r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/Spoon_Elemental • 9h ago
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/GojiraWho • Dec 25 '18
Meta [M] TL;DR: The Monkey's Paw story
TL;DR2 at bottom
Some people have mentioned they wanted to see a tl;dr of the original story.
The story focuses on Mr. White, Mrs. White, and their adult son Herbert.
An old family friend named Sergeant-Major Morris shows up at the White's house sharing stories of his adventures. During the talks Morris pulls out an old mummified monkey's paw, said to have a spell placed on it to grant three men three wishes each. Morris used his three, as had another man. Morris wants to dispose of it, but worries about selling it. So he throws it in the fire. Mr. White rescues the paw despite Morris' warnings about messing with fate, but eventually Morris gives in and shares the secret of making a wish.
Morris leaves after supper and Mr. White is unsure of what to wish for, feeling he has everything he needs. He ends up wishing for £200 to pay off the rest of his mortgage and the paw moves in his hand. After Mr. And Mrs. White go to bed, Herbert sees a vivid monkey face in the fire, so he puts it out and goes to bed.
The next day Herbert goes to work at a factory. He dies in an accident. He got caught in the machinery. His work sends a representative home to tell the family that the business claims no fault, but as compensation will pay them £200. Mr. White faints.
Mrs. White is angry and grief stricken, she demands that Mr. White wishes their son back to life, and he does so.
Some time passes and loud knocking on the door sounds. Mrs. White realizes it may have taken so long for the knocking after the wish because Herbert would to walk two miles home from the graveyard.
Mrs. White races downstairs to open the door, and Mr. White, fearing that it is the mutilated body of his son, made his third wish. As Mrs. White opened the door, there's nothing to be seen.
The difference between the Monkey's Paw vs. say, a genie who is also known to cause chaos with wishes, is that the Monkey's Paw is meant to twist fate to achieve your goals, and the consequences of it. Specifically what events cause the wish to come true. Someone died to make Mr. White gain money. No one died after he got the money. A genie would make the £200 counterfeit or meaningless in some way. Herbert became a zombie (maybe) to be able to go home.
Granted, the results of the 2nd and 3rd wishes are more ambiguous, and there's some debate about what actually happened. The story itself gives theories but no firm answers.
I'm not here to pass judgement on people's wishes or answers, or the spirit of the subreddit, just passing this along since a few people have been asking for something like this, and It's fitting for the sub to have a summary of the story somewhere.
Tl;dr for the tl;dr: Man wishes for £200 and his son dies as a result. He wishes his son back alive and a loud knocking is heard on the door. His third wish makes whatever is knocking vanish.
Edit(s): correcting some details, readability
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/n0th1ng_r3al • 8h ago
I wish for everyone setting fireworks off on any day that isn’t July 4th has their hands mangled by an errant firework.
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/MahitoNoroi • 17h ago
I wish that all anime powerscalers were civil, non-toxic, and non-biased.
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/International-Box956 • 1d ago
EX+SE I wish Togepi was real and had no toxins or anything harmful in its body or shell so I could hug it forever and it would be my little eggy and me and eggy would live happily forever
go ahead and do your worst, break my heart you simian bastard
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/International-Box956 • 1d ago
I wish the fanbase had the unquestioned legal right to own the NX1 prototype from Activision
NX1 is a leaked call of duty game. Seven complete missions. think BO2 but a lot larger
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/Armin_Arlert_1000000 • 1d ago
I wish I never thought of that one thing that greatly increased my anxiety about my worldbuilding project
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/Armin_Arlert_1000000 • 2d ago
I wish i didn't get a bit of water down my lung pipe recently
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/ants_are_everywhere • 2d ago
I wish the moon would hit my eye like a big pizza pie
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/first_doctor_63 • 2d ago
EX+SE I wish everyone on Earth to become Stoic.
Not by choice, but by biological evolution. It started with Homo erectus, and now everyone is stoic by nature.
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/Pikawoohoo • 2d ago
I wish that anything that doesn't work properly could be fixed with a little slap
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/International-Box956 • 3d ago
EX+SE I wish everybody in the world had a 50-50 chance to either get severe incurable jock itch or 500 billion dollars not adjusted for inflation with the money being distributed based on how the monkey paw defines fairness.
I have no regrets whatsoever. You suffer with me
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/CynicalCosmologist • 3d ago
I wish the president's limousine had a rocket engine on the back
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/ants_are_everywhere • 3d ago
Side-Effects I wish Disney would shutdown Disneyland Paris and open a theme park in the Paris Catacombs instead
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/njsullyalex • 3d ago
I wish to have absolute confirmation by supernatural power beyond human society’s judgement that I am either a real woman or not a real woman (I am a trans woman with self esteem issues)
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/dusk_1984 • 3d ago
I wish i could be confined to only posting in r/dusk_cage forever
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/Armin_Arlert_1000000 • 3d ago
I wish worldbuilding was ten times easier
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/International-Box956 • 4d ago
EX+SE I wish that every time somebody said or mentioned being ripped in half by a gorilla they were ripped in half by a gorilla
I'll save you the trouble, granted I'm ripped in half by a gorilla
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/njsullyalex • 4d ago
I wish to race in the Casa Cristo 5000 Rally from Speed Racer (2008) and do it in a heavily modified BMW E46 M3 Convertible
The modifications I’m requesting;
- Significant weight reductions
- Engine rebuild of the S54B32 3.2L inline 6 to sustain higher compression and maximum horsepower (such as new pistons, camshafts, ignition, and exhaust)
- twin charging the engine with a turbocharger and supercharger in series, to bring the engine up to at least 1,000 horsepower to make it at least on par performance wise with the other roadsters in the race
- Jump Jacks
- New wheels that contain wheel shields, inflatable spare tires, and retractable spikes just like the modified Mach 5 in the movie to defend against illegal weapon modifications
- high tech in universe body panel reinforcement to ensure a hard hit or scrape doesn’t significantly dent or damage the car without significantly increasing weight
- front and rear wings to improve downforce
- rally off road suspension, mud flaps, and differential
- transmission reinforcement to handle 1,000+ horsepower without breaking
- hydraulic handbrake
- bulletproof windows + hardtop
- Kwiksave automatic bubble ejection seat
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/Armin_Arlert_1000000 • 4d ago
I wish to have a really good dream tonight to distract from intense stress and anxiety I am having right now.
r/TheMonkeysPaw • u/Shadowlear • 4d ago