A Critical Analysis of "The Rocking-Horse Winner" and "The Destructors"

A Critical Analysis of "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence and "The Destructors" by Graham Greene

In both stories, "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence and "The Destructors" by Graham Greene we see the common theme of

wanting to be envied by others because of what we have or can do. The need to do better, have prestige and more power than anyone else is a

very common human conflict that is dealt with on all levels of humanity. The emotional environment that man grows and develops in plays

a factor in how he approaches everyday life.

Humanity is always trying to prove to others what they have is better than anyone elses. Paul's mother, Hester, in "The Rocking-Horse

Winner" spends a lot of time pretending to have what others want but never feels like she truly does that. She shows off her home, her servants

and even puts an outward appearance of loving her children even though behind doors she does not show them any love. It is easy to see Hester

as the antagonist that causes the ultimate failure of her son. The irony of the situation though, is that while Hester is trying to prove to the world

how successful she is, her son is trying to prove to her how successful he can be and so that she will love him. Paul spends hours riding his

rocking horse to come up with the winning horse so that he can give his mother what he thinks she needs to be happy, money. He was thinking

of gaining her happiness and love through materialistic ways because he thought that money would give the luck, love, happiness and power that

she wanted.

Trevor in "The Destructors" came up with a new idea to show his intelligence and power over the group which ended up making him the

leader ...

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...omeone who, in

seeking acceptance, has gone to great lengths to achieve it. The mother in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" was materialistic in gaining her

acceptance while the gang in "The Destructors" used their destructive nature to seek out their fame. There is just one more small

common thread that could be easily overlooked in the beginning of each story and that is the mother who thought that she was better than the

neighbors. We can see the obvious affect it had on Paul, but was there also a hint of that in Trevor's actions? Trevor's mother "considered

herself better than the neighbors" and Paul's mother " felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighborhood." We are said to be a product of

our environment and both of these boys came from environments that left them feeling like they had something to prove to get ahead of the next

man.