The Monkey's Paw

William Wymark JacobsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.6

Word count: 22K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Monkey's Paw by W. W. JacobsAuthor: Jacobs, W. W. (William Wymark), 1863-1943,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Apr 1, 2004

Editor's review

The Monkey's Paw is a classic short horror story by the English writer W. W. Jacobs, centered on a dried monkey's paw said to grant three wishes and revolving around an ordinary family. The work is concise, with restrained and precise atmosphere-building; it relies not on gore but on everyday dialogue and sudden turns to create a sense of pressure, and is a frequently cited representative text in the English short weird-tale tradition. This edition is a public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg, offering a complete reading experience of the English original, suitable as introductory material for encountering late nineteenth-century English short fiction. The story is tightly structured, fairly colloquial in language, and short, making it easy to read in one sitting and discuss on a commute, in class, or at a book club. It can also serve as supplementary reading for studying suspense narrative, the wish theme, and the origins of horror literature.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to read an English short story in spare moments
General readers interested in horror, weird tales, and suspense narrative
Learners who need a short text for intensive English reading or classroom discussion
Literature lovers who want to understand the English and American short-story tradition

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer long, complex plots and grand world-building
Readers sensitive to suspense and eerie atmosphere who are easily unsettled
Readers who need a Chinese translation or bilingual edition and cannot read English directly

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then go back to the opening account of the paw's origin to appreciate the foreshadowing.
Note shifts in tone in the characters' dialogue; they often convey unease more than the events themselves.
After reading, try restating the wording of the three wishes and consider why the story leaves room for the reader's imagination.
For English study, copy out passages of setting description and imitate their concise, restrained expression.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this story suitable as English learning material?

Yes. The original is short with clear narrative, and the sentences are mainly dialogue and everyday description, of low-to-medium difficulty. Read through once without a dictionary, then look up new words and long sentences, and finally read the dialogue passages aloud to train both comprehension and feel for the language.

Do I need to know British literary background before reading?

No. The story is self-contained with clear plot lines. To deepen understanding, you can afterward learn about common approaches in late nineteenth-century English short weird tales, such as how supernatural elements in everyday settings create contrast, which helps grasp the work's narrative features.

What should I note when reading the ebook?

The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English original ebook, mainly plain text, suitable for reading on a phone, tablet, or e-reader. Adjust font size and line spacing, and mind chapter and paragraph breaks to avoid disruptions in reading rhythm caused by the plain-text format.

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About the author

William Wymark Jacobs Author · British · 1863–1943

William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was a British short-story writer, born in London in 1863 and died there in 1943. In his early years he lived around the Thames docks and was familiar with the lives of sailors and dockworkers, which led him to write a great many humorous sea stories, often in a light and witty tone. His best-known work, The Monkey's Paw, is a classic horror short story included in The Lady of the Barge (1902); noted for its tight suspense and sudden twists, it is still widely anthologized in horror collections. The library holds 109 of his works, including The Lady of the Barge and Others, Ship's Company, A Tiger's Skin, Captains All, and Night Watches; his common category is inspirational growth. Public information is limited and details of his life are largely unavailable, yet his fiction is distinctive in subject, blending humor with horror, and has had a lasting influence on later short-story writing.