Question

Select the correct text in the passage. Which two parts of this excerpt from W. W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw" show that the White family does not believe in the talisman's power? The other shook his head and examined his possession closely. "How do you do it?" he inquired. "Hold it up in your right hand, and wish aloud," said the Sergeant-Major, "But I warn you of the consequences." "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." Her husband drew the talisman from his pocket, and all three burst into laughter as the Sergeant-Major, with a look of alarm on his face, caught him by the arm. "If you must wish," he said gruffly, "Wish for something sensible." Mr. White dropped it back in his pocket, and placing chairs, motioned his friend to the table. In the business of supper the talisman was partly forgotten, and afterward the three sat listening in an enthralled fashion to a second installment of the soldier's adventures in India.

Answer 1

The two parts of this excerpt from W. W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw" show that show the White family doesn't believe in the talisman's power are:

"Sounds like the 'Arabian Nights,'" said Mrs. White, as she rose and began to set the supper.

The 'Arabian Nights' were stories made up by the narrator Scheherazade and told to the King over 1001 nights so that he would not kill her as he had done with so many other women in the past. In this way, it signifies that Mrs. White believes this story to be a made-up tale.

and

"Don't you think you might wish for four pairs of hands for me." Her husband drew the talisman from his pocket, and all three burst into laughter

Mr. White is jokingly asking to be given four pairs of hands, something that isn't sensible or realistic, because he does not believe in the power of the talisman to grant wishes. In the end the three burst in laughter as they do not take the talisman, or the story of it's power, seriously.

Answer 2

Answer:

The two parts of the excerpt that show the White family does not believe in the talisman's power are:

"But I warn you of the consequences." "Sounds like the 'Arabian Nights,'" said Mrs. White, as she rose and began to set the supper.

And

"Don't you think you might wish for four pairs of hands for me." Her husband drew the talisman from his pocket, and all three burst into laughter as the Sergeant-Major, with a look of alarm on his face, caught him by the arm.

Explanation:

In the first part, instead of paying attention to what the sergeant was warning about the Monkey’s Paw, Mrs. White tells him that it sounded like one of the Arabian Nights, as if it was an invented story.

In the second part, the family began to joke about what they could ask for, while laughing without crediting anything Morris had said, even when he seemed totally alarmed by that situation.