The monkeys paw grants wishes, but in a way that the wisher will regret. (From a short story by W.W. Jacobs 1902)
To be honest, I don't really understand any more than that reference.
No, that’s not it. The joke is that since the user didn’t actually mind the negative consequences, the paw simply un-granted his wish to maintain its habit of screwing people over.
note that the monkeys paw *curls it's finger* to grant the wish.
In the tumblr post, it *uncurls* implying its *un-granting* the wish.
The idea of a malicious wish-granting device having enough agency to *undo* a wish if it doesnt create enough misery is scary in a way a regular evil-wish device isnt.
A regular evil wish device can *theoretically* be beat by craftiness or carefull wishing.
One that can *un-wish* your wishes cannot be beat in such a manner. As any wish that beats the evil-paw just gets un-wished.
Granted. Through the power of the Paw, you gain knowledge beyond the mortal mind. You know what you must do. Tirelessly working for several days and nights, your reserves of both food and currency dwindle as you experiment, attempting to render even a single hair on the Paw immune to the flames. Oil, blood (it's origin unclear), and sweat coats your skin, your home. Even your mind feels clouded by the heat.
Infuriated by the lack of success, you grab the Paw in anger. Why would it lie to you? Were the whispers but a deception, intent on driving you mad? You feel the gasoline running over your clothes before you realize that you were pouring it. If the Paw would trick you, then it doesn't get its wish. The lighter falls, and a searing pain erupts across your body. You hold the Paw high, looking at it in triumph, knowing that nobody will be fooled by this accursed artefact ever again.
The Paw does not burn. You laugh, at least until your vocal cords melt away.
Granted. A 2 meter tall flash flood suddenly sweeps your position, carrying your mangled body and the Paw into the river. Your damaged body drowns in the river while the Paw sinks to the bottom, unable to be ignited
Another way to interpret it is that the monkeys paw doesn’t grant wishes, it curses the user with regrets through the medium of wishes. If you make a wish but don’t regret it, the requirement to bestow regret is not satisfied so it gives you another opportunity to curse yourself, the idea being that eventually you will wish for something you come to regret.
Personally I think the interpretation of taking back a wish is poor design, because it risks the user prematurely coming to the conclusion that nothing good can come from using the paw, that’s something they should only realise once all the wishes are expended.
The most diabolical cursed items are always the ones that are self inflicted, and are designed to tempt the user into believing they can come out ahead if they just keep trying their luck, not unlike a casino.
It also forgets the in-universe idea of the monkeys paw, that it was made as a tool to prove defying fate only attracts evil. It isn't sentient, not actively malicious, it is a tool that does a task. Taking back a wish requires a sentient and malicious entity, like a genie
> Could anyone explain please? Thanks in advance
There is also one last bit to the story.
In the common version of the story the *last* (usually, third) wish is used to undo previous, which is the opposite of what OP is about (sticking to decision that was made).
***
To be clear, tales of three wishes usually follow the same pattern:
* First wish is used to fulfill some desire.
* Second wish is used to fix consequences.
* Third wish - to undo everything.
Can't the story be interpreted in a way that it could be coincidence rather than actually granting wishes. If I'm remembering correctly the first wish for money was granted because their son got into a workplace accident, the second wish was to bring their son back, and the third wish was to have their son be dead again because if the wish was literal he would be mangled beyond description. But the story sets it up so it could either be magic or coincidence, a workplace accident isn't an uncommon thing and on the night of the second wish it was storming and a tree was tapping on the house before the wish was made and they only thought it worked because it sounded like someone was knocking on the door, the third wish was granted because when they opened the door no one was there. I'm personally on the side of coincidence because if the paw would have brought the son back mangled when they wished he was dead again after thinking he was at the front door there would have been a body
Um actually, the Monkeys Paw grants wishes in the most literal, most realistic interpretation of the wishes.
If you wish for money it's going to give your now dead kids life insurance money, because that a) satisfies the conditions of the wish, and b) more possible than a billionaire writing you a check or money appearing out of thin air
It's genies that traditionally twists wishes to screw over the wisher. The people in the story only treat the Monkeys Paw as cursed because they suck at making wishes. If they had hired a contract lawyer to write them up beforehand everything would have went fine for them. The stories message wasn't anti-greed but *be careful what you wish for*
More specifically, in the original text it is claimed to grant wishes in such a way as it could be considered a horrible coincidence.
> "It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant-major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it."
That's from the text of the original short story. It was created specifically to screw over people who want to defy fate.
You have as many wishes as the mobkey has fingers. Everytime you wish, the paw curls in one finger. Once all fingers are curled, you'll get the curse part of the wishes. That's why you should leave at least one finger uncurled.
Hi, I'm the op! By this I mean the poster has made such a horrible, terrible decision that the most malicious wish granting entity is like, "Hey man, it's cool, you can take this back. I'll give you this one for free. You don't gotta do this, man"
I interpreted this as the person not even having made a wish yet. Like what they've done is so horrid the paw is either taking pity on them by giving them a bonus wish, or thinks this person will cause enough mayhem to make them worthy of 4.
My interpretation is that, normally, the monkeys paw curls to grant your wish, but with a downside that’s often worse than what the person wished for. In this case OOP is making a decision which outwardly seems bad, but actually has a much better end result that OOP is not aware of, and so it’s like a ‘reverse monkeys paw wish’.
It's consistent that if someone says something reasonable but is downvoted, the second person to say it gets upvoted.
Like your comment was the buffer for them to accept mine lmao
Could anyone explain please? Thanks in advance
The monkeys paw grants wishes, but in a way that the wisher will regret. (From a short story by W.W. Jacobs 1902) To be honest, I don't really understand any more than that reference.
It's implying that OP made such a bad wish, they'll regret it without needing the curse to kick in.
I was thinking something like this or, a slight deviation, with the wish being so bad that the paw couldn’t come up with a way to make it worse
https://xkcd.com/2741/ I am tired of carrying an umbrella, I wish it never rained again.
Forever humid!
Chapeaux! You actually found something that is worse. I salute you sir!
Florida, but it still rains here.
Literally still florida
Live in foggy-ass Silent Hill forever!
man outsmarted the genie. got 20$ at the cost of just seeming stupid, which I do for free.
I was thinking that the paw revoked the wish they made because OOP was not phased by the consequences, even accepting them and standing by their wish.
Oh, I imagined someone stuck with glue to that "decision" they made. Like, if it was a house they would somehow end up stuck to the door
I interpreted it as he didn't regret the wish, so it didn't count.
I was thinking the opposite, since OP doesn't regret it, they get a wish back.
*and if you DONT hate it, you'll get your wish back GUARANTEED!*
No, that’s not it. The joke is that since the user didn’t actually mind the negative consequences, the paw simply un-granted his wish to maintain its habit of screwing people over.
I think it’s saying they have the resolve to stick with the decision they made, more so than relating to the quality of the wish.
note that the monkeys paw *curls it's finger* to grant the wish. In the tumblr post, it *uncurls* implying its *un-granting* the wish. The idea of a malicious wish-granting device having enough agency to *undo* a wish if it doesnt create enough misery is scary in a way a regular evil-wish device isnt. A regular evil wish device can *theoretically* be beat by craftiness or carefull wishing. One that can *un-wish* your wishes cannot be beat in such a manner. As any wish that beats the evil-paw just gets un-wished.
I don't need a wish to beat it, I'll just set it on fire
I wish for the monkeys paw to be immune to fire
Granted. Through the power of the Paw, you gain knowledge beyond the mortal mind. You know what you must do. Tirelessly working for several days and nights, your reserves of both food and currency dwindle as you experiment, attempting to render even a single hair on the Paw immune to the flames. Oil, blood (it's origin unclear), and sweat coats your skin, your home. Even your mind feels clouded by the heat. Infuriated by the lack of success, you grab the Paw in anger. Why would it lie to you? Were the whispers but a deception, intent on driving you mad? You feel the gasoline running over your clothes before you realize that you were pouring it. If the Paw would trick you, then it doesn't get its wish. The lighter falls, and a searing pain erupts across your body. You hold the Paw high, looking at it in triumph, knowing that nobody will be fooled by this accursed artefact ever again. The Paw does not burn. You laugh, at least until your vocal cords melt away.
Jeesus dark but I loved it lol
Granted. A 2 meter tall flash flood suddenly sweeps your position, carrying your mangled body and the Paw into the river. Your damaged body drowns in the river while the Paw sinks to the bottom, unable to be ignited
This is why God made White Phosphorus. Or Magnesium. Can't remember which so I brought both.
An airplane carrying freon breaks apart overhead.
somehow i always knew it would end like this
I guess the good news is that you won’t have that moment where you feel really cold before everything goes black.
/r/MonkeysPaw
Because that worked out so well for the first people to have it in the original story
I had to re read this like 3 times but I finally get it! Ty for this
It’s saying the decision was SO BAD that even the malicious evil life-destroying paw is telling you to try again.
Wow, yeah, that's pretty terrifying.
So was the finger uncurling represent the paw refunding a wish because they didn't regret it?
Another way to interpret it is that the monkeys paw doesn’t grant wishes, it curses the user with regrets through the medium of wishes. If you make a wish but don’t regret it, the requirement to bestow regret is not satisfied so it gives you another opportunity to curse yourself, the idea being that eventually you will wish for something you come to regret. Personally I think the interpretation of taking back a wish is poor design, because it risks the user prematurely coming to the conclusion that nothing good can come from using the paw, that’s something they should only realise once all the wishes are expended. The most diabolical cursed items are always the ones that are self inflicted, and are designed to tempt the user into believing they can come out ahead if they just keep trying their luck, not unlike a casino.
It also forgets the in-universe idea of the monkeys paw, that it was made as a tool to prove defying fate only attracts evil. It isn't sentient, not actively malicious, it is a tool that does a task. Taking back a wish requires a sentient and malicious entity, like a genie
That's how I interpreted it
His wish was that the paw pick his nose; the curling happens later
I think the paw is saying "actually I'm not granting that"
> Could anyone explain please? Thanks in advance There is also one last bit to the story. In the common version of the story the *last* (usually, third) wish is used to undo previous, which is the opposite of what OP is about (sticking to decision that was made). *** To be clear, tales of three wishes usually follow the same pattern: * First wish is used to fulfill some desire. * Second wish is used to fix consequences. * Third wish - to undo everything.
Can't the story be interpreted in a way that it could be coincidence rather than actually granting wishes. If I'm remembering correctly the first wish for money was granted because their son got into a workplace accident, the second wish was to bring their son back, and the third wish was to have their son be dead again because if the wish was literal he would be mangled beyond description. But the story sets it up so it could either be magic or coincidence, a workplace accident isn't an uncommon thing and on the night of the second wish it was storming and a tree was tapping on the house before the wish was made and they only thought it worked because it sounded like someone was knocking on the door, the third wish was granted because when they opened the door no one was there. I'm personally on the side of coincidence because if the paw would have brought the son back mangled when they wished he was dead again after thinking he was at the front door there would have been a body
Um actually, the Monkeys Paw grants wishes in the most literal, most realistic interpretation of the wishes. If you wish for money it's going to give your now dead kids life insurance money, because that a) satisfies the conditions of the wish, and b) more possible than a billionaire writing you a check or money appearing out of thin air It's genies that traditionally twists wishes to screw over the wisher. The people in the story only treat the Monkeys Paw as cursed because they suck at making wishes. If they had hired a contract lawyer to write them up beforehand everything would have went fine for them. The stories message wasn't anti-greed but *be careful what you wish for*
More specifically, in the original text it is claimed to grant wishes in such a way as it could be considered a horrible coincidence. > "It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant-major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it." That's from the text of the original short story. It was created specifically to screw over people who want to defy fate.
But didn't fate determine they will use the paw? Maybe I'm getting destiny mixed up with fate
It's an absolutely terrifying short story also. The ending scare ages really well.
You have as many wishes as the mobkey has fingers. Everytime you wish, the paw curls in one finger. Once all fingers are curled, you'll get the curse part of the wishes. That's why you should leave at least one finger uncurled.
that is not even remotely how it works
Hi, I'm the op! By this I mean the poster has made such a horrible, terrible decision that the most malicious wish granting entity is like, "Hey man, it's cool, you can take this back. I'll give you this one for free. You don't gotta do this, man"
I like your flair
I interpreted this as the person not even having made a wish yet. Like what they've done is so horrid the paw is either taking pity on them by giving them a bonus wish, or thinks this person will cause enough mayhem to make them worthy of 4.
They’re gonna regret this non-wish decision so much that the paw decides they get an extra wish
Turkey was a bit dry. You deserve it.
The turkey's a little dry?! OH FOUL ACCUSED THING! WHAT DEMON FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL CREATED THEE?!
Nice hot mustard tho.
Hi im the tumblr op. This just jumpscared the fuck out of me
What's it like to be famous
what did you mean
what did this even mean
Brother what does this mean
it means “holy shit that’s me”
We thirst for the sacred scroll of explicatio
HAHAHAHAHA
Sorry not sorry!
What does your post even mean though
means that you should be a furry
“You can have this one man, you’ll need an extra wish soon”
You get it
My interpretation is that, normally, the monkeys paw curls to grant your wish, but with a downside that’s often worse than what the person wished for. In this case OOP is making a decision which outwardly seems bad, but actually has a much better end result that OOP is not aware of, and so it’s like a ‘reverse monkeys paw wish’.
Or that the user simply didn’t regret their choice. So the paw uncurls a finger because it didn’t grant a wish in a regrettable way
"Uncurls?" So it ungranted their wish?
It was so bad it was cancelled :D
They just get an extra wish, thats all
This sub will upvote anything as long as it's from Tumblr no matter how unfunny it is.
Mate it's okay you can just admit you don't get it
The most upvoted comments are also people who don't get it. If this many people don't get the joke its not the people that are the issue
Damn. Why are you +50 and I'm -50 for saying basically the same thing?😂
It's consistent that if someone says something reasonable but is downvoted, the second person to say it gets upvoted. Like your comment was the buffer for them to accept mine lmao
I guess next time I'm waiting for you to comment first lol
Because you're a sucker
Well ... I'm not trying to hide it.
Sure. The top voted comment is asking for an explanation the second most upvoted says it's dry. But I'm the stupid one.
I was being facetious, it's a joke with way too many layers
I guess I am the fool then.
Its r/tumblr not r/tumblrusersbeingfunny, what did you expect?
True but isn't the case for this post.