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Critical analysis of the "rocking horse winner
Essay about one of the themes of "The Rocking Horse Winner
Critical analysis of the "rocking horse winner
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The Rocking Horse Winner:
PLOT:
The kid Paul belongs to a poor family and his mother keeps on distressing for money all the time. He loves to ride horses and dreams about horse races. One day Paul’s uncle, Oscar come out to know that he has been making money by betting on the horse race. One day, they go to the race and Paul picks the winner and Oscar becomes rich. After gathering money, Paul decides to give some portion to his mother. With the help of family lawyer, Paul bestows 5000 pounds to his mother. In spite of having too much money, there is vociferous rumble for more money. This thing makes Paul mad and scared. Observing Paul’s fretfulness, she wants him to go to seaside and rest. But he solicits her to let him postpone until the Derby.
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Acquisitiveness is not the most important object in life. The little boy, Paul is struggling for money and luck and he achieved it but he died. The mother gets her needs and desires fulfilled, which she badly wanted but lost her son in that course. She was unable to show her love to the kids and husband, because of the desire for material wealth.
Symbolism:
The “Rocking horse” is a symbol is an aspiration for opulence and money. Paul rides the horse, so he can foretell the winner of the race. Hester, Paul’s mother symbolizes voracity and egocentricity and was possessed with material affluence status. She had no affection for her kids. Her greed for money made Paul ride on the rocking horse, due to which he gets mad and dies. The house represents an unfortunate family and disappointing mood. Since Paul’s father was unfortunate, his mother was unhappy with her marriage. Because of that the family was experiencing financial complications.
Irony:
Paul’s mother, at the start of the story wants money and fortune. But, when she gets money through good fortune, she loses her son. The “Rocking horse” which brings luck for Paul, eventually gives him his death too. This is Irony. Uncle Oscar thinks that since Paul is a child, he will not be successful in racing horses. But when he starts wining the bets, Oscar becomes partner of
Once he learns that luck brings money, the very component his mother yearns for, he goes on a mission with his trusty steed. He becomes violent hitting his wooden rocking horse with a whip and commands it, "'Now, take me to where there is luck! Now take me!'" (Lawerence 412). His obsession causes him to act out of character because the one items he cherishes has to endure the displaced frustration he has toward Hester. This shows how much he wants his mother to acknowledge his existence in her life. His goal in finding luck is to also find money in anticipation that Hester's search will cease forcing all of her attention on him. Paul not only loses his temperament but his childhood as well. He becomes preoccupied with gambling when it should be superheroes and sports. He rocks on his horse compulsively until he falls ill screaming out the winning horse's name: "'Malabar! It's Malabar!'" (Lawerence 412). As his prediction comes true, Hester collects the prize money, and Paul believes he has obtained the unobtainable. He hunts for her acceptance one last time asking, "'Over eighty thousand pounds! I call that lucky, don't you mother?'" (Lawerence 422). Hester replies, "'No, you never did'" (422), and he dies later that night without ever knowing his worth. She is unable to give him his dying wish of her
For some reason they could not explain, Paul's uncle and Bassett had faith in him to pick it. They kept making money on the young boy with faith. The boy, whose parents had no luck, also had the faith that they did not have. Sadly, his faith killed him. He wanted
D.H. Lawrence’s writings often mirror elements of his own life, though they contain decidedly fictitious components. The characters in Lawrence’s The Rocking- Horse Winner closely resemble his own family. Like Paul, Lawrence was seeking a way out of the misfortune of pre-war London living. Unlike Lawrence, Paul is already well-to-do. Paul’s search consists of a yearning for affection and acceptance. In The Rocking-Horse Winner a young boy finds a certain calling within himself that serves to vastly improve the standing of his entire family. However, Paul’s supernatural ability to choose the winners of horse races is but a cursory assessment of the story’s secrets. Digging deeper, the reader becomes aware of a darker meaning to Paul’s wild rides. There are two things are revealed throughout Paul’s character development; first, that he is seeking his mother’s affection. Secondly, in doing so, there is an apparent autoeroticism linked to his seemingly innocent rocking-horse.
The fragile nature of man is made known in the intimate thoughts and struggles shared through the internal monologues of Hester and Paul in the “Rocking-Horse Winner.”
Paul, the child, knew that his family wanted money, and he knew that he was lucky, betting on the horses. Paul became partners with the gardener. He picked the horse, and the gardener placed the bet. Paul had started out with five shillings but his winnings kept adding up. When he had made 10,000 pounds he decided to give his mother 1000 pounds a year for five years. He wanted his winnings to be a secret so a lawyer handled the money. Paul saw the envelope from the lawyer and asked his mother if she had received anything good in the mail. She said "Quite moderately nice" (p. 168) in a cold voice. She liked getting the money, but she wasn't happy. She wanted more.
The way jealousy is portrayed throughout this story is through greed as the characters all agree, “Although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money” (Lawrence 1223). As a whole, the lack of money causes the entire family to be jealous of other families and ultimately cause unexpected actions. For instance, when Oscar discovers his nephew always gambles and wins on horse races, he is skeptical of the idea of gambling at first, but eventually the narrator states, “He became a partner. And when the Leger was coming on, Paul was sure about Lively Spark, which was quite an inconsiderable horse…Paul had made ten thousand…Even Oscar Cresswell had cleared two thousand” (1230). This explains how Oscar’s covetousness for money causes his mindset to change for not punishing his nephew for deliberately sneaking out to gamble, continues to let him do so, and begins to participate in this outrageous activity himself. This imparts readers that being desirous can cause irresponsibly, but more importantly, cause a mental mindset to change. In the same way, Paul is resentful of the absence of money in the family, riding his magic rocking horse for as long as humanly possible. One day, he is trying to discern the next winner to the race after losing when his mom sees him yelling, “’It’s
The beginning of "The Rocking Horse Winner" gives the reader a sense of fantasy. It starts off with "There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck." Already the reader has a sense of timelessness, of an extraordinary, illusory reality. Lawrence continues on with this feeling when the narrator tells us of this beautiful woman and her feelings towards her children. "Only she herself knew that at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody." The narrator goes on to tell us the tale of a woman, unable to love her own children, who is obsessed with money. The house the family lived in was always filled with a whisper, "There must be more money!" This whisper is what leads to Paul becoming obsessed with money and luck like his mother. The dream-like tone that fills the story cont...
Paul was outraged when he confronted his mother about the family’s lack of wealth, and she rejected his statement that he was 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.
The short story, "Rocking-Horse Winner", and the movie based on it contrast considerably. When the written story has ended the movie continues with ideas, which may not come from the author. Three major differences of the two are: the mother, the father, and the ending. In the movie the mother, Hester, is portrayed as a loving and self-sacrificing person. While in the short story she is exposed to be a cold-hearted, and greedy person. Another instance where the short story and movie differ is the role of the father.
find out if they are a problem. Success for Paul is getting on the rocking horse and staying on. to the point that he dies from nervous exhaustion. His uncle finds out, but He decides to let him continue to gamble to see if he can actually win some money. I will be able to make it.
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.
In order to give their family the best and retain their illicit status, both parents embezzle all of their resources to -1- purchase materialistic things. The Rocking Horse Winner depicts how greed and the need possessions and money drives a member of this upper class family to resort to drastic measures. (Lawrence; The Rocking Horse Winner Study Guide) The second obvious moral to The Rocking Horse Winner is that often one does not realize what they have and how they we feel about it until it is gone. Early on within the story we learned that Paul’s mother had attractive, bonny children.
“The Rocking Horse Winner” is a story that discusses a young boy, named Paul, and his family who feel they never have enough money. The family has insufficient funds, but when Paul provides the mother with money, she only desires further. This constant yearning causes the boy to feel the desperate and the interminable need to provide for his family. He in a sense almost hungers to replace his father and become the sole provider. Through trying to please his mother, the young boy Paul meets his demise. This tragic conclusion illustrates the lengths Paul will go in order to replace his father and become the provider for his mother. This story displays elements of an Oedipus complex, because of Paul’s desires to replace his father and the effects of insatiable greed, eventually resulting in his premature mortality.
Hester, Paul’s rocking horse and the whispering of the house represent greed, selfishness, and love. They also reveal the character’s real feelings and thoughts of neglect, detachment, greed and selfishness. These symbols convey a theme and make the characters in the short story. The Rocking-Horse Winner is a tragic story where Paul dies trying to gain his mother’s love and compassion. The mother was just interested in the money he was winning in the derbies. The story conveys a major them of materialism and shapes the characters through the symbols.
Snodgrass, W. D. "A Rocking-Horse: The Symbol, the Pattern, the Way to Live." The Hudson Review 11.2 (1958): 191-200. JSTOR. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.