Life Lessons in “The Monkey's Paw” by WW Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan AikenWhat would a typical person do if they had three wishes and knew that there would be a price they would have to pay in order to have their wishes fulfilled? This is the question that haunts the main characters, Mr. White and Mr. Peters, in the stories “The Monkey's Paw” by WW Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken. In these two stories, two men were allowed to make three wishes each and had consequences that followed, so they learned a valuable lesson about life. The men in the two stories were distinct in their own ways, one was very greedy and the other very cautious. In “The Monkey's Paw,” our main character was Mr. White. He was very insightful. When he is first introduced in “The Monkey Paw,” he asks a lot of questions and is very curious (pages 88-89). Mr. White is also very greedy. He was not satisfied with the hat he had, and then, of all the wishes in the world, he asked for £200 for his comforts (page 91). On the other hand, the main character of “The Third Wish” is Mr. Peters. Mr. Peters is a kind-hearted and cautious man. The reader can tell these are his traits for a variety of reasons. First, the reader can tell that Mr. Peters is compassionate because of his reaction to a swan trying to extricate himself from a branch. He quickly rushes over and tries to free the bird (pages 101-102). Another reason the reader knows that Mr. Peters is kind is because he sees how he wants his wife to be happy more than he himself does. This clearly shows how “heart-warming” it is (pg. 104-105). The reader can also learn that Mr. Peters is cautious by observing the way he thinks about his three wishes. Each...... half of the paper... the original was created (page 106). The last clue given was when people ask Mr. Peters to find another wife. Mr. Peters answers in Leita's favor and says he will always be faithful to her (page 107). This suggests the true love between the two and the loyalty they share with each other.Mr. White and Mr. Peters were both qualified to want three things and, therefore, experienced some consequences. Through their experiences, the reader learns a valuable lesson about life. All in all, these two stories were very interesting. The way the authors set the mood of the stories based on character traits, desires, consequences and theme was very clever and well thought out. Both stories had great themes that helped the reader better understand history and life. I thought “The Monkey's Paw” and “The Third Wish” were both wonderful pieces of literature.