Literary Analysis: “The Monkey’s Paw”
With money being the main concern in the daily lives of society, consumerism has spread dramatically with the globalization of the economy. As a result, companies frequently come out with newer and ‘better’ versions of items with minimal changes to entice consumers to spend more money. Although many consumers do not necessarily need the new product, many are compelled to purchase it to use as a status symbol or gain attention from peers. This behavior causes mass amounts of careless waste and consumerism, while also causing greed and carelessness. Additionally, with this type of society, more people are more likely to be unaware of their own shortcomings and repeat their errors in judgment With this in mind, consumerism and greed are aspects of human nature that are ingrained in society through global markets and high purchasing power. In W. W. Jacobs’ short story, “The Monkey’s Paw,” the White family helps to portray the actions and thoughts of society based on their decisions and thoughts during the story. As a result, Jacobs harnesses this aspect to help readers avoid these behaviors. By …show more content…
In “The Monkey’s Paw,” the dangers and warnings of taking unnecessary risks, greed, carelessness, and consumerism are emphasized to show the faults of human nature and are depicted through the use of symbolism, foreshadowing, tone, and mood to prevent readers from exerting these behaviors themselves.
In order to emphasize the ideology that society takes unnecessary risks for greed, Jacobs involves the symbolism of the chess game between Mr. White and his son, Herbert in the opening scene in the short story “The Monkey’s Paw.” To help aid in this explanation of the carelessness of human nature, Jacobs utilizes the symbol of the chess game to depict carelessness:
With money being the main concern in the daily lives of society, consumerism has spread dramatically with the globalization of the economy. As a result, companies frequently come out with newer and ‘better’ versions of items with minimal changes to entice consumers to spend more money. Although many consumers do not necessarily need the new product, many are compelled to purchase it to use as a status symbol or gain attention from peers. This behavior causes mass amounts of careless waste and consumerism, while also causing greed and carelessness. Additionally, with this type of society, more people are more likely to be unaware of their own shortcomings and repeat their errors in judgment With this in mind, consumerism and greed are aspects of human nature that are ingrained in society through global markets and high purchasing power. In W. W. Jacobs’ short story, “The Monkey’s Paw,” the White family helps to portray the actions and thoughts of society based on their decisions and thoughts during the story. As a result, Jacobs harnesses this aspect to help readers avoid these behaviors. By …show more content…
In “The Monkey’s Paw,” the dangers and warnings of taking unnecessary risks, greed, carelessness, and consumerism are emphasized to show the faults of human nature and are depicted through the use of symbolism, foreshadowing, tone, and mood to prevent readers from exerting these behaviors themselves.
In order to emphasize the ideology that society takes unnecessary risks for greed, Jacobs involves the symbolism of the chess game between Mr. White and his son, Herbert in the opening scene in the short story “The Monkey’s Paw.” To help aid in this explanation of the carelessness of human nature, Jacobs utilizes the symbol of the chess game to depict carelessness: