" 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 his death. That's how I got the paw."
A fine crash from the piano greeted his words, broken by a frightened cry from the old man.
See the explanation below to understand the examples of foreshadowing above.
Explanation:
W. W. Jacobs was an English author of short stories born in 1863. In the suspenseful "The Monkey's Paw," he uses elements of horror and fantasy. In the story, a mummified paw brought from India has the power to grant three wishes to three different people. However, the paw's purpose is to show people cannot rule their own lives.
Jacobs uses foreshadowing at several moments in the story. Foreshadowing is a technique in which information is revealed that predicts or indicates what will happen later on in the story. The two examples given above foreshadow that using the paw brings nothing good. The first example is a line spoken by the Sergeant who brought the paw with him. When he says the first man to use the paw used his third wish to die, he is giving us information that helps us predict the bad things to come.
The second example happens when Mr. White, who is now in possession of the paw, makes his first wish. The piano that is being played by his son emits a loud noise, a crash, once he makes his wish. As a matter of fact, this reveals his son will die for his wish to come true.
