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Unit 24: One Act Play: Monekey’s Paw – Discussion on All Spheres of the Text and Questions

While modern readers associate Jacobs primarily with his suspenseful and frequently anthologized Notes
short story “The Monkey’s Paw” and, to a lesser degree, with his short story “The Toll House,”
his contemporaries primarily knew him as a comic writer. Like many comic writers of the day,
Jacobs explored the lives of the lower and middle classes and published many of his stories
in magazines directed at this audience.
The novellas At Sunwich Port (1902) and Dialstone Lane (1904) exemplify his ability to create
humorous scenarios with vivid characters. Jerome K. Jerome, a popular comic novelist of the
day, was a great fan of Jacobs’s and praised his strong work ethic and painstaking approach.
He said that Jacobs would often rewrite just one sentence for hours at a stretch. Many luminaries
of literature have praised Jacob’s work, including G. K. Chesterton, Henry James, Evelyn
Waugh, P. G. Wodehouse, and Mark Twain.

Did u know? “The Monkey’s Paw” was published in Jacobs’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 collections, 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 colourful characterization
of the White family, fascination with wishing and wishing gone awry, and story’s mix of
humour and terror have made “The Monkey’s Paw” popular with generations of readers.

24.1 Context

“The Monkey’s Paw” is W.W. Jacobs’ most famous story and is considered to be a classic of
horror fiction. It first appeared in Harper’s Monthly magazine in 1902, and was reprinted in
his third collection of short stories, The Lady of the Barge, also published in 1902. The story
has since been published in many anthologies, adapted for the stage, and made into films.
“The Monkey’s Paw” was well received when Jacobs first published it; the story garnered rave
reviews from some of the most important critics writing at the turn of the century. The story
was also very popular with readers.

Like O. Henry, Jacobs was famous during his lifetime for writing a particular type of story
rather than for any particular work. Similar to O. Henry’s stories, Jacobs’ tales are tightly
constructed, humorous stories that usually revolve around simple surprise-ending plots Many
of his stories are set on the waterfronts and docks of London, which Jacobs knew from his own
childhood.
In addition to humour, Jacobs explored the macabre in several of his tales. “The Monkey’s
Paw” is probably the best example of this. The story opens with the White family spending
a cozy evening together around the hearth. An old friend of Mr. White’s comes to visit them.
Sergeant-Major Morris, home after more than twenty years in India, entertains his hosts with
exotic stories of life abroad. He also sells to Mr. White a mummified monkey’s paw, said to
have had a spell put on it by a holy man that will grant its owner three wishes. Morris warns
the Whites not to wish on it at all—but of course they do, with horrible consequences.
Jacobs uses foreshadowing, imagery and symbolism in this story to explore the consequences
of tempting fate. His careful, economical creation of setting and atmosphere add suspense to
the tale, while his use of dialogue and slang (another Jacobs trademark) help readers to feel
that the characters are genuine.

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