Comparing The Monkey's Paw And The Third Wish

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The short stories “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” are similar in quite a few ways. The stories both have a theme of not challenging fate. The third (and probably largest) similarity between the stories is that both stories revolve around the central point of the main character getting three wishes, as well as the characters being warned not to use those three wishes. All in all, “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” share many main elements, including the number of wishes offered, the theme, and the warning. The plot of story characters getting three wishes is not uncommon in literature, so it is no surprise that these two stories share this element. Sergeant Major Morris, a character in “The Monkey’s Paw,” had gained a mummified…show more content…
After Mr. Peters wishes for and receives a wife, he finds that she is sometimes unhappy. Mr. Peters’ wife, Leita, was a swan before Mr. Peters asked for a wife, and it was then when Leita became a human. After being a human for a while, Leita missed being a swan, and Mr. Peters turned her back into a swan. He learned his lesson not to mess with fate, as he turned his wife back into a swan grudgingly, as shown by this quote, “One night when he had been late doing accounts he came up to bed and found her weeping in her sleep and calling: ‘Rhea! Rhea! I can’t understand what you say! Oh, wait for me, take me with you!’ Then he knew he was hopeless and she would never be happy as a human. He stooped down and kissed her goodbye, then took another leaf from his notecase, blew it out of the window, and used up his second wish” (105). In “The Monkey’s Paw,” the outcome of changing fate is much more drastic. After gaining hold of the monkey’s paw, Mr. White tries to be sensible in his wish and wishes for £200 to pay off the rent for his house. The day after he makes his wish, a visitor tells him and his wife that his son had died, and that compensation would be given to the White couple. In response to hearing this, Mr. White asked, “‘How much?’ ‘Two hundred pounds,’ was the answer”
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    is its view about life and how people behave. It often teaches a lesson to the reader that often influences their life. The stories “The Monkey’s Paw” by WW Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken both share a similar theme. In life, making the wrong decision may lead to future destruction. This theme is shared in both stories to express how you should not wish for more when you have of what you need, or else, there will be consequences. The theme is demonstrated several times in the stories by

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