1. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs
Unit: Mood and Tone
Concept: The Mood of Suspense

2. How does the story’s mood of suspense contribute to the plot?
Essential Question
How does the story’s mood of suspense contribute to the plot?
Writers create suspense as the rising action builds toward the climax of the story. The mood of suspense contributes to the plot because it encourages the reader to become involved in the story. You want to know what is going to happen next.

3. Let’s Think About “Control”
On a sheet of notebook paper, draw a word map. We are going to examine the word “Control.”
How much control do you have over your own life?
Does anyone have complete control over what happens to them?

4. Build Background
Many folk tales and horror stories involve magic or magical objects that give unusual powers to anyone who owns it.
Think of objects in our culture that some people believe to bring good luck
Horseshoes
Rabbit’s foot

5. How is this story an example of horror story genre?
Built around gradually increasing suspense
Violence often occurs out of the reader’s view
Leaving out the violence allows the reader to imagine the worst which increases the suspense

6. Art Appreciation
Look at the painting in the textbook on page 681.
Describe what you see in this painting by Charles Burchfield.
Like a written story, a painting can tell a story.

7. What story might this painting be telling?
Description
Pale, almost colorless parts
Dark clouds
Solitary figure
What painting shows
Person standing outside next to the fence of a possibly abandoned house in forbidding surroundings

8. Predicting
What prediction can you make about the story you are about to read using clues from the painting?

9. W. W. Jacob’s Style Clue: Sentences are long and complicated
What reading strategies can the reader
use to better understand the story?
Clue: Sentences are long and complicated
Read slow
Reread
Chunk: break the sentence into smaller parts

10. Vocabulary
Write a possible definition for each of the underlined words.
As I stood surveying the dark forest, I was unsure of my fate and was afraid my life may be in peril. I grimaced as the wind howled and shadows moved in the darkness. Then, I smiled at my own credulity because I believed that there was no danger.
Other words to know
Without means “outside”
Hark at the wind means “listen to the wind”
Check and checkmate are chess terms that meaning “you are about to lose” or “you have lost”
Fakir is an Hindu wonderworker or magician
Jarred means “irritated”

11. What is fate? Does fate rule people’s lives?
Do those who interfere with fate come to sorrow?

12. Post Reading Activity