Review of The Monkeys Paw Essays

Review of The Monkeys Paw Essays Review of The Monkeys Paw Essay Review of The Monkeys Paw Essay This story is set in a rural, out of the way area, with a family of three, elderly parents and a Son. The father and Son are chess players, with a good relationship. The father is a sneaky old character, as he tries to cheat at Chess. The Mother is a quiet lady, who knits as the pipe smoking me plays chess. She is typical of ladies of that era, and only works as a housekeeper, and knits for a hobby. She does what her husband tells her, and humours him when the son beats him at Chess. The Mum and son know the Dad cheats, and its their private joke. They are expecting a visitor, who turns out to be a Sergeant Major. The father knows him from a previous job. The Sergeant Major was only a young boy, who worked in a warehouse before he went to War. The family were curious about the soldiers experiences, particularly the old man. The old man acts as the host and gives the soldier some punch-thats whiskey and warm water. The Mum puts on supper. The old man is jealous because he never had the guts to leave the area, so he is very interested in what the soldier was saying. He then told them about some magic, a magic charm, which he had in his pocket. The old man was very interested, and wanted to hear everything, but the soldier was reluctant. The soldier threw the charm into the fire, but the old man got it back, it was a monkeys paw, a shrivelled old hairy thing. The soldier left, and the father eventually made one wish, He wasnt sure what he should wish for, but finally agreed that he should wish for 200. The Mum and Son made fun of him, as they felt it was all stupid. The following morning, they all had breakfast together, and the Son went off to work. Soon afterwards, a well-dressed stranger came to the house. He introduced himself as a representative of the Company, where their son worked. Instinctively the Mum knew her Son was hurt, but unfortunately the news was worse, a machine at work had mangled him. The Rep said the Company were not to blame, but they were giving the old couple 200, compensation. The old couple are in shock, although they have other children, this son is the only one at home, with them. This charm had brought such bad luck to this family. The old man felt he had killed his son. After the funeral, the awful truth set in, the old man had killed his son, and they would never see him again. They missed him greatly, and the Mum found it hard to sleep. One night the Mum remembered about the Paw and insisted that her husband would make another wish that the son would come back. Although the husband knows his wife is not thinking straight, and he is terrified, he makes the wish. Then they heard knocking on the door. He is panic-stricken. He tries to cover up, and tell his wife its a rat, but she insists it is the Son. In the dark he finds the Paw again, and makes the third wish, that this is not in fact his son. Finally the knocking stops, the wife opens the door and there is no one there. The ending is a Cliff Hanger. The magic charm, which appeared harmless had changed this family, had changed the atmosphere, and changed the family, although there was a great bond that was broken. There was a strong relationship between husband and wife, it was strained by the death of the son, and the wifes mental state became poor. The old man blamed himself and was afraid and worried.  The language used was expressive and descriptive. It was written pre 1900, and difficult to understand. The language has changed greatly since the story was written.