Ultimately, this persistent ambiguity suggests that the mere possibility of the supernatural can upend people’s reality and cause them to behave in unwise, erratic ways.įrom the moment the monkey paw enters the Whites’ life, it is dubious whether or not it can actually grant wishes and magically change one’s fate. This leaves the reader grasping for clues and questioning their interpretation of every event, mirroring the troubled state of mind of the story’s characters. The story never takes a firm position on whether its events are natural or supernatural, and Jacobs is careful to cast doubt at every turn. After all, Morris’s stories about the paw’s powers could just be fanciful tales, Herbert’s death after the first wish could have been just a coincidence, and the knocking at the door could have many causes.
While those who wish on the monkey’s paw seem to have their wishes supernaturally granted, and then seem to be supernaturally punished for their hubris, nobody knows for sure whether the wish fulfillments and their consequences are supernatural or simple coincidence. The seemingly-supernatural events of “The Monkey’s Paw” cause both the characters and the reader to question the nature of reality.
0 kommentar(er)
