Explain how the writer uses the introductory scene before the arrival of the sergeant-major to arouse our sympathy for the White family. The...

In "The Monkey's Paw," the setting is a stormy night.
Also, the White family lives way out where the pathway is a wet, soggy area. The night
out is bringing torrential rains:

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"That's the worst of living so far out," bawled
Mr. White, with sudden and unlooked-for violence; "of all the beastly, slushy,
out-of-the-way places to live in, this is the worst. Pathway's a bog, and the road's a
torrent. I don't know what people are thinking about. I suppose because only two houses
in the road are let, they think it doesn't
matter."

Immediately, the
reader has sympathy for the White's living conditions. It is easy to have compassion for
the Whites who live so far out until no one else cares about their existence. On this
stormy night, the reader is sympathetic in that the Whites are experiencing unfair
circumstances due to their setting.

Also, Mr. White is
losing a chess game against his son. The reader is sympathetic for it seems to mean so
much to the senior. He is able to arouse sympathy from the reader for his present
situation.

Even Mrs. White tries to console her husband.
She reminds him that he can win the next game:

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"Never mind, dear," said his wife, soothingly;
"perhaps you'll win the next
one."

Unknowingly, the
visitor is bringing bad luck on this stormy night. Even Mr. White doubts that he shall
come on a night like tonight:

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"I should hardly think that he'd come to-night,"
said his father, with his hand poised over the
board.

Truly, the reader is
sympathetic with the conditions in the introduction that the Whites are experiencing on
this ghastly
night.