Talk:The Monkey's Paw
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The story of Monkey's Paw is a suggestive type of story in which the reader can give a suggestion what was the ending of the story. Perhaps the end of the story was a debatable if it was really Herbert knocking on the door or just something. But whatever the reader's view it is still correct because eveery one is entitle of his/heer own opinion.
[edit] The Monkey's Paw
The story starts out as a family waiting for an old friend to stop by, in the bad weather. As it ends out the friend, Sergent Morris, stops by and has a nice conversation with the Whites. After a while, Mr. White asks about the Monkey's Paw, the Sergent doesn't really want to talk about it, but Mr. White insists. So he gives it to him. what do u think should happen next. Before sergent gave it to them he tells them the legend behind it. It had really belonged to somebody in india and it can only serve to 3 people and only grant 3 wishes. Then seregent gives it to Mr. White and Herbet, his son, tells him to wish for $500 to pay off the house. It seems like a good idea to him so he does it. After, nothing happens, and Herbert goes to work and tells his parents to save the money till he gets home. Little does the parents suspect anything that anything will happen to Herbert. After a while, they just sit there and somebody is by the door. He hesitates to come to the door looking like he was confused. Then he came to the door. Who was it? It was somebody from the company Herbert works at. He told the Whites that their son was dead and the company wasn't responsible. But they do get $500 as a gift to make them feel better. So now the parents weep the whole night through. Before Mr. White even thinks about throwing it in the fire and forgetting about the whole Monkey's paw idea, he wishes for his son to come back. They dont think, because the mutilated body of their son would come, not the real thing, but mrs. white doesnt realize.
I believe the story is in effect a tale of sacrasism and morale value. It shows that people who interefere with fate do so at their own risk, hence the words: "It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant-major, "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 it concludes with the desperate behaviour of the "old woman", that rally has an escense of a modern horror story.
Tales from the Crypt did a related tale.
[edit] X-files episode
I'm pretty sure I remember an X-files episode based on this theme, but I want to be sure before adding that to the article under the 'in popular media' section. I think the episode involved a genie(I think she came out of a carpet instead of a lamp), but the main similarity is that someone wished to bring his brother back to life(after dying as a result of wishing to be invisible and getting hit by a truck), and after seeing the horrifying result, used another wish to cancel it out. The first wish may have involved wealth, I don't remember all the details, or if the invisibility was the first wish or part of a seperate set of 3 wishes. --Outdoorvegan 14:42, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Organizing "similar stories" reference
I have reorganized the references to similar works, but I'm not sure my new setup works well. Suggestions/improvements are welcome. I tried to separate it into versions of the actual story itself (films, play, etc.) and then variations on it, with the latter divided into parodies, and similar works (stories about wishes gone bad featuring a moneky's paw). That meant combining a manga and TV show with literary works. I also removed a reference or two that weren't specifically enough similar to this story, since "wishes went unexpectedly bad" could encompass a vast amount of fiction. - DavidWBrooks 20:34, 11 November 2007 (UTC)
