“The Monkey’s Paw” is set in rural England at the turn of the 20th century. At the time, England had colonial control over India, and many English soldiers—like Sergeant-Major Morris in the story—served abroad in India. Morris regales the White family with tales of his over 20 years in the colonized nation, as seen in the following passage:
At the third glass his eyes got brighter, and he began to talk, the little family circle regarding with eager interest this visitor from distant parts, as he squared his broad shoulders in the chair and spoke of wild scenes and doughty deeds; of wars and plagues and strange peoples.
Here, Morris speaks of “wild scenes,” “doughty deeds,” “wars and plagues and strange peoples,” clearly exaggerating about his time in India in order to entertain his hosts. In this way, Morris is a stand-in for the large number of English people who spent time abroad in India and then spread misinformation about their experiences once back at home, inspiring both awe and fear in their listeners (and sometimes furthering English peoples' xenophobic views).
Also important to the setting of the story is the fact that, in the early 1900s, England was experiencing rapid industrialization. While the Whites still live in a rural location, Herbert commutes to a job at a factory. It is significant that Jacobs decides to have Herbert die in an accident while on the job, as it signals how common this sort of factory death was at the time (before the advent of safety and labor regulations). That Herbert dies in such a common manner leaves readers to doubt whether or not his death was due to the power of the monkey’s paw (a cursed item upon which his father made a wish) or simply due to the dangerous conditions in which he worked.
