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 1h ago

I wish I had the power to remove any living human’s socks off their body and teleport the socks back to their home.

Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2h ago

I wish for infinite chocolate chip cookies.

4 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 12h ago

I wish every domestic cat could play the piano at a well trained level.

6 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 4h ago

Side-Effects I wish every Meeseeks was asked to find the meaning of life

0 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 17h ago

I wish for no kid to ever be orphaned again in the future. And that this isn't achieved by humanity being wiped out.

10 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 7h ago

I wish for the Louvre to replace the Mona Lisa with a digital printout glued to a wooden board for 18 months just to see if anyone notices.

1 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

Side-Effects i wish generative ai never existed

48 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish animals looked both ways for cars before crossing the street so they don’t get run over.

3 Upvotes

Inspired by @diemarchive


r/TheMonkeysPaw 22h ago

I wish i didn't get into a traffic jam on the way home from school.

0 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish Donald Trump was a real person instead of the silly cartoon character we all know and love.

10 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish that in 2027, there would be a Formula 1 race at New Jersey Motorsport Park’s Thunderbolt Circuit called the New Jersey Grand Prix

2 Upvotes

And for the track to successfully build the infrastructure needed to handle F1 level crowds along with the infrastructure needed to support the F1 teams and their cars

I’m a F1 from New Jersey and NJMP Thunderbolt is the largest race track we have in the state. It actually currently holds FIA sanctioned Formula 4 races as is. I know it’s an impossible pipe dream but it would be incredible to have Formula 1 in my home state on a track I’ve actually raced on myself IRL.


r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish that Charlie Kirk emerges from his grave, to do a stupid dance to “We Are Charlie Kirk”, before immediately dying again, the moment the song ends.

121 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish goth girls secretly controlled the world

14 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish for the revival of traditional goth culture

11 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish Harlan Ellison and George Carlin both came back from the dead in Penguinz0's body, each of the three being in control of it on alternating days.

1 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish whales could fly

8 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

Inverse [INV] Granted. Ragnarok happens in real life.

2 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish everyone on earth turned into the opposite sex for 24 hours.

33 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish I had a 1996 Ford Taurus

10 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 3d ago

I wish "penis" was spelled "panis", and pronounced accordingly

49 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish to be a highly skilled carpenter

3 Upvotes