For Wednesday: Kipling, “The Mark of the Beast” (pp.1-11); Jacobs, “The Monkey’s Paw” (pp.54-63)

LINKS TO THE STORIES: Kipling: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Mark_of_the_Beast; Jacobs: https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/jacobs/ww/monkey/

Group “B” should answer TWO of the following questions for Wednesday’s class; everyone else should simply read the stories.

Q1: Both of these stories are connected to India, a British colony at the time Kipling and Jacobs are writing. How do you think English and American audiences might have looked at—or felt about—India at this time, that might make it a fitting setting for a horror story? Consider the narrator in Kipling’s story, who says, “East of Suez, some hold, the direct control of providence ceases, man being there handed over to the power of the gods and devils of Asia” (1).

Q2: At the end of Kipling’s story, the narrator admits, “we had fought for Fleete’s soul with the Silver Man in that room, and had disgraced ourselves as Englishmen for ever” (11). How had they disgraced themselves? And why did he leave out much of what they did to the ‘beast’ and the Silver Man in the story?

Q3: Toward the end of the story, the wife tells her husband to get the paw, since the first wish came true. “A coincidence,” her husband answers (61). And he may be right: the first wish could have just been a terribly unfortunate coincidence. Does Jacobs ever hint that the story is truly supernatural in origin? Is there any proof that the monkey’s paw really works?

Q4: Related to the question above, when the couple hears knocking at the door, why does the husband assume their visitor is malevolent? Why doesn’t the wife? Does Jacob give any hint as to who is right? Is anyone at the door?