How did Mr. White acquire the monkey's paw in "The Monkey's Paw"?

Sergeant-Major Morris, an old acquaintance of Mr. White and former co-worker, came to visit the family on a dark, stormy night and showed them a monkey's paw he had brought back from India, where he served for twenty-one years. Morris told them the talisman supposedly had the power to grant the owner three wishes, but that the wishes could bring serious troubles. Mr. White at first was afraid of the thing, but then he became curious and covetous. When Sergeant-Major Morris impulsively threw the paw into the fireplace, Mr. White retrieved it. Morris advised White to throw it back, but White wanted to keep it. Later White confessed to his wife that he had insisted on paying Morris a small sum for it. This fact seems significant because it firmly validates White's third and final ownership of the paw. Only he can make the three wishes.

"Did you give him anything for it, father?" inquired Mrs. White, regarding her husband closely.

"A trifle," said he, colouring slightly. "He didn't want it, but I made him take it. And he pressed me again to throw it away."

White only gets possession of the monkey's paw because Morris threw it in the fire. Since Morris has deliberately discarded it, the paw could belong to the person who retrieved it. But Morris might have still have had a claim to it until White insisted on paying him "a trifle" for it. Then White is obviously the owner, since he had bought it from the previous owner. The author includes this bit of exposition in order to make it clear that neither Mrs. White nor their son Herbert nor can do anything with the paw.

Mrs. White might wish for something truly fantastic. The author did not want to get into the fantastic.

"Sounds like the Arabian Nights," said Mrs. White, as she rose and began to set the supper. "Don't you think you might wish for four pairs of hands for me?"

Youthful, imaginative Herbert White might wish for something truly magical, such as a million pounds or a palace full of servants. The author, W. W. Jacobs, did not want the story to go in that direction either. It would, as Mrs. White suggested, "sound like the Arabian Nights." This was to be a story about very simple people getting three wishes in an ordinary little English household. Mr. White wishes modestly for two hundred pounds.

The reader is hooked by the premise because he can't help wondering what he would do if he had three wishes. It is easy to find out. Anyone is free to make three wishes or a hundred wishes. What would you wish for?

At the beginning of the story, Mr. White is visited by his friend, Sergeant-Major Morris, who has spent an extended period of time overseas in India and is the owner of the magic monkey's paw. After Sergeant-Major Morris elaborates on his exotic experiences overseas, Mr. White asks him about the monkey's paw, and Sergeant-Major Morris reluctantly discusses the ominous talisman. Morris explains that an old fakir placed a spell on the monkey's paw to show that fate ruled people's lives. He tells Mr. White that the first owner's third wish was for death. Sergeant-Major Morris then tosses the monkey's paw into the fire, and Mr. White retrieves it from the flames before it can burn. Before Morris leaves, he instructs Mr. White to wish for something sensible. Mr. White proceeds to wish upon the monkey's paw for two hundred pounds to pay off his mortgage.

What caused the monkey paw to move in Mr. White's hand in "The Monkey's Paw"?

What is so intriguing about "The Monkey's Paw" is that everything could have a natural explanation. The mummified paw may have no magical powers at all. The fact that the Whites receive two hundred pounds after wishing for it could be a pure coincidence. It could be purely Mr. White's imagination that the paw moved when he made the wish. And the person knocking at the door at the end of the story might not be their son Herbert. (Wouldn't it be funny if they opened the door and found that it was only some motorist who wanted to use their phone because his car had broken down?) You don't have to have possession of a mummy's paw or any other supposedly magical object in order to make one wish, or three wishes, or a dozen wishes. Everybody is free to make a wish any time he or she feels like doing so. It can be an interesting experiment. And if you wish for something, there is a likelihood that you will get it, because your thoughts and actions will be directed towards attaining the object of your wish. What the story suggests is that getting what you wish for may not give the satisfaction you expected but could bring just the opposite. This irony is often experienced in real life.

The mystery of the monkey's paw is never fully explained. We are only told that it has "magic" powers and that it can grant three wishes to three different people. We know that it successfully granted its first six wishes before Mr. White attains it, and Sergeant-Major Morris was not anxious for it to display its talents again, tossing it in the fire in order to destroy it. It is retrieved, and Mr. White eventually makes his first wish. When he does so, he shrieks and drops the paw to the floor.

"It moved," he cried, with a glance of disgust... "As I wished, it twisted in my hand like a snake."

There is no mention of whether the paw moved again on the second or third wishes, but we do know that they successfully came true--in a most hideous fashion.