Comparing The Monkey's Paw 'And The Third Wish'

1281 Words6 Pages
Theme. What exactly is this elusive thing called theme? Theme can be defined as a moral. The theme of a piece of fiction story 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 using author’s craft. In addition, both authors express the theme throughout character development and conflict. The character Mr. White in…show more content…
After the warning from the old man, “Mr.White took the paw, and dangling it between his front finger and thumb, suddenly threw it upon the fire. White, with a slight cry, stooped down and snatched it off.”(2) Right in that moment, inferences can be made showing how not listening to an experienced elder can lead the path to making a wrong decision. As the story progresses, the White’s family was not able to make a decision because they have everything they need. However, due to Mr. White’s greed, a decision was made just to fill up his desire. This is when the conflict started due to making the wrong decision. “I don’t know what to wish for, and that’s a fact. It seems to me that I’ve got everything I want.” So he finally decided on nine thousand pounds for the mortgage of his house as his first wish. Now Mr. White has made a decision to take the monkey’s paw he has been warned about, yet still made his wish. Yes, Mr. White received the nine thousand pounds, but with the nine thousand pounds came the news that his son is dead. The nine thousand pounds is the money from the company that Herbet worked for “to express
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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

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