Using "The Monkey's Paw" and "What Do You Wish For?" please answer the following: What benefits might you get from working to make a wish come true rather than having it come true through magic?

The benefits from working to make a wish come true are profound. When a person works to achieve a dream, it is, psychologically speaking, worth more because of the effort expended to obtain it. Perhaps Thomas Paine said it best: "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly." To continue in this line of thinking, if a person is granted a wish with no effort expended by him or her, the wish will hold less value.
In the process of working to make a wish come true, the person has ample opportunity to continually weigh whether the wish is worth the effort or whether the wish is no longer as important as it seemed at first. Life changes a person's circumstances and desires, and it is possible that the wish will diminish in importance or completely evaporate over time.
In "The Monkey's Paw," the wife's wish for her deceased son's return is not a carefully considered wish. It is the result of an impulsive, emotional reaction, and it carries some pretty horrific possibilities. The magic that reanimates her son offers no guarantees that negative consequences will not accompany the wish. Handing one's life over to "magic" removes control over a situation that one might otherwise have.