The text under analysis, "Monkey's Paw", is written by a famous English author
William Wymark Jacobs. He was an Englishman and a master of short humorous stories. He was born in London in not so rich family but still was tought in the privat school. He worked as a clerk and was published summultaniously. He married Agnes Eleanor. Five children appered as a result of their love.
The majority of his output was humorous in tone. His favourite subjects were marine life: "men who go down to the sea in ships of moderate tonnage" said Punch, reviewing his first collection of stories, Many Cargoes, which achieved great popular success on its publication in 1896.
It was followed in 1897 by a novelette titled The Skipper's Wooing and in 1898 by another collection of short stories Sea Urchins. But to the wide public he's famous for his horrors. They still have the soft irony and a humour before the tragedy.
Judging by the
title, my first predictions were that this story would be about the sly and deceitful human nature or about some aspects of the palmistry; so the the title is misleading, by its nature.
William Wymark Jacobs focuses here on such three
themes: family, death and supernatural. We aren't ever quite sure whether supernatural forces are at work or not. The theme of death is revealed through the loss of a loved one which is one of the hardest things to deal with in life. "The Monkey's Paw" can be seen as a story about how one family deals with the death of their last living son. And the central figure is of course the Whites.
The
idea of this story is to show human mercilessness while being powerful. It's clear seen on the Mr. White's example while having the result of his wish he can't cope with it's consequences.
The
main events take place in the the White family home, called Laburnam Villa. The reader is looking to the chess play between father and son in a stormy evening. Behind the fire the mother is sitting, knitting something. Everithyng resembles the calm and lovely family night. But with the father's loss in the game Sargeant-Major Morris comes. He is an old soldier who has been to many countries. His threalling story about monkey pow is the subject of family interest. The monkey pow has a power to put the wishes into effect.This object (it was really presented) is so interesting for the family because all the members aren't against of getting some money. But there're many warnings... So under the magical effect of the mummied pow as a result of following wish, parents lose their only son. But still they realize that 2 more wishes left, so the hope that their son will rise from the dead remains. And here an epigraph works, where we can read: "Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it."
The story is written mostly as
narration, but there are descriptions and dialogues also. It's the third-person narration, the story-teller being none of the personages but a full observer. It's possible to state that this type of narration was chosen to make the story more objective and free from personal attitude.
From the point of view of the
composition the text comprises the following parts: it has no exposition as the text immediately starts from the events - the whole family at home at chess and knitting; so the plot is up to the climax - the scene where the man from 'Maw and Meggins' informs Mrs. and Mr. White about the amount of compensation according their son's death and the father realizes that it's exactly that amount of money that he wished to monkey's paw; then goes an anticlimax where the narrator tells us about the parents' grief; at last goes unexpected scond climax when poor mother realises that there're two more wishes to monkey's paw and she wants to raise her son from the dead. This second climax lasts up to the end of the story keeping readers' attention.
It is noticable, that according to the structure the colours and characters' mood develope: they become darker and more gloomy. Maybe the author uses this trick to create the reall readers' tension as it's suitable for horrors.
All the
characters that are created by an author carry their own purpose.Let's try to analize main personages from the "Monke's Paw". Let's start with the most mysterious and enigmatic character - Sargeant-Major Morris. He is an old soldier who visits the Whites and tells them about his raveller experience. He is that man who introduces the monkey's paw at first to the family and to the reader. That's the reason for us to associate him with the negative power of this paw. Even the nature tries to warn the family about a danger. But still we can name several positive traits of his character. He tries to notify the Whites about defects of the wishes but the family remains the same.
Next character under analysis is Mr. White, the head of the family. But this expression may be under suspicious as his son calls him "hen-pecked". Though it's a joke only, Mr. White impliments all his wife wishes. But there's one decision that he makes by himself - the last wish is for his own. He is also a little bit thoughtless as we can see through his chess play. He's also irresolute, he has no idea what to wish at first. That fact that he wishes money to pay for the house says us abount his humanity.
Then goes Mrs. White. She's a strong woman who holds all the aces in her family. She's smarter then her husband but more impulsive. She's devoted to her family and love all memebers of it.
The last personage is Herbert White. He's the subject of monkey's paw magic. He's realy loved son of his parents but he lives for some reason with them. But we can't assert that he's irresponsible or dependent on his parents. He helps them and is probably the only one working in the family, supporting them all.
In order to portray the characters, to reveal the idea and to render the atmosphere of the passage the author resorts to the following devices:
- such graphic device as capitalization: ""THE PAW!" she cried wildly. "THE MONKEY'S PAW!"", ""WISH!" she cried in a strong voice.", ""WISH!" repeated his wife."", ""WHAT’S THAT?"cried the old woman, starting up." - were used to create tense scenes and to emphasize loudness of Mrs. White that may show her strict and commanding temper or the stress she gets;
- phonetic devices: onomatopoeia: "Tut, tut!", "...a knock came" is used to put the reader closer to the personages as if being one of them; alliteration :"...the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly." ia to produce auditory image;
- such lexical stylistic devices are used: simile when Mrs. White states that the talk of the paw sounds like "Arabian nights"; simple metaphors "Path's a bog, and the road's a torrent", "monkey's paw" that symbolies the horror in the story; personification "monkey's paw moves like a "snake".
In this story William Jacob uses foreshadowing to reveal the theme when the major warns Mr. White of the danger and all the misfortune that the paw brings to the owner and the wisher.
The very paw is a powerful symbol. People often feel guilty after the death of a loved one. The same happened to the Whites. If it weren't for the paw, they would probably have found other ways to take the blame for Herbert's death. The paw provides an interesting way to explore this guilt that is directed to the paw.
Being from India, the paw is foreign, magical, and scary. India was a British colony when this story was written, and the British brought back to England stories of Indian traditions and beliefs that many people found strange or threatening. Just like today, social or political problems are often blamed on "foreign" ideas.
Chess is a strategy game that implies person's logics ability and anticipation a series of moves ahead of time. The chess game here might be symbolic of Herbert's carefulness and Mr. White's recklessness. We can observe Mr. White's recklessness in buying and wishing monkey's paw that causes a tragedy for his family. Mr. White seems to have learned his lesson, though. By the end of the story, he doesn't take the risk of meeting up with his undead son.
There's also an irony that lasting a better part of the story. I mean the fact that parents get necessary money at the cost of their son's life. So their wishes come true exactly as they want, but at a price that is unexpected and thought of as unfair. This is used to engage a reader's attention and to help develop deeper levels of meaning in a text. Irony creates a great closeness to a text and a feeling of satisfaction when the irony is recognised and understood. Here an irony shows how quickly one can get out of control when he\she has power and additional opportunities, then how quickly things can come to nothing. If you’re not careful with what you wish for, it could end up deplorable.
In conclusion, I should say, that the suggested piece of literature is a real masterpiece. It tells the reader much about author's tallent and his skills in stylistic devices using. I realy liked the story because it made me even reappraise old values. So the stylistic analysis contributed not only to my knowledge of stylistics but to the moral side.
wishes. But there's one decision that he makes by himself - the last wish is for his own. He is also a little bit thoughtless as we can see through his chess play. He's also irresolute, he has no idea what to wish at first. That fact that he wishes money to pay for the house says us abount his humanity. Then goe
before the tragedy.
