CENG 112: Analyzing Character Development in 'The Monkey's Paw'

This essay delves into the character development within W.W. Jacobs' 'The Monkey's Paw,' focusing on how language shapes the personalities and motivations of the White family and Sergeant-Major Morris. The analysis explores Mr. White's initial skepticism and subsequent greed, Mrs. White's desperation and maternal instincts, and Herbert White's tragic fate. The essay examines the use of descriptive language, syntax, and narrative voice to illustrate the characters' evolving states and the story's overarching themes of fate, desire, and consequence. It further discusses the symbolic role of the monkey's paw and its impact on the family's dynamics, highlighting how their choices lead to devastating outcomes. The essay concludes that the story serves as a cautionary tale about the perils of tampering with fate and the destructive nature of unchecked desires.

The monkey paw is an extraordinary tale regarding the White family wherein three wishes are
made on the paw of monkey. Three of the granted wishes come true, but not in a manner which
was expected. The paw was bought by Sergeant-Major Morris, being an English soldier back
from India. Mr White, a common and conventional man whose interest result in him to aspire on
the paw regardless of caution provided by the Sergeant-Major Morris. Mrs White a caring and
taken woman who seeks for the life of son from his husband. Herbert White is the son of Mr &
Mrs White who faced death from a factory-related accident.
As soon as the arrival of Sergeant-Major Morris, being an army man based in India from last 20
years. Stories were depicted by the Sergeant-Major Morris to the Whites regarding his
adventures and place the money paw in front of them while opening the truth of the paw that it
can grant three wishes to three people. Initially, the paw was received by the Sergeant-Major
Morris by an aged holy man, regarded as fakir in India (Hamilton 17). Thus, the paw is filled
with extraordinary power and magic, which is used by a character to wish for 200 pounds,
without knowing what it can result into.
Sergeant-Major Morris appears to be at the White residence on a stormy yet dark night. He
comes up n with a charmed monkey’s paw, a magical wand he selected at this time of travelling
in India. Sergeant-Major Morris had depicted that the paw was charmed by a holy man based in
India. It will give a total of three wished to three lucky people. The man who tried first tending to
be so unlucky with his initial two wishes, due to this he used his last wish as death. Three
wished were already granted to Sergeant-Major Morris which left him extremely harsh that to get
rid of the same he throw the pay into burning fire (Jacobs, 3). Further, Mr White recovered
the same at his own risk. Initially, Mr White was willing to have money to compensate the
mortgage. The very next day, Mr White’s son died due to a work-associated incident, and both
Mr and Mrs White are honoured with the actual amount of the present mortgage in the
compensation of worker. After that, Mr White made a wish for the life of his son, merely to
undo the wish when the body of the son was outside the door. The Whites were given their
desires, that means they were granted the wished money, but as a consequence, their son dies,
and his dead body comes knocking to the door. The Whites were not able to beat over Fate, and
are penalized in the most terrible way due to their greedy desires. It has been believed by the

White family, that the paw could change their destiny, on the other hand, they attempt to cope up
with the things by making use of paw power, to reinstate destiny and loss.
The protagonist of the story is Mr White, and the antagonist is Mrs White, Segeant-Major Morris
and Herbert White, and the dynamic was the Money paw which changed the entire story. The
main characters of the Monkey Paw were Mr White, who is an elderly man buying into monkey
paw and makes use of the same to make a wish of 200 pounds to compensate home loan.
Another main characteristic is Mrs White, Herbert White, Sergeant-Major Morris, The Monkey
and further are the Man from Maw and Meggins.
Wordings used for story narration is clear and concise and perfectly portraying the scene in
which character is displayed. The present literature uses sound grammar without making use of
excessive jargons to layout the story. The language used in the story is simple yet
straightforward, which visualizes the power of the paw and the use of same is warned by
Morriss. However, the use of this magic paw resulted in a horrible scenario. The wish was made
for selfish concern, and it did not come true as it was expected. Instead, it created a painful,
agony and terrible scenario.
Proper punctuation has been used so that reader can have better insights regarding the
interpretation of viewpoint of the author. Syntax is considered to be the most important part for
the purpose of establishing the narrative voice of author, in the concerned story, a blend of short
and long sentences have been used as per the requirement of reader but with proper punctuation
marks to brief of out the scene in the mind of reader (Jacobs and Mowat 23). The story is not
based on the author, but the author has presented some characters to establish a supernatural and
extraordinary story, which is capable of drawing a picture for the reader at the time of reading.
Further, the overall story is simply arranged and organized, with every paragraph dedicated to
the main concept. These two components of literature part can offer a better understanding to
the reader with in-depth insights and interpretation of the work of the author.
My observation for the story is significant from the perspective of a leader as it directly related to
the theme of magic and reality as generally, we are aware that particular situation or object or
person can co-stress but still due to the selfish concerns we opt for it. The story is meaningful

and imaginary as the language used for it is appealing to the reader’s senses to represent the
things that can be smelled, seen, touched or heard in a presentable manner.
The Money’s paw picturizes fear, evilness and revenge in the family of Whites, after the death of
their son, the mother is worried that the paw would not create more negative impacts on their
family. Thus, the White family showcases that the greedy and selfish concerns for things can
lead to immense destruction and damage. The story of Monkey paw represents the selfishness
and desire which is a fraction of human nature.
.

References
Hamilton, Cristen. "Letting the Uncanny in the Short Story." Plaza: Dialogues in Language and
Literature 5.2 (2015): 15-21.
Jacobs, W. W., and Diane Mowat. The Monkey's Paw Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library.
Oxford University Press, 2016.
Jacobs, William Wymark. The Monkey's Paw. Read Books Ltd, 2014.