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8 views

the open window

Uploaded by

monica20050403
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Monkey´s Paw

( Jacobs)

SUMMARY: Mr.White, Mrs.White, and their son live a quiet life until Sergeant
Major Morist visits them and tells them about the monkey's paw, a magic amulet
that can give wishes. Mr. White wishes for money ( 200 pounds) and gets his
wish when his son has a terrible accident at his job and the company decides to
compensate the family with 200 pounds.

After that, Mrs. White is devastated, so she decides to wish for her son to come
back to life, and after that, someone knocks at the door, but before she can open
it her husband makes another wish and the sound disappears.

OPINION: Unlike in stories like The Open Window, where the narrator reveals
the truth, in The Monkey’s Paw we never truly know who was knocking at the
door. Depending on how much the story manipulates you, you may come away
with a different version of what happened.

On the one hand, if we believe the monkey’s paw is truly magical, then we can
conclude that the son died because of its curse and returned as a zombie or
something unnatural. On the other hand, it’s also possible that everything was
just a coincidence; The accident was a coincidence and the knocks on the door
were the sound of the wind outside because there is no conclusive evidence that
wishes come true magically. There is no visible resurrection of Herbert nor any
obvious supernatural manifestation. The knocking on the door does not confirm
that Herbert has returned to life.

Unlike how it happens in stories like “The Open Window”, the author does not
reveal the truth. As well as it happens in

DEFAMILIARIZATION + MANIPULATION: The house’s isolation, the fact that


the paw is from India ( comes from far away), the piano music, and the weather
are elements that begin to create a sense of defamiliarization, but it truly takes
hold with the arrival of the monkey’s paw, as the house becomes a place where
wishes can come true. Everything became even more sinister after Herbert's
accident and the intensified silence that fills the house."

Depending on how much the story manipulates you, you may come away with a
different version of what happened.
THE MONKEY’S PAW IS TRUE: If we believe the monkey’s paw is truly magical,
then we can conclude that the son died because of its curse and returned as a
zombie or something unnatural. ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR: The fact that the
sergeant said that people must be careful with the paw, the fact that they actually
got the money after wishing, Mr. White's fear at the thought of his son arriving,
and the sound of something knocking on the door are some arguments in favor of
that theory.
THE MONKEYS PAW IS NOT TRUE: But I believe that, just as in The Open
Window, both the characters and we, the readers, are manipulated by the story
and the characters. It is never proven that the paw is truly magical, so it is
impossible to say if the death was a coincidence; also, we cannot tell if
something was knocking on the door before the sound stopped or if it was the
wind .
In addition, it is important to say that sometimes people try to justify traumatic
events with supernatural explanations.

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