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 3h ago

I wish to be punched 50 times each by the four arms of the pokemon, Machamp

4 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 10h ago

I wish people would stop using evolutionary psychology to justify male dominance

6 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 21h ago

Inverse [INV] Granted. Epstein trafficked kids on the Moon instead of trafficking kids on an island

8 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish the cost of computer components would fall back to where it was before the current AI-boom.

13 Upvotes

In 2024, an 8TB external HDD cost $175.99.

That same drive now costs $379.99.

Dear Monkey's Paw, please make it stop!


r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

Explanations I wish that there was no genetic way to determine a child's parents because babies are born with a random set of human traits

15 Upvotes

Meaning things like blood type, eye color, hair color, height, race, skin color, illnesses that are genetic are all random in every child birthed. Every human trait is taken from a genetic pool that includes all potential permutations and therefore its impossible to trace anyone's genetic lineage.


r/TheMonkeysPaw 18h ago

Explanations I wish that I could turn plastic into algae.

3 Upvotes

This would solve the problem of plastic in the ocean.


r/TheMonkeysPaw 21h ago

I wish I had more ideas for wishes to make to the Monkey's paw

4 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 21h ago

I wish politicians genuinely cared for their constituents

3 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 23h ago

I wish that every time a menu item was purchased at Chick-fil-A, someone somewhere in the world donated the exact same monetary amount charged for that item to GLAAD, and someone else somewhere in the world donated the exact same monetary amount charged for that item to the Trevor Project.

3 Upvotes

Pretty much just what it says in the title. Anyone have an improvement on this, let me know, please!


r/TheMonkeysPaw 21h ago

I wish boredom didn't exist

2 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 21h ago

I wish Nacho cheese was called Macho cheese

2 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish child abuse didn't exist

16 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish for all evil to be eradicated

6 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 21h ago

I wish traditional gender roles would be reversed starting in 2026

1 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

I wish we lived in a universe with 4 spatial dimensions and 1 time dimension

5 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

EX+SE I wish Sirens were real and that I have one for a girlfriend who won’t kill me and is beautiful and perfectly compatible with me.

25 Upvotes

I’m specifically talking about the Mermaid like sirens not the bird like sirens


r/TheMonkeysPaw 18h ago

I wish for all PDF to disintegrate into dust

0 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

EX+SE I wish Trump would change the name of the United States of America to the Glorious States of Trumpistan, and that henceforth all people living in Trumpistan be known as Trumpistanis.

49 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

Explanations I wish that I could just type random characters and it would appear as the words I was intending to type.

1 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 1d ago

Inverse [INV] Granted. Women are no longer allowed to vote or own property

0 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish for a way to stop craving love

3 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d ago

I wish for exactly 21 fictional characters to appear in real life no they will not morph out of reality no their or our worlds will not be consumed by each other no will not have altered personalities and yes they will have all their powers

3 Upvotes

r/TheMonkeysPaw 2d 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.