Monday, May 19, 2014

What feeling does the opening sentence in "The Monkey's Paw" give the reader?

The feeling or mood in the opening sentence of W.W. Jacobs' short story "The Monkey's Paw" is one of safety and optimism, despite the cold, impartial and potentially evil world outside. Inside, there is a bright fire burning in the White household. The world, with all its troubles, is shut out by the "blinds" on the windows. All is well, and no chance that anything malignant could interfere with the happy family gathered around the fire.


Unfortunately for the Whites, evil lurks just outside in the "cold, wet" world and it takes its form in the eastern talisman which the Sergeant-Major brings to dinner. The evil monkey's paw brings temptation, death, madness and horror. The fire which had burned so brightly and confidently in the first line later reveals "horrible" and "simian" faces as the Whites are tempted into making a wish, even after being warned that the paw had caused deadly mischief in the past. What was once a contented family is destroyed as the son is killed and the parents overcome with remorse and regret.

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