‘Be careful what you wish for,
you may receive it.’—Anonymous
The Monkey’s Paw was published in
Jacob’s short-story collection The Lady
of the Barge (1902), and the story’s popularity has been extraordinarily
long-lasting. The story has been included in approximately seventy collection
from horror and gothic anthologies to the New York Review of Books’ collection
of classic fiction. The story has also been turned into a play, parodied on The Simpsons, and made into eight separate
movies. Stephen King wrote about “The Monkey’s Paw” in The Dead Zone (1979) and Apt
Pupil (1982) and based his novel Pet
Sematary (1983) on its themes. The spare but colorful characterization of
White family, fascination with wishing and wishing gone awry, and story’s mix
of humor and terror have made “The Monkey’s Paw” popular with generations of
readers.
In “The Monkey’s Paw”, author
William Jacob conveys the message that fate rules peoples’ lives, and that
those who try to interfere with fate do so at their own peril.
This essay analyzes the
characters then story of people who are curious likewise want to try with
objects that are considered magical and can provide anything they ask for three
wishes, in the short story entitled The Monkey’s Paw. During the course of each
narrative and conversation can be seen character how they are stubborn moreover
do not think about the consequences of the luck which they were got. Every
character shows their own character each other that smoothes storyline with
conventional plot such as “beginning-middle-ending”, which eventually the main
character explain the fact that fate ruled people’s live each other, and if
that those who interfered with it did do to their sorrow. Every story is made
up of sequence, or series, of events. Plot is use for explain every part in the
story.
Keywords: character, fate, life,
plot.
Stories about people who believe
in magical things is always be talking and debated by religious leaders and the
general public whose do not agree and even not believe if the magical thing can
give influence for their daily life especially in modern era. Some people who
believe in magical things usually cannot be separated from the things that
believe in, they will be stop to believe in when they fall on some bad thing
otherwise even gets consequences and causes of what they do. Every character in
the story gives a separate carriage on the course of the story. The characters
which discussed in this essay are illustrates that everything was obtained
always deliver an impact for life, moreover if we do not think about the
consequences of what will be felt when we doing something with following the
promptings of passion and impatience.
Methods of characterization
in literature is the process authors use to develop characters and create
images of the characters for the audience. There are two different approaches
to characterization, including direct characterization and direct
characterization. With the direct approach, the author tells us what he or she
wants us to know about the character. With indirect characterization, the
author shows us things about the character to help us have an understanding of
the character’s personality and effect on other characters.
The methods of characterization:
·
Indirect: telling/exposition
·
Direct:
-
Dialogue
-
Behavior
-
Physical description
-
Thoughts
Characterization: major/minor,
round/flat
·
Major characters are the central characters in
the story.
Round characters:
characters who are more fully developed.
·
Minor character are those who are peripheral to
the story
Flat characters:
characters who do not give full fleshed-out understanding.
Characters’ action and the
conclusion based on The Monkey’s Paw novel:
|
Character
|
Action and
Characterization
|
Conclusion
|
|
Mr. White
|
Yells about the foul weather
and the poor condition of the road they live on.
Want the object shown by his
friend.
Characterization: (behavior)
“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…”
It seems like he is an
ambitious man, he is likes to win and hates to lose.
He is also a curious and
malleable man, he loves his wife and son so much. He makes the second wish to
help his wife because she is depressed of Herbert’s death. And he is also
make the third wish because he won’t make his wife feel more sadness and
fear.
|
He’s frustrated because he has
lost at chess and he is getting rid of his emotion.
That he is curious and then
feel regret.
|
|
Mrs. White
|
Always makes Mr. White feel
relax and happy.
Take care of her son.
Want to use the paw to wish she
get her son back.
Characterization: Direct
(physical description and behavior)
“…the white-haired old lady
knitting placidly by the fire.”
Mrs. White is an old woman, she
is a good mother and wife for their little family, also she is lovingly
attentive to her husband and son, and she is also make jokes with them.
Herbert’s death made her very
depressed and she wants him back, finally she force her husband to ask
another wish to the monkey’s paw. For that act she is also a selfish foe
forcing her husband to do what she want.
|
She cares for her husband and
son.
She was frustrated because she
knew her son was dead and she really misses her son and she want him back.
|
|
Herbert White
|
He was use first wishes for ask
some money.
He was a hard worker.
Characterization: (behavior)
“If the tale about the monkey
paw is not more truthful than those he has been telling us, we shan’t make
much out of it.” He is an impertinent, but also he is a loyal man and hard
worker.
“They admit no liability at
all, but in consideration of your son’s services they wish to present you
with a certain sum as compensation.”
|
He was a greedy.
The company admit no liability
at all, but in consideration if his services they wish to present some
compensation.
|
|
Major Morris
|
Throws
the paw into the fire.
Says to wish for something
sensible.
Characterization: (
He is a friend of White family,
he is owner of the monkey’s paw. He is careful to his friend (White family),
he won’t they get bad influence for they make wishes.
“I threw it on the fire. If you
keep it, don’t blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the fire again, like a
sensible man.”
He was told to the White about
the consequences for using the monkey’s paw.
|
He did
not want anyone to suffer from this.
He knew that the paw could
bring bad influence for people who make wishes.
|
Plot (sequence of events)
The plot is usually a series of
related incidents. These incidents build and grow to develop the story.
Types of plot:
·
Beginning-middle-end (chronological)
·
Middle-beginning-end (in medias res, Latin for “in the middle of things”)
This story is have a conventional
plot, describe on Freytag Pyramid:
Climax
Rising Action Falling
Action
Exposition/ Conclusion/
Opening Situation Inciting Incident Denouement
-
Exposition/Opening Situation: Exposition is a
literary device used to introduce background information about events,
settings, characters etc. to the audience or readers. The word comes from the
Latin language and its literal meaning is “a showing forth.” Exposition is
crucial to any story, for without it nothing makes sense.
Case in the story: The
night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds
were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at chess, the
former, who possessed ideas about game involving radical changes, the
shite-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.
The old man rose with
hospitable haste, and opening door, was heard condoling with the new arrival. A
tall burly man, beady of eye and rubicund of visage.
-
Rising Action: All the events in a story that
move the plot forward are the grouped together and called the rising action.
Rising action involves conflicts and complications, builds toward the climax of
the story.
Case in the story:
Sergeant-Major Morris tells the White a tale of the Monkey’s Paw which can
grant three wishes to three different men, because the monkey’s pas had a spell
put on it by an old fakir, a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled
people’s lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow.
When Major Morris let
the monkey’s paw burn Mr. White ask Major Morris to give it to him (“If you
don’t want it, Morris, give it to me), but Major Morris ignore his friend
doggedly and also he was warn Mr. White of the consequences (“I don’t know what
the first two were, but the third was for death. That’s how I got the paw.”).
Herbert suggested his
father to wishes for two hundred pounds. His father, smiling shamefacedly at
his own credulity, held up the talisman, as his son, with a solemn face
somewhat marred by a wink at his mother, sat down at the piano and struck a few
impressive chords.
In the brightness of
the wintry sun next morning as it streamed over the breakfast table Herbert
laughed at his fear, then he is goes off to the machinery and work.
-
Climax: The climax of a novel is the high point
or the turning point, in the story – usually the most intense point near the
end of the story.
Case in the story: Mrs.
White was watching the mysterious movements of a man outside, who, peering in
an undecided fashion at the house, appeared to be trying to make up his mind to
enter. In mental connection with the two hundred pounds, she noticed that the
stranger was well dressed and wore a silk hat of glossy newness.
She brought the
stranger, who seemed ill at ease, into the room. He gazed at her furtively, and
listened in a preoccupied fashion as the old lady apologize for the appearance
of the room, and her husband’s coat, a garment which usually reserved for the garden.
She then waited as patiently as her sex would permit, for him to broach his
business, but he was at first strangely silent. He said that he was asked to
call The White from Maw and Meggins to inform that Herbert was hurt, but he is
not in any pain, Herbert was caught in the machinery.
The visitor coughed,
and rising, walked slowly to the window. And he said that the firm was wished
him to convey their sincere sympathy with The White for their loss, he begged
that they will understand he is only the servant of Maw and Meggins and merely
obeying orders. There was no reply, the old woman’s face was white, her eyes
staring, and her breath inaudible; on the husband’s face was a look such as his
friend the sergeant might have carried into his first action. He was said that
Maw and Meggins disclaim all responsibility, they admit to liability at all,
but in consideration of White’s son’s services they wish to present you with a
certain sum as compensation. Mr. White dropped his wife’s hand, and rising to
his feet, gazed with a look of horror at his visitor. He is asking how much and
the visitor’s answer was two hundred pounds. Her wife was scream unconscious,
the old man smiled faintly, put out his hands like a sightless man, and
dropped, and a senseless heap to the floor.
-
Falling action: In the plot of the story, the
falling action is the action that occurs after the climax. During the falling
action, conflicts are resolved; mysteries solved.
Case in the story:
Mr. White went down in the darkness, and felt his way to the parlour, and then
to the mantelpiece. The talisman was in its place, and a horrible fear that the
unspoken wish might bring his mutilated son before him ere could escape from
the room seized upon him, and he caught his breath as he found that he had lost
the direction of the door. His brow cold with sweat, he felt his way round the
table, and groped along the wall until he found himself in the small passage
with the unwholesome thing in his hand. Even his wife’s face seemed changed as
he entered the room. It was white and expectant, and to his fears seemed to
have an unnatural look upon it. He was afraid of her. There was another knock,
and another. The old woman with a sudden wrench broke free and ran from the
room. Her husband followed to the landing, and called after her appealingly as
she hurried downstairs. He heard the chain rattle back and the bottom bolt
drawn slowly and stiffly from the socket. The old woman’s voice strained and
panting. Her husband was on his hands and knees groping wildly on the floor in
the search pf the paw. If he could only find it before the thing outside got
in. He heard the creaking of the bolt as it came slowly back, and at the same
moment he found the monkey’s paw, and frantically breathed his third and last
wish.
-
Conclusion/Denouement: The denouement is the
portion of a play or story where the problem is solved. The denouement of a
story comes after the climax and falling action and is intended to bring the
story to a satisfactory end.
Case in the story: The
knocking ceased suddenly, although the echoes of it were still in the house. He
heard the chair drawn back and the door opened. A cold wind rushed up
staircase, and a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave
him courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The street
lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road.
Work Cite:
Barbara, Barnard and F. Winn,
David. 2006. “Access Literature: An
Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama”. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.
Accessed on 12th December 2015.
Jacobs, W. 1902. “The Monkey’s Paw”. The lady of barge
(1906, 6th Ed.). Harper & Brothers, Publisher. London and New
York.
http://literarydevices.net/exposition/. Accessed on 12th
December 2015.
http://m.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-monkeys-paw/. Accessed on 10th
December 2015.
http://study.com/academy/lesson/methods-of-characterization-in-literature.html. Accessed on 13th
December 2015.
http://teacherweb.com/../goplot.pdf. Accessed on 13th
December 2015.
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