In "The Monkey's Paw" give examples of Herbert White's attitude towards the paw.

Herbert's skepticism is obvious from the outset. When sergeant-major Morris informs the intrigued family that the monkey's paw had a spell put on it, which allowed three men each to have three different wishes, he cleverly asks why the major did not have three himself. He thinks he is being wise in his attempt to 'catch out' the major. We can assume he did not expect the sergeant-major to answer in the affirmative.

This cynicism is extended later when, after the sergeant-major has left and Mr White has obtained the paw, Herbert feigns horror when his father explains that he gave Morris a small contribution for the paw and that the sergeant-major had insisted that he get rid of the talisman. Herbert says,

Why, we're going to be rich, and famous, and happy. Wish to be an emperor, father, to begin with; then you can't be henpecked.

Herbert is making fun and evidently does not deem the paw to be of any value. As far as he is concerned, the talisman has no powers at all, and the belief that it does is based on superstition and unfounded myth. Herbert deliberately makes a preposterous request and suggests, tongue-in-cheek, that once his father has achieved his wish, his wife would stop nagging him.

Herbert assumes a more serious tone when he suggests that his father should wish for two hundred pounds to clear the bond on the house. He proposes that his father would be much happier then. In spite of this more sober recommendation, it is obvious that he is not really being serious.

When Mr. White does, indeed, make the suggested wish and cries out that the paw moved when he did so, Herbert's doubt is, once again, pertinently expressed when he says,

Well, I don't see the money... and I bet I never shall.

In his parting remark, Herbert hints at a supernatural, malicious force which will ensure that the money will be tied up in a bag accompanied by something sinister squatting on top of the wardrobe watching his father gathering his "ill-gotten gains" from the middle of his bed. The young man is plainly convinced that he is right and that the whole idea of the paw having any power at all is preposterous.

In part two of the story, Herbert is even more frivolous. The money his father had wished for obviously did not appear, and Herbert remarks to his mother that the money "might drop on his [Mr White's] head from the sky."

He then leaves for work with a final parting comment that his father should not suddenly become wealthy, for he would become greedy and will have to be disowned by his family. The remark emphasizes his disbelief, but is tragically ironic for, soon after, his parents are informed of his gruesome demise when he got caught in the machinery at work. The company's insurance paid two hundred pounds to his parents in compensation, which is the amount of money Mr. White wished for.