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Setting
Definition of Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
Part I
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Snake:
Jacobs uses imagery and a simile to build suspense in the moments after Mr. White makes his first wish with the monkey’s paw, as seen in the following passage:
“I wish for two hundred pounds,” said the old man distinctly.
A fine crash from the piano greeted the words, interrupted by a shuddering cry from the old man. His wife and son ran toward him.
“It moved,” he cried, with a glance of disgust at the object as it lay on the floor. “As I wished, it twisted in my hand like a snake.”
Here, Jacobs brings readers more closely into the scene by describing how, immediately after Mr. White makes his wish, there is “a fine crash” from the piano (which Herbert had been playing) and “a shuddering cry” from Mr. White. In addition to this auditory imagery, Jacobs also includes a simile, having Mr. White describe how the monkey’s paw “twisted in [his] hand like a snake.” This simile is notable because it introduces a supernatural element into the story for the first time—until this moment, the Whites (and readers) could dismiss Sergeant-Major Morris’s stories of the paw as pure fantasy. But the monkey's paw moving of its own accord (like the notoriously sinister snake) suggests that the item contains special powers after all.
That said, all three Whites decide to forget what Mr. White thought he saw—Mrs. White goes on to refer to the snake-like movement as mere “fancy,” and father and son agree that it’s likely nothing will come of the wish that Mr. White made. In this way, Jacobs intentionally makes it unclear whether or not the seemingly supernatural events in the story are actually happening or whether it’s a figment of the characters’ imaginations.
Related Themes:
