Mr. White's third and last wish was for the knocking to stop, meaning whoever or whatever was on the other side of the door be gone.
The author, Jacobs, left the readers to figure out the wish so that the story is more appealing and holds us in suspense, making us more eager and interested in the story.
W.W. Jacobs' short story "The Monkey's Paw" revolves around the story of a talisman believed to be capable of granting wishes. The story shows the greed of human desires and the consequences that can be horrendous.
- Mr. White is the main protagonist of the story. He lives with his wife and son, Herbert.
- The Whites have a visitor, Sergeant-Major Morris, who brought with him a talisman, a monkey's paw believed to grant "three wishes from it."
- Despite the sergeant's warning of past wishers, the Whites made a wish, first for money "two hundred pounds". The second wish was to bring back their son from the dead, which ironically was how they got the money as a form of "compensation".
- Through the second wish, it seemed that the dead man did really came back to life, or so. There came a knock on their door late at night. Mrs. White hoped, as her wish, it was their son. But Mr. White secretly wished for something which resulted in the knocking gone.
- Though the author did not specify or reveal what the third and final wish was, we can assume that he wished for whoever or whatever was knocking on their door to be gone.
- Jacobs left the readers to figure out the third wish to engage us and also leave us in suspense. This makes us more involved and curious as to what actually happened.
The ability to grant wishes may have been true. But the greedy desires of man could at times be unnecessary, as seen through Mrs. White. Jacobs allows the ending to be figured out by the readers, leaving us in suspense over what occurred or what could or could not be, leaving us hanging. But in that act of holding us in suspense, he made his story more interesting and captivating for the readers.
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