Examining the characters in this story Mr. White - Herbert’s father and Mrs. White’s husband. Mr. White is an old man who is both curious and malleable. A poor man, he thinks longingly about the exotic lands he has never visited. The monkey’s paw fascinates him in part because of its connection to those lands. Although it is Mr. White who makes all three wishes, he makes the first two only at the suggestions of his wife and son. Mrs. White is a strong woman, and the narrator even says she's smarter than her husband. We get the sense that she makes lots of decisions for the family and that The monkey paw is a short story that combines horror and folk tales. It uses a lot of imagery to create the mood and feel of the story like character details and expressions for example jacobs depicts the Whites’ home and domestic sphere in general as a safe, cozy place separate from the dangerous world outside. The Whites’ house is full of symbols of happy domesticity: a piano, knitting, a copper kettle, a chessboard, a fireplace, and a breakfast table. But the Whites repeatedly invite trouble into this cozy world. The monkey’s paw is a symbol of desire and greed—everything that its owner could possibly wish for and the unrestricted ability to make it happen. This power makes the paw alluring, even to unselfish people who desire nothing and have everything they need. Mr. White, for example, hastily retrieves the paw from the fire, even though he himself admits that he wouldn’t know what to wish for if he owned the paw Chess symbolizes life in “The Monkey’s Paw.” Those who play a daring, risky game of chess, for example, will lose, just as those who take unnecessary risks in life will die.
her husband is happy with this reversal of traditional gender roles. Herbert Mr. White and Mrs. White son works hard and is responsible, cheerful, smart, and imaginative Herbert seems the least likely character to believe in the power of the monkeys paw, but he's the one who sees (or...