1. The Third Wish | The Monkey’s Paw
Compare – Contrast
The Third Wish | The Monkey’s Paw

2. Writing an Outline
An outline includes the main details of what you will be writing about in your paper
Outlines should be short and to the point – it is an overview of the topics you will discuss

3. Your Prompt:
Write a six paragraph essay comparing and contrasting “The Third Wish” and “The Monkey’s Paw”. Show similarities and differences between the plots of the two stories. Support your ideas using words and examples from the stories. Compare the moral of the two stories.

4. Let’s Break it Down 4 things we need to accomplish:
Compare/contrast the two stories
Show similarities and differences between the plots of the two stories
Use words/examples from the stories
Compare the moral, or message of the two stories

5. For this specific paper…
Introduction
State the essay’s main purpose
Explain similarities/differences you’ve found
Body
Start by comparing/contrasting the plot elements –expositions, conflict, rising action, climax, resolution, etc.
Use specific examples to back up your statements
Conclusion
End with a strong, but general statement about key similarities/differences
Compare the moral of the two stories

6. What your outline might look like:
Introduction
What is the main purpose of this essay? To compare/contrast two stories.
Briefly introduce the two stories:
Ex: The Third Wish tells the story of a lonely Mr. Peters who wishes for a wife, but soon finds out that his wish was not everything he had hoped for.
Body
Exposition: Through reading these stories, I found that the expositions of the two stories had many differences.
Characters
Time period
Conflict and Rising Action: Although the expositions were different, the rising action and conflicts of the two stories were somewhat similar.
Detail
Climax: After reading the two stories, it was interesting to see that the climaxes were very different.
Mr. Peters had to make a big decision
The Whites didn’t know who was at their door – it was scary
Resolution: It was interesting that these two stories had many similarities but also very different endings.
Mr. Peters dies a peaceful death
End of Monkey’s Paw left us with many questions
Conclusion
After analyzing the two stories, I conclude that while the expositions and climaxes were very different, there were some similarities with the resolution.
Morals: Be careful what you wish for.

7. What to do now: Take out your chart from yesterday
Highlight key similarities/differences that you want to use in your essay
Find specific parts of the story that support your ideas
Make your outline (including topic sentences for each body paragraph and at least 2 supporting details)
Outlines and charts will be handed in with your completed essays

8. Now we begin the writing!
Sample Body Paragraph
The Monkey’s Paw and The Third Wish both had very unique expositions, and they shared some similarities, but also some differences. At the very beginning of The Third Wish, the author tells us that Mr. Peters is driving through an “empty stretch of road”, and similarly, in The Monkey’s Paw, we find out that they live in an “out of the way place”. This shows us that both of these stories take place in lands that are not well known. Although there are similarities, there are also some differences. One specific difference in the exposition is that The Third Wish takes place in more modern times, whereas The Monkey’s Paw takes place a few hundreds of years back. These examples show that the expositions of the two stories had some similarities, but at the same time also had differences.