11/2/2000
INLS 121
Dr. Sturm
Bibliographic Information (best telling version): Jacobs, W. W. “The Monkey’s Paw.” In Ten
Tales Calculated to Give You Shudders.
Edited by Ross R. Olney. Racine,
WI: Western Publishing Company, Inc.,
1972.
Running Time: 10 minutes (a telling of the full story takes 25 to 30 minutes)
Power Center: This
is a very emotional story. I have
chosen four power centers to concentrate on in my telling (but there were
numerous other power surges to choose from).
The first power surge in my telling occurs when Mr. White pulls the
monkey’s paw out of the fire. He is
driven by the desire to own the monkey’s paw.
He desires the paw not for what it is but for what it could bring to him
- anything his heart desires. The
second power surge in my telling occurs immediately after Mr. White makes his
first wish. When the talisman writhes
in his hand like a snake he is disgusted by it and throws it away from
him. In fact, he stays away from it the
rest of the evening and the whole next day.
The third power surge in my telling occurs when he finds out that he
will be receiving two hundred pounds as compensation for the death of his son. He is shocked by the news and actually falls
to the floor. The fourth power surge is
the increasing sense of horror that Mr. White experiences at the end of the
story. This horror expresses itself in several ways: the dread he has of the
arrival of his dead and mutilated son, the terror he feels when the knocks
start, and the panic he feels when he thinks his wife is going to let his
mutilated son in the house. There is
another side to the horror in my telling: Mr. White is horrified by the fact
(some would say possibility) that it was his desire to own the talisman and to
make the three wishes that has caused this whole mess in the first place.
Why I choose these power centers: In order to understand the rest of the story, I had to first understand why Mr. White wanted the monkey’s paw in the first place. After everything the Sergeant Major has said (or not said) about the monkey’s paw you would think that he would be inclined to stay away from it. The more I read the story and practiced it, the more I began to see that at least at the beginning of the story Mr. White is not completely content with his life. For instance he complains that his house is in an out-of-the-way place. He also complains about the state of the road. Then as the Sergeant Major begins speaking about India, Mr. White comments several times that he would like to go to India someday and see many of the things that the Sergeant Major is talking about. When I really began to work with the story, I noticed that one could make a case that Mr. White is slightly envious of the Sergeant Major. This reading helps me understand why Mr. White wants the talisman in the first place. The fact that he wants the talisman is crucial to the story because if he did not take the talisman out of the fire it would be a very short (and boring) story. I feel that the next three power surges work together to show how the emotion in the story is steadily increasing intensity. While the mood of the story is set in the opening line, the actual horrific action really only begins when Mr. White makes his first wish. After the wish, he drops the talisman in disgust and this foreshadows some of what will happen later in the story. Relatively speaking the disgust he experiences is only minimally intense for within a few minutes he is able to shrug it off. This is the first step up in the gradual climb of emotional intensity that the listener will experience. The emotional intensity increases again when Mr. White goes into shock because he will be receiving two hundred pounds as compensation for the death of his son. In my telling, there is a part of him that cannot believe this has happened and another part that finds it ironic (hence the partial smile that seems out of place). Finally, the main emotional surge of my story occurs throughout the fourth and fifth scene. The reality of what he has done has set in and it is emotionally overwhelming for him. He is both scared of the unknown and disgusted by it. More importantly he is disgusted that such a simple wish has led to all this. It takes the old adage “be careful what you wish for” to a completely new level. It then turns this “horror story” into one that also has a moral. The fact that this is a horror story is also intensified because it is up to the listener to fill in lots of details. For instance, how mutilated was his son? Was there really something or someone at the door? What did that something or someone look like? What would have really happened if it got in the house? The imagination can usually create an even worse scenario that the teller (or writer) can.
Discussion of the power centers – emotions:
Desire: being drawn towards something (like a magnet), becoming selfish (body
moves curls in to protect the coveted object), eyes sparkle (as if possessed),
smile (in anticipation), voice pitch (raised as if acting childish)
Disgust: making a face (scrunch nose,
scrunch forehead, squint eyes, push lips together in a frown), physically move
as far away as possible from object, turn head a way, body quivers slightly
Shock: mouth drops open a little bit,
eyes become wide open, shallow breathing, have trouble speaking, what is spoken
is probably very quiet, body becomes stiff or frozen
Horror:
mixes both disgust and
shock, also may cause one to move manically (possibly in the other direction or
to find some kind of protection), as the horror progresses the voice gets
louder and faster, voice is also choppy – not very fluent
Characters: Mr. White, Mrs. White, Herbert White, Sergeant Major Morris, nameless man (from Maw and Meggins)
Scenes:
· Father and son are playing chess while the mother is knitting
· The Sergeant Major arrives and tells them about his adventures in India and tells them about the monkey’s paw and then he tries to destroy it
· Mr. White retrieves monkey’s paw from the fire
· Mr. White throws down talisman in disgust because it moves
· A silent uneasiness settles on the family
· Representative from Maw and Meggins arrives to tell the Whites that their son is dead and to give them two hundred pounds
· The Whites become hopelessly resigned to the death of their son
· Mr. White goes downstairs to retrieve the monkey’s paw
· Mr. White makes second wish for his son to be alive
· Mr. White goes downstairs to retrieve a candle
· The knocking starts and Mr. White runs back to the bedroom
· Mr. White wildly searches for monkey’s paw
· Mr. White makes third and final wish
· Wife wails in disappointment
Synopsis: In an out-of-the-way villa, the White family
is awaiting the arrival of a guest.
When Sergeant Major Morris finally arrives, he entertains the family
with tales of his adventures in India.
When the father asks the Sergeant about the monkey’s paw, the whole
family becomes very attentive. The
Sergeant tells them that a spell was placed on the monkey’s paw that would
allow three separate men to each have three wishes granted. A moment later when the Sergeant tries to
destroy the paw, Mr. White rescues it from the fire and decides to keep it
despite the Sergeants protests. After
the visitor leaves, Mr. White wishes for two hundred pounds. The wish is granted the following day but at
a cost: when their son is caught in the machinery and killed his employer,
denying liability, offers the Whites two hundred pounds for their sons
services. Hopeless resignation settles
on the couple until the wife remembers that they have two wishes left. Against his better judgment, his wife encourages
him to wish their son alive again. At
first it appears to his great relief that his wish has not been granted. After a while, the husband gathers enough
courage to go down to get a candle to replace the one that has just burnt out
in their room. When he reaches the
landing, he hears an almost inaudible knock on their front door. In a matter of moments the knocking gets
louder and increases in frequency. He
runs up the stairs to try and keep his wife from letting their son in the house
but she wrenches away from him. As she
is trying to open the front door, he is searching wildly for the monkey’s paw,
which he finds in time to make his third and final wish. The knocking stops, the wife opens the door,
and she lets out a long, loud wail of disappointment. The husband gains enough courage to join her outside and together
they look out on a “quiet and deserted road.”
Rhymes/Special Phrases/”Flavor”:
As in most literary tales the language itself is the “flavor” the teller wants to capture. In this situation it is very difficult to capture most of the “flavor” because to tell the tale in ten minutes I have to cut out a lot of the story. There are two lines in the story that I hope to use in my telling: the first line and the last line. I would like to start the telling off with the line, “without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlor of Lakesnam Villa, the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly.” Not only does this line set the mood of the story but it also gives modern day listeners a very unique image. We rarely refer to the sitting room (or living room) as a parlor because now we associate parlors with funeral parlors (there is an exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History that discusses this). I plan to end my telling with “the street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road.” Rather than leave the listener feeling relived or comforted I feel that this line leaves the listener wondering was there anyone outside, did he make the right final wish, and what happened to the Whites when the story ended. It also seems to make the story all the creepier to be reminded how isolated their villa is.
Audience (why is this story appropriate for the audience? Developmental
characteristics?): There are several reasons why I chose to tell
this story to this age group. For one
thing, on page 145 of Storytelling: Art and Technique, 3rd
edition (New Providence, NJ: R. R. Bowker, 1996) by Ellin Greene, “The Monkey’s
Paw” is listed as a good title to share with young adults. On page 139 of the Greene book it states
that “these stories speak to many of the issues mentioned earlier.” There are several issues mentioned in the
above paragraph that seem to fit for this tale: the story is psychologically
complicated, it contains characters that are not necessarily good or evil, it
provides the opportunity to face a fearful situation, and it speaks to the
feeling of powerlessness (Green 1996, 139).
The Greene book also says that “The Monkey’s Paw” is one of the longer
literary tales that just requires a little editing to make it easily tellable
(Greene 1996, 139). There are several
sections in the “Adolescent Development” hand-out that further suggest that
this is appropriate for this age group.
For one thing, in the L.T. Stover and E. Tway section it states children
in this age group are coming to terms with a new view that “parents as not
perfect.” The Robert J. Havighurst
section, and the Elizabeth Fenwick and Tony Smith also make similar
comments. Young adult will enjoy the
fact that it is the father’s desire to make a wish with the talisman that
causes all of the bad things to happen.
However, even though Mr. White makes a mistake he makes one anyone could
make. He is just a good guy who makes a
bad decision. This helps ground young
adults to the reality that adults are not all that bad. In some fairy tales for younger children
adults play the roles of the evil stepmothers, the giants, the ogres, etc. In this story the adults are just human
beings that make mistakes, have to pay the consequences, and it does not matter
whether what happened was intended or not.
In the Robert J. Havighurst section it refers to fact that young adults
are “acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to
behavior.” Similar remarks are made in
both the G.R. Elliott and S.S. Feldman section and in the Stover and Tway
section. Learning to determine in
advance what some of the consequences of ones actions will be is an important
part of growing-up. While this age
group is not always known to be responsible and conscious of the effects of
their words or actions it is still important that the ground for responsible
behavior is continued at this stage in their development. In the Stanley G. Hall section it states
that young adults experience both “sensitivity and callousness.” What better outlet for these to very
opposite experiences than a horror story.
To be an effective horror story it has to raise the level of emotions of
the listener (or reader). At the same
time, it is somewhat callous to listen intently to someone else’s misfortune
and bad experiences (even if it is only fictional). Finally, in the Gisela Konepka section it states that mentions
several characteristics of young adults three of which are appropriate to this
story: “psychological vulnerability”,
“mood swings”, and a “need to be argumentative and emotional.” Horror stories allow young adults to be
vulnerable, experience mood swings, and be emotional but it is in a safe
controlled environment. Allowing young
adults to let off emotional steam may help alleviate some of the emotional
steam that they could manifest in a less appropriate environment.
Bibliographic information on other versions/variants (at least two)?
This is a literary tale and I was not able to find any versions or variants of it.
Brief comparison of all versions/variants in terms of language, rhythm,
“tellability,” “flavor”, content, etc.
Stress the differences in style rather than those of content.
Since there are no versions or variants, there is nothing to compare.