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Symbolism in the rocking horse winner
Literary analysis of the rocking horse winner
Essay about the rocking horse winner
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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.
Paul desire his mother’s love more than anything. However he believes he needs to prove he is lucky. He struggles to prove that he is to make his mother happy. Paul wants his mother to love him more than anything. For Paul’s mother money equals luck, and this will gain her love. “There must be more money”(19). He hears these voices throughout the house. They hear these voices when hey are receiving items of joy, especially around Christmas time. The other children can h...
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...eparate paths, one for the money, and another for his mother. This ultimately leads to Paul’s demise. “Mother, did I ever tell you/No you did not”(34) He never told his mother what he was doing for her. He wanted to gain her love more than anything. He conformed to a certain path that he thought would be able to achieve his ultimate desire.
Paul wanted to gain the love his mother more than anything. He chose to conform to the path of luck. While pursing this personal desire, he became overwhelmed with in it and this ultimately led to his demise. If he would have been able to control his desire it may have been able to save him from tragedy. When an individual chooses to conform to meet the ideals of another individual in order to achieve there own personal desire, they can not sacrifice everything for that persons ideals because it can often result in tragedy.
He said,"So you figured it would be better if I just hated myself." 265. In that scene, his mom and dad both broke down crying. All along, Paul felt guilt in himself for something he hadn't done.
Paul in “Paul’s Case” wanted to get away from the reality and the hostile environment he faced. He was sick of Pittsburgh and the middle-class, Cordelia Street, which he lived on. Although his mother past away, his home life was as normal as could be. This is something Paul hated, normality. At school he would tell other students false stories to try to make his life seem more interesting than theirs. This ultimately caused none of the other students like him, even the teachers lash out at him. Paul was suspended from school, but he didn’t mind. He found an interest in music and in art, although he knew his father would not approve. Paul’s father wanted him to be a business man, have a normal family and have an ordinary life. Although, having a normal, ordinary life was not what Paul had in mind for his future. He dreamt of much more which caused him to believe he would never get his father’s approval.
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a short story about a young boy, Paul, who has the supernatural ability to choose a winning race horse. It is not clear how the boy has this ability but he hears his mother’s voice echo in his mind saying that they are poor and so he sets out to change that. Paul takes on the stress of his mother’s greed. This short story relates to the obsession of wealth which what motivates the characters aside of neglect, faulty sense of value, opportunism and deceit. Paul believes that there is more money to be made and thus goes on a frenzy to win more, but consequently dies after falling off his rocking horse due to convulsions of a fever.
The first and most emphases is the dark feeling of despair when he realizes that his father was coming to New York City. "It was to be worse than jail, even; the tepid waters of Cordelia Street were to close over him finally and forever". (Kennedy & Gioia, “Paul’s Case,” para. 57) From this statement, Paul finally accepts that is fate is to live on Cordelia Street and become what he despises the most; poor. Another important reason was that his craving for money and entrance into the upper class, "more than ever, money was everything, the wall that stood between all he loathed and all he wanted". (Kennedy & Gioia, “Paul’s Case,” para. 61) Other important issues that were mentioned but not truly discussed where his homosexual tendencies and his mother’s death early in his childhood The final and most important reason Paul commits suicide is because he feels alone in a hostile world that does not understand him and his love of beautiful things, color, art, and music. "It occurred to him that all the flowers he had seen in the glass cases that first night must have gone the same way, long before this. It was only one splendid breath they had, in spite of their brave mockery at the winter outside the glass; and it was a losing game in the end, it seemed, this revolt against the homilies by which the world is run". (Kennedy & Gioia, “Paul’s Case,” para. 64) From this statement alone, Paul feels
At the beginning of this story the family did not have enough money to support their opulent lifestyle. Mr. Lawrence illustrates their situation like this: "Although they lived in style they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money." (p. 159) The family scrambles to pay the bills at the end of the month. An unspoken phrase "Whispered" throughout the house, "There must be more money! There must be more money!" (p.160) the whispering said. Even though the family had money, they wanted, they needed, more.
The society that Paul lives among spreads the idea that materialism and greed are the keys to lasting success in life. Paul grows up in a house that is constantly whispering ‘there must be more money,’ which symbolizes the families desire and greed for money. Paul is told that the reason why his parents are desperate for more money is because they are not lucky, but the reader learns that the parents are greedy. This is shown when it is explained that both of Paul’s parents had a reasonable income, but still not enough for the social position which they lived in. Paul’s parents were both materialistic, as they followed society’s influence and dedicated there life to gaining mone...
We have all heard the expression, "Money makes the world go round." But does this make it worthwhile to abandon happiness in order to gain more of it? David Herbert Lawrence reveals the folly of substituting money and luck for family and love in "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the story of a woman's insatiable need to become rich, and her son's struggle to gain her approval.
The dialogue between Paul and his mother is mainly about luck and how a person can get money if such a person is lucky. From the story, the reader should be aware of Hester's crave for money and her expensive taste, therefore, it is not surprising when she talks her son into believing that luck brings money. We could also establish at this point that the family is at least living comfortably, meaning they were not very poor; "They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants." Paul's mother tells him that his father is not lucky and because of this, she is no longer a lucky woman. The conversation ends with Paul believing that he is a lucky boy, and the action he takes in finding this luck is what brings his demise in the end.
Around the end of the story, Paul decides to run off to New York for a week to finally live his dreams. However, by making his dreams a reality he exposes himself to something he wasn't prepared for, the truth. At first, everything is all Paul ever wanted it be. He is able to finally live life as he sees fit. He spends his money without care, and is able to live up to all his lies. (Although this reaches its climax when Paul meets a young man in the street), "The young man offered to show Paul the night side of the town, and the two boys went out together after dinner, not returning to the hotel until seven o'clock the next morning" (Cather 11). After this, Paul's fake reality falls apart quickly. Faced with the reality that he will have to return home, Paul decides to take his own life. Instead of ending it quickly with a gun, he decides to go a different route, "When the right moment came, he jumped. As he fell, the folly of his haste occurred to him with merciless clearness, the vastness of what he had left undone. There flashed through his brain, clearer than ever before, the blue of Adriatic water, the yellow of Algerian sands. He felt something strike his chest, and that his body was being thrown swiftly through the air, on and on, immeasurably far and fast, while his limbs were gently relaxed. Then, because the picture-making mechanism was crushed, the disturbing visions flashed into black,
As I read the story with out a doubt in mind the story clearly manifests a serious lack of love in the family. Sexual satisfaction was another necessary in the case of Paul's mother because she was so lonely with out the care and love of a husband that was never close to her wife. While Paul intentions was to solve not only the family financial problems but particularly his mother wants, not knowing that his mother truly prime necessity was erotic pleasure and such bliss can only be achieved by strong merit all relationship. Paul too in his search for luck by asserting to know something he is no longer trying to solved a secondary need but also hiding his masturbation problem.
The money that Paul won, was proof of his luck that he could give to his mother and earn her love. Paul is very unlucky in that he never got what he wanted even by trying to get it. That luck wasn't money to Paul, it was love. He never received love from his mother which he should have gotten by chance, and his mother ended up losing a lot more than Paul's money could have ever given her.
The first indication the relationship between Paul and his mother is not one that is ideal is when we are first introduced to the mother. She reveals she feels her children, "had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them," whenever her children were present, "she always felt
Another characteristic Paul had was joy. No matter where he was, he always had joy. In jail, he had joy. When being beaten he had joy. When he was shipwrecked he had joy. His perspective of the suffering he was going through was a joyful one. He had an amazing outlook on life's sufferings. The big picture was that either way he won. If he died he'd go to heaven which he k. If he lived he'd be telling people about God and that was his
When they left Philippi, they went to Thessalonica, where they met a man named Jason. It is very likely that Jason had never heard of Paul but he gave them lodging in his house. Out of thousands of people, they met Jason. Then, as Paul and his company traveled to Berea, Athens, and Corinth, and on and on, we can easily see the working of God’s hand. Although Paul was often mistreated, abused and thrown into prison, in each case God was arranging for His will to be
The main characters in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are Paul, Hester and Uncle Oscar. Paul, a little boy with intense feelings, understands that his family needs more money due to their expensive taste. This is apparent when Paul learns that luck brings money and his family is unlucky, “Absorbed, taking no heed of other people, he went about with a sort of stealth, seeking inwardly for luck. He wanted luck, he wanted it…” (Lawrence 2). Becoming aware of how unhappy his family is, Paul focuses his attention on getting money to make everyone happier and fill in the shoes for his father. While Paul is trying to be generous and help his family, Hester is greedy by never being content or appreciative. An example of her not being appreciative is when Paul secretly gives her money on her birthday and she acts harshly, “her voice cold and hard and absent” (Lawrence 8). This description shows how cold Hester truly is, even with her own child, due to her determination to be as materialistic as possible. She doesn’t recognize how caring her son is. Hester and her husband never have enough money, which is evident in their lifestyle: “The mother…and the father had a small income, but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up” (Lawrence 1). Despite not having enough money, the parents still chose to live exquisitely in order to have a good reputation and fit in with society. They are too greedy and blind to realize how