What Does The Monkey's Paw Mean

“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs is a story about a family who gets a cursed monkey paw, from a man that told them it needed to be destroyed. This monkey’s paw grants three wishes, but whenever a wish is granted, it has a negative twist. When the parents wish for money, their son ends up dying at work, and they get compensation pay. The central idea of the story is that one should be careful what one wishes for. The tone of “The Monkey’s Paw” is sympathetic; the narrator seems to be sorry for the family. The language devices in “The Monkey’s Paw” are metaphor and symbolism. The author uses a sympathetic tone and language devices of metaphor and symbolism to show that one should be careful what one wishes for. The tone of “The Monkey’s Paw” is sympathetic, oftentimes during the story the author. The sympathetic tone develops the story because it sets it up the mood for the sad ending, even though the narrator seems to care about the family. When …show more content…
The author uses a lot of symbolism in the story in order to bring out the central idea. The author uses symbolism to show that the father is not careful with anything that he has. “Father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.” (Jacobs 1). This quote uses symbolism to show that the dad is not careful and if he gets his hands on something that he can take risks he will. The chess game symbolizes his life, and the chess pieces are all the parts of his life. When he risks the king just for excitement it symbolizes how he will risk his son’s life by wishing on the monkeys paw. That wish will lead to the death of his son; this is the main reason for the central idea. The symbolism affects the central idea, but the use of all three really expresses the central