Greed And Desperation In The Monkey's Paw By W. Jacobs

Greed and desperation played a big role in the story “The Monkey’s Paw”, by W.W. Jacobs. These emotions later overcame the thought of consequences and resulted in regretful events. One piece of evidence that show these themes is when the soldier started to tell his story to the old man and woman, Mr. and Mrs. White. They are friends with the soldier, Sergeant-Major Morris, and live with their child, Herbert. One day, he comes back from India and talks about his experience. The son started to ask him about the monkey’s paw. He wondered if the soldier had already wished and asked, “‘Well why don’t you have three, sir?’…‘I have’, he said quietly, and his blotchy face whitened. He took the paw, and dangling it between his front finger and thumb, …show more content…
The soldier has wished for things that ended up not being the way he wanted. Another example of the themes is when the soldier was talking about another man who had used the paw before. “'And has anybody else wished?’ inquired the old lady. ‘The first man had his three wishes, yes,’ was the reply. ‘I don’t know what the first two were, but the third was for death.’” (2) The man who previously had the paw obviously had mindlessly wished for things that later resulted in awful events. Because of the first two wishes, he wanted to wish for death. He regretted them, and it must have affected him greatly. One last piece of evidence that shows the themes is when the old man received the paw from the soldier, then made his wish. “‘I wish for two hundred pounds said the old man distinctly’” A man appears in front of the door and introduces himself, then tells them about some news. “‘I come from Maw and Meggins…He (son) was caught in the machinery...they wish to present you with a certain sum as compensation…Two hundred pounds.’” (5) Their family was greedy and decided to wish for more money, even though Sergeant-Major Morris warned them of the consequences and as a result, their son