. Secondly, the subjective opinion subtly informs us that Mr. This is a subjective opinion of a place, not objective description. Firstly, by putting this description into the mouth of a character, it becomes more palpable than if it had been mere narration. This is another terrific example of how Jacobs so effectively sets the tone for his story. Pathway's a bog, and the road's a torrent.” Mr. "That's the worst of living so far out…of all the beastly, slushy, out-of-the-way places to live in, this is the worst. A story like “The Monkey’s Paw” could certainly have been effective at the time of original publication if the mood were set with a description of a bright, sunny, cloudless day, but that would not retain quite the same power to invoke in the reader a deep expectation of doom. The opening line of the story succinctly fulfills one of the greatest necessities for a story that impinges upon the macabre or horrific: it creates a setting and mood perfectly appropriate for the strange tale that is about to come. Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly.
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