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 D.H. Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner, Paul is searching for an identity and love. Paul’s mother was incapable of love; “when her children were present, she always felt the centre of her heart go hard.” Paul’s mother desires materialistic possessions and excludes priceless items such as love. Paul’s mother and father were incapable of maintaining the social position they had to uphold with the amount of money they made. The house was always high strung and believed that there was always a need for more money. The house became haunted by the unspoken phrase, “There must be more money!” Paul was outraged when he confronted his mother about the family’s lack of wealth, and she rejected his statement that he is lucky. After this scene, Paul was easily influenced that he would be able to reach this place of luck and finally satisfy his mother. Her desires for more money and luck are never satisfied, and as a result, lead to tragic consequences when love and money are confused in Paul’s mind. Paul’s heartbreaking attempt to win his mother’s love inevitably leads to his own death.
Lawrence’s, The Rocking Horse Winner, exposes the negative qualities associated with modern society and specifically adults. Adults are corrupting children at a young age to believe ...
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... will be greatly affected. In Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner, Paul’s upbringing is greatly influenced by his mother. Paul is raised to believe that materialistic possessions are needed to maintain happiness. Golding’s Lord of the Flies demonstrates that without adult supervision, children are naturally inclined to be evil. There are no rules implemented in the novel and as a result, the children stray away from the expected behaviors of society. Although both works view children differently, both works prove that children create their own downfall as a result of trying to create the perfect society.
Works Cited
- Golding, William. Lord of the flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print.
- Lawrence, D.H.. "Rocking Horse Winner, by DH Lawrence." Rocking Horse Winner, by DH Lawrence. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014. .
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The story "The Rocking-Horse Winner" written by D. H. Lawrence tells of a young boy named Paul who tries to win his mother's affection by giving her that which she seems to want more than anything else, MONEY. The house in which the family lives is haunted by a voice that speaks the phrase, "There must be more money!" Everyone in the house can hear the voice but nobody ever acknowledges it. Paul and the family gardener, Bassett, begin to talk about horse races one day and they soon begin to bet on them. Paul's uncle, Oscar, learns of this and becomes a partner with Paul and Bassett. They are quite successful in their endeavor, because Paul is the one who chooses the horses that they bet on. They always seem to win. He goes about finding the winner by riding his rocking horse until the name of the winning horse becomes clear in his head. This method has never the team. Paul decides to give his mother, Hester, 5,000 pounds of his winnings, which is to be paid out one thousand pounds at a time on her birthday for the next five years. While Paul was trying to figure out the winner of the Derby, his mother went to check on him because she had heard a strange noise coming from his room. She opened the door and saw Paul rocking his horse like a madman. Paul screamed, "It's Malabar! It's Malabar!" and then collapsed onto the floor. Paul died a few nights later. This is obviously a story about family and the feelings of shame that we acquire from our parents that could have disastrous consequences for the whole family as was the case with Paul's. We will look at Paul's mother's obsession with money, Paul's plan to please his mother, and the price the family paid for wanting more money.
William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies examines upon the defects in human nature and society. The boys in the novel are stranded on an island, like in Coral Island by R. L. Ballantyne; but unlike Coral Island where all of the boys get along and learn to live in harmony, the characters in Golding's novel do not get along ultimately making them realize they are more like savages than humans. Golding writes in an entertaining way on certain defects in human nature, power, envy, violence, rebellion, arrogance, and guilt are the most noticeable.