How to Read: A Rocking Horse Winner Christianity has been a prominent religion for centuries and has found a way to spread its message through literary works including but not limited to short stories and parables. Such is the case for The Rocking Horse Winner by the infamous English novelist D.H. Lawrence, who manifests a Christ figure within the protagonist Paul utilizing vague Biblical symbolism and details to relay his message about greed and the greater good.
D.H Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies view children as easily manipulated figures. D.H. Lawrence’s short story demonstrates how easily children, Paul, can be influenced into believing that money and luck indicate one’s level of happiness. William Golding’s novel tries to show that all children are evil and have savage impulses. A common theme in both of these works is that children create their own downfall and loss of innocence.
In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” we are introduced to a woman who author D.H Lawrence states, “was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them.” When I dive into the psychology behind that statement, I come up with a thought that this beginning draws similarities to Lawrence’s own upbringing with his coal miner father and schoolteacher mother. Similarly the mother in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” is disenchanted with her marriage and the way her life
When a person is lucky, it does not have to mean that they are fortunate with money. Luck is the chance for things to go the way you want them to go with out having any control over the situation. In The Rocking Horse Winner, Hester, the mother seems to believe that luck is strictly having money, and when there is no money, there is no luck. Hester's idea of luck meaning money brings forth the two ideas of greed and death throughout the story.
Living in a Christian culture, writers employ imagery of Christ in many types of literature. But, images of Christ can’t be limited to the typical “Savior” view. Writers can twist the traditional image of Christ to convey their message.
D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” delves into a son’s primal instinct of overshadowing his father in order to please his mother sexually—the Oedipus complex. Masturbatory overtones are found throughout the story in an attempt to hypersexualize money and prove that love has been displaced with wealth in this familial environment. However, despite Paul’s efforts, the money he selflessly earns for his mother can never buy her love. This only incentivizes Paul to work harder, which in turn drives him mad and leads to his own downfall.
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence is an unpredictable, fairytale-like abbreviate adventure about a mother of three who consistently worries about her banking problems. She has a son who is animated about addition out a band-aid to her predicament. This adventure aswell has an brusque catastrophe that gives off able emotion. Another abbreviate story, alleged “The Lottery”, has the aforementioned comedy of catastrophe the adventure with suspense. Written by Shirley Jackson, this adventure begins with a brilliant day in a village, but miserably ends with the stoning of one of the villagers. “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “The Lottery” are two amazing belief that accept adverse ironies; however, they alter in accent and style.
Living behind a façade in life can bring complications to those who value things in life. “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence is a symbolic short story that represents the idea that the more one’s values lie with material goods the less one is able to connect with reality or the intangible tenets of life. This perspective is supported throughout the story by the direct characterization of Hester and Paul, the use of personification and similes and in the rising action to the conclusion’s gradual release of detail.
In “The Rocking Horse Winner,” a tragic story that broadcasts how greed overcomes love. Lawrence uses symbolism to manifest how love can be defeated by money. Paul’s mother’s lack of attention, his rocking horse, and the whispering house portray the lack of love and need to be greedy. Each Family member is different, but they seek their money that comes with Paul being lucky.
Certain individuals have a drive that can lead them to achieve what they desire most. In the Short story “The Rocking Horse Winner”, D.H Lawrence showcases this through character motivation and symbolism. He further this using pursuit of desire, and how if you take it to a certain extent it can result in tragedy if the individual chooses not to conform. Paul wants to please his mother because his mother feels that there family has no luck, but Paul proclaims that he is lucky. Paul suddenly becomes consumed with this sudden spree of good luck and feels this is the only way he will be able to gain to the affection of his mother. D.H Lawrence reveals that Paul has a certain flaw that turns him to believe that the only way he will be able to gain his mothers love and affection is by winning money in the horse races. He leads this pursuit of desire to the standards he thought he wanted to, but not to the standards that would have achieved what he wanted, which leads to his down fall. When individuals desire love from another, they may choose to conform their beliefs and actions to that person. At first they may feel successful, however if they sacrifice everything, in pursuing this kind of goal, they may pay a heavy price instead of gaining there hearts desire.
The Impact of Intimacy “Intimate relationships are a gold mine for literature to explore, to understand, to describe.” ~A. B. Yehoshua Whether due to the discomfort surrounding the topic or the fact that most feel it should be a private matter, sex is widely considered a taboo subject. Perspectives on sex can range from celebrating its intimate nature to feelings of disapproval and shame. Interestingly enough, as Yehoshua once held, it is rather common to write about it, pushing the limits on what is socially acceptable.
The plot in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence reveals to the reader conflicts between Paul and his mother using different levels or forms of secrecy. There are secrets hidden throughout the house that leads Paul and his mother to an unpleasant life. The first level of secrecy is the actual secrets that Paul and Paul's mother keep from each other. The second form of secrecy is that D. H. Lawrence uses a story telling style of writing. This way of writing in itself holds many secrets. Finally, the third level of secrecy is through the use of symbolism.
“The Rocking Horse Winner” is a short story written by D.H Lawrence that follows the short and tragic life of a boy named Paul, who assumes he has amazing luck after realizing he can predict racehorse winners by furiously riding his rocking horse until he reaches a trance-like state. Unfortunately, as his family takes advantage of his gift and starts gaining more money, Paul’s luck begins to kill him. Literally. Throughout the story, there are several themes evident, such as wealth, life, conscious, existence; luck, family, and greed. The conflicts displayed are man vs man, man vs self, and man vs. society. The rocking horse has become an obsession for paul and the potential benefits it would have on his family, ultimately not knowing the actual harm it will cause.
“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot”(Lawrence). In 1926 D.H lawrence wrote one of his most famous stories, Rocking Horse Winner. This story is about a boy who gambles to make money that will make his mom happy. He ends up getting addicted to gambling, and this addiction ended up being extremely fatal to the boy. In life we go to the extreme to make the ones we love around us happy just like this little boy in the story did. This story betrays many important messages, three of the messages presented by D.H Lawrence are, economic problems, luck and unluck, and raising a child without damaging them.
The dramatic short story "The rocking horse winner," is about a young boy who desires to be loved by his mother. The author, D.H. Lawrence develops a theme that states, the desire for money and social status is a destructive force. The story is about a young boy named Paul who tries to win his mothers love by gambling for money. Paul has a supernatural power which he can commute with his rocking horse to find out the winning races. However, in the end Paul tries too hard to win his mothers love and dies. The moral theme is revealed through Paul, who is the protagonist, and his relationships with the characters. The relationships which result in conflict is between Paul's mother and father, between mother and
The Rocking Horse Winner, by D.H. Lawrence, is an informative story about luck and one's own fortune. In this story, Lawrence attempts to illustrate how one can guide one's own fate, instead of allowing things to happen by chance. He believes that the only person that affects what happens to someone, is really that person himself. "Everything is what you make of it," is Lawrence's message to the reader. By his use of characterization, instructional images, and irony in The Rocking Horse Winner, D.H. Lawrence attempts to convey to the reader that success and luck are not something that one simply waits for to arrive, but things that one must works to achieve.