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Jacobs runs with two themes: be careful what you wish for and you can't get something for nothing. Jacobs illustrates both themes when Herbert urges his father to wish for two hundred pounds. Everything seems to be going fine the next day until Herbert leaves for work. Not long after he is gone, a strange man comes to their house and informs Mr. and Mrs. White their son has been in an accident involving the machinery he was working with and he was instantly killed. The company Herbert was working for offers to help pay for his funeral expenses by providing Mr. and Mrs. White a sum of two hundred pounds. Another example would be when Mrs. White was so grief stricken she encouraged and begged her husband to use his second wish to bring Herbert back from the grave. After the first wish, Mr. White knew something was wrong with the monkey's paw and tried to convince his wife it would be a bad idea because their son may not come back the same person. The second wish alone puts the idea in the reader's mind it will be impossible for the son to come back the same, especially after being decapitated; therefore, the question of what will be the price for bring Herbert back from the
