"The Monkey's Paw" SG Questions & Answers

The inside of the house is small and comforting. A father and son are sitting by the fireplace playing chess; the night was cold and wet. The setting contributes to the mood of the story because it feels dim and gloomy-something bad will happen. The father's strategy about chess is bold, reckless, and risky; the son seriously studies the board-he's meticulous.=indirect characterization.

It is isolated and muddy/swampy. Mr. White hates living there.

He is characterized as being a strong outdoors-y person. He has been in India for 21 years.

It's a mummified paw that had a spell put on it by an old fakir. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who tried to change it would be sorry. He put a spell on it so that three different men could each have three wishes from it.

He clearly had an awful experience with the paw; he tears up and he says that the paw has caused him enough trouble already, and then he threw it into the fire to try to get rid of it. He says "I don't know" when they ask if he would wish again. The man before him wished for death.

Mr. White's first wish is for 200 pounds to pay off the house. Mr. White first sees the paw move and twist around his arm like a snake.

They all hear a door banging upstairs, the wind was howling, and a deathly silence falls upon the three of them. Herbert sits alone by the fire after his parents go to bed, and sees monkey-like faces in the fire.

In the morning, the mood is light, and they regard the paw and the wish with carelessness, as if it had never happened.

The visitor says that Herbert had been caught in the machinery, and had died. He also said that the company would like to pay them exactly 200 pounds.

The author says he stands up with a look of horror at the visitor, as if he knew what it was already.

The become distant to each other; they have nothing in common anymore.

He fears that Herbert will not be the same if he comes back to life. He fears that he will look like a zombie/corpse. Mr. White says if he wishes, he doesn't want to see him.

Mr. White is afraid to open the door and tries to get the paw before anything happens, and disregards it; Mrs. White is hasty to open the door.

His wish is for Herbert to be gone. Mrs. White opens the door and there is nothing there.