Monday, May 22, 2017

What is the exposition to "The Monkey's Paw"?

Exposition is the beginning of a story.  In the exposition, the characters, setting, and inciting incident are introduced.  The inciting incident is the conflict that gets the plot rolling.

The setting is important in this story.  A story’s setting is the time and place where the story occurs.  The setting of this story is in the early 1900’s or late 1800’s.  It is a windy night on an isolated street where most of the houses are empty.



Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at chess, the former … putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.



There are many important aspects of this setting.  In addition to the importance of the isolation and the weather, the fire and the chess game are part of the setting.  They foreshadow the fact that something is going to happen, and that there will be tension.


The characters are the Whites.  There is a mother, father, and son, Herbert.  The parents are not given names.  They get a visit from an old friend of Mr. White’s, Seargent-Major Morris.  He has been in India, and that is where he got the Monkey’s Paw.


The appearance of the sergeant and the paw are the inciting incident.  This is the problem that the rest of the story’s events are based on.



"And has anybody else wished?" persisted the old lady.


"The first man had his three wishes. Yes," was the reply; "I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death. That's how I got the paw."



The story continues from here, and this is the end of the exposition.  The next stage is the rising action, where the story develops as the Whites wish, followed by the climax where they face the consequences of their wishes, which is the most exciting part, and then the falling action where the story folds up.  The resolution is the ending, where they have to wish their son dead again.

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