The short story version of “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacob is very similar to the video version of “The Monkey’s Paw” a film by Ricky Lewis Jr. There are many different reasons to why the movie and short story are similar. First off, in both versions of the story they both use the monkey's paw and make the same wishes. This is very important to the story because if they didn’t make the same three wishes the stories would be completely different. For example, if they didn’t make the wish to gain 200 pounds then their son would have never died, and the wife would have never pressured her husband to wish him alive again. In the text it says, “He raised his hand. ‘I wish my son alive again’”(The Monkey’s Paw, Jacob, line 350). This wish was very important to the story because it starts the building up of suspense in the story.
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Secondly, another reason why using the monkey’s paw and making the same wishes is so important to both stories is they still get the same theme across to the readers and viewers. The main theme of the story is be careful what you wish for. In both versions of the story the wife goes crazy over her son dying. She decides it would be best to force her husband to wish her son alive again, even after her husband told her no. They make the wish and everything is fine, until the husband notices how bad of a decision it was to make the wish. He realizes that by bringing the boy back, he instead brought back a disgusting, mangled zombie. You can tell this is how he feels because in the text it says, “‘Don’t let it in,’ cried the old man”(TMP, 389). This happens in the movie as well. In both versions the husbands both realize they weren’t careful for what they wished for and they had to pay the price. These are some reasons why the movie and book versions of “The Monkey’s Paw” are
Secondly, another reason why using the monkey’s paw and making the same wishes is so important to both stories is they still get the same theme across to the readers and viewers. The main theme of the story is be careful what you wish for. In both versions of the story the wife goes crazy over her son dying. She decides it would be best to force her husband to wish her son alive again, even after her husband told her no. They make the wish and everything is fine, until the husband notices how bad of a decision it was to make the wish. He realizes that by bringing the boy back, he instead brought back a disgusting, mangled zombie. You can tell this is how he feels because in the text it says, “‘Don’t let it in,’ cried the old man”(TMP, 389). This happens in the movie as well. In both versions the husbands both realize they weren’t careful for what they wished for and they had to pay the price. These are some reasons why the movie and book versions of “The Monkey’s Paw” are