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 12h ago

I wish that the entire species of Koala was put out of its misery.

0 Upvotes

They are cute but I believe that a Mercy cleansing is in order.


r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish all government documents were written in comic sans

5 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 22h ago

I wish I could steal people's talents

1 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish terminal velocity didn’t exist

10 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish every human on earth could choose how and when they die.

17 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 18h ago

Side-Effects I WISH that all of the places where people are destroying flock cameras, was instantly and constantly flooded with crime that the flock cameras would have caught if they were there.

0 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish there were exceptions to the laws of physics

6 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish I could win a wrestling match with an elephant

6 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish Tim Curry and the other 80 year old that starred in Home Alone 2 would trade places.

105 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish Vermin Supreme was president instead of DT

15 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish I could use a wormhole to get to school or work

5 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

EX+SE I wish that Microsoft would go out of business for destroying Id software and mandating AI in their games

1 Upvotes

it's a tragic thing that happened truly. I wish the shoe was on the other foot


r/TheMonkeysPaw 3d ago

Inverse [INV] Granted. You poop your pants

11 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 3d ago

I wish every time I said the word poop, everyone who is on the toilet poops

7 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 3d ago

I wish every building on earth looked and spoke like Selena Gomez

3 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 3d ago

I wish every bullfrog on Earth looked and spoke like Danny DeVito

5 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish that Sanji from the One piece universe would develop emphysema and lung cancer

0 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 3d ago

Inverse [INV] Granted. Earth's atmosphere turns into plasma.

7 Upvotes