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Think. If you had the power to wish for anything, would you do use it for yourself or use it to help others in need? When Mr and Mrs  white found out about the monkey paw, they wished for 200 pounds. Then, their son died in an accident, and they got 200 pounds because of their son’s death. Then the mother remembers about the monkey’s paw and wishes for their son to come back, but right when the mother opened the door, the father used the last wish and whoever was knocking on the front door disappeared.

In the story ”The Monkey’s Paw“ by William W. Jacobs, the author believes that Power sometimes lures people to use it selfishly   Mr. and Mrs. White wishes for two hundred pounds: “‘I wish for two hundred pounds,’ said the old man distinctly.”(Morris3). When Mr. and Mrs. White got the Monkey’s Paw, they didn’t think really carefully first but wished for two hundred pounds just to finish paying for the house, but they could’ve used it for a better purpose, or even helping another person. Although wishing for to hundred pounds solved one of their problems and lifted some weight off their shoulders, but other people might need help more than they did. Also, maybe if they used the Monkey’s Paw to help others, the consequences might not have been as fatal. As the story continues, Mrs. White wanted Mr. White to go and wish that their son was alive again: “‘Go down and get it quickly and wish our boy alive again.’”(Morris4). This quote from the text shows that Mrs. White doesn’t accept the loss, and wants to use the Monkey’s Paw again to bring her son back to life. She didn’t stop to think of the consequences, and she didn’t realize her mistake but tried to control the Monkey’s Paw by making it take back it’s ‘punishment’. Overall, when Mr. and Mrs. White used the Monkey’s Paw for themselves, they had bad consequences, but even after that, Mrs. White does not accept it and makes Mr. White wish again, trying to make the Monkey’s Paw take back the ‘punishment’. The two quotes I pulled from the text shows that when power sometimes lure people to use it selfishly.