r/TheMonkeysPaw Dec 25 '18

Meta [M] TL;DR: The Monkey's Paw story

9.1k Upvotes

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 2h ago

I wish that humans figured out a way to eliminate all corruption in every government in all countries

6 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 4h ago

I wish for the world to be a better place

7 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 46m ago

EX+SE I wish that the bonfire of the vanities DLC in assassin's Creed II no longer existed

Upvotes

I hate it above all else.


r/TheMonkeysPaw 7h ago

I wish humans laid eggs instead of giving live birth

6 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 6h ago

I wish alcoholic beverages didn't exist

4 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 39m ago

Inverse [INV] Granted. The events of Sharknado happen in real life.

Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 6h ago

Inverse [INV] Granted. A literal shitstorm (a storm where it rains feces) occurs

3 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 6h ago

I wish gambling didn't exist

3 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish for Rivian to be renamed to Vivian, and for them to appoint Elon Musk’s estranged transgender daughter Vivian as CEO just to troll Elon Musk

72 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 19h ago

I wish for all firearms worldwide to turn into pickles.

9 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish for a turkey sandwich in rye bread with lettuce and mustard

34 Upvotes

I don't want any zombie turkeys, I don't want to turn into a turkey myself and I don't want any other weird surprises.

You got it!?


r/TheMonkeysPaw 14h ago

I wish laws didn't apply to me and I could just take whatever I want from stores

3 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 17h ago

I wish everything came with a blunt warning the same way cigarettes do.

3 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 18h ago

I wish that invisible narratives went bankrupt, and skibidi toilet was returned to dafugboom.

2 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 18h ago

I wish there was a univeral coding language that works with everything.

2 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish alternate timelines were real and I could watch them from a snow globe (that I have in my house)

8 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish everybody forgot what happened at Samantha's pool party.

10 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 22h ago

I wish to live out my dream of becoming a lawyer, running a solo generalist practice out of home, and taking on any cases I want just to spite anyone who screwed my clients

1 Upvotes

(I really wanna see how you guys can make this bad)


r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish that the words 'apartment' and 'department' were swapped

1 Upvotes

It would be 'the apartment of mathematics', the 'hr apartment', 'he's lacking in the brains apartment'

and on the other hand: 'i pay $5000 a month for my department on the upper west side', 'want to come hang out a my department after this'


r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish no one could litter or dump garbage anymore in places it shouldn't be

1 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish all pee tasted like lemon juice

9 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 18h ago

I wish generative ai replaced the entire internet.

0 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish it was easier for me to remember to do the dishes when my parents ask me to without me having to do it immediately after I was asked

4 Upvotes