He makes his first wish and wishes for two – hundred pounds, which seems a safe sum. He sees an evil face in the fire and the monkeys paw moves as if it was alive. This begins to scare and concern him. When his son leaves for work in the morning he jokes about the wish and says to his parents that the money “might drop on his head from the sky” and “don’t break into the money before I get back”. This is ironic, as Herbert doesn’t return home as he dies at work due to the evilness of the wish. Around the time Herbert is due home from work, a man in a suit is outside the house that seems reluctant to enter it. Eventually when he does enter it is to break the news of Herbert’s death. The writer cleverly times this as he introduces a sense of tension into the plot when the amount of compensation is the exact sum they wished for – two hundred pounds.
When Mr. White realizes that his wish has come true he is heartbroken and startled by the evil power of the paw. Mrs. White shrieked and Mr. White dropped into a senseless heap onto the floor. Days passed and Mr. and Mrs. white hardly exchanged a word and were distraught for time to come. The writer has shown that this small talisman has struck a happy family into an emotional blunder, another clever point.
Soon after when Mrs. White introduces the idea to wish their son back to life with a second wish and she says, “We had the first wish granted. Why not the second?” Again added tension on what will happen, after reasoning with her. They make a wish to have their son back. Straight after they make the wish they hear three loud knocks at the door. Now the writer has made a massive amount of suspense enough so the reader wont put the book down as they want to know ho or what is at the door. Mrs. White runs to the door wanting to open the door to her son whereas Mr. White tries to stop her, as he knows what his son will look like. The two situations are now racing against each other one being Mr. White searching for the talisman and the other Mrs. White trying to open the door. The writer has made a lot of tension again. Eventually Mr. White wishes his son dead again just as the door is unlocked. So in all he has saved his wife from a terrible undead person so the writer has suddenly stopped the suspense and tension and replaced it with relief.
The next story is “The Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this is a detective story with lots of twist and turns and good character. The first key point is when Helen Stoner goes to London to visit Sherlock Homes about a mystery about her sister dying a horrible death a few weeks before her marriage. She gives him some detail like the layout of the house that it seemed no one could get in to kill her. The last word she said was “speckled band” also the writer has been clever in describing the house as it gives the reader a better picture of the scene.
The writer makes the story more mysterious when he starts to name some suspects such as her stepfather Dr. Roylett or some of his exotic pets or even the local gypsies that live on the residence. More clues are introduced when Miss. Stoner spoke about her last conversation with her sister and she asked her do you her a “whistling noise in the night?” The writer has given the reader all of these clues at the beginning so they can think about them during the course of the story. Now that Helen herself is engaged Dr. Roylett started some building work in Helen’s room so she is forced to sleep in her sisters room. She starts to hear the whistling that is why she seeks the help of Homes. Again the writer has brought tension into the story by making the reader think the same may happen to Helen, as did her sister.
Homes arranges for him and Watson to inspect the house for more clues while Dr. Roylett is away on business. Another example of anxiety as the Doctor could return at any moment. Homes found that according to their mother’s will. Dr. Roylett would be ruined financially if either of his stepdaughters married and left. This explains why her sister died when she did before her marriage and Helen could be killed as she is engaged. Also while Homes was in the house he noticed a Bell rope that didn’t work and a ventilator into the next room instead of outside in her sisters room. A saucer of milk and an iron safe in Dr. Roylett’s room. The writer is slowly unveiling the mystery so the reader wants to read on, another clever key point.
Homes then decides that he will spend the night in the sisters room and wait for what was meant for Helen. More tension is added when Homes whispers to Watson “don’t fall asleep, your life may depend on it.” Eventually the tension is broken when Homes is beating a snake with his cane on the bell rope and a loud cry is heard from the Doctors room. The writer brings in a sense of relief when we find Roylett is dead and the snake is back in the iron safe the story is enjoyable as all the clues fit together at the end to solve the mystery.
Overall both stories have excellent senses of character, good descriptions of location and twists and turns in the plot which makes them interesting.
