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What picture of the modern society do we find in the rocking horse winner
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The understanding of life seems quite simple for Hester in the short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by David H. Lawrence. She believes that life is difficult without money, and money is the essence needed, not love, in order to live a great life. Part of this is true since money is a necessity to at least live a healthy life. However, Hester neglects her kids before and after she is no longer able to support her lavish lifestyle. When Hester’s son Paul shows to be a beneficial character there is still no love for him till the end. Hester’s act of neglecting Paul is what leads her family to their destruction by her ever growing greed. First, Hester shows her greed for money through the explanation of her regretful choice of love verses wealth …show more content…
Hester lives a life that most people cannot afford. The irony is that she cannot afford her lavish lifestyle. She thinks that her children are forcefully placed on her rather than having the choice to have them. Hester feels that her husband wanted to have the children more than she wanted them. This is an expression of her love for money, which is greater than her love for her children. The children can tell that Hester does not love them, since she lacks the will to show them their much needed attention. Although Hester tries to put on an act as if she does adore her children in front of company that she wishes to impress. The two girls and one son, Paul, realize her want for money by the house’s occasional moan saying, “There must be more money” (Lawrence 525). The phrase is emphasized throughout the story to show that the parents have the constant need and want for money to support the kids. Even though the phrase is not heard personally from anyone, it is believed that the parents are indeed the ones saying this. The idea is that the parents are carrying a conversation that is echoed into the children’s rooms through the vents. Her children do not understand why these things, such as money and luck, are so important to their parents. That is where the differentiation between luck and
In order to sustain her indulgence for the finer conditions, her hunger for moneys grows so much that even the house whispers about it because there is never enough. Hester's anxiety over wealth affects her children to the point they feel as if they can hear the house constantly saying they need money: "And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money! There must be more money!" (Lawerence 411). Children feed off their parent's energy. In the mother's constant state of distress, Paul feels trapped by the overwhelming cries that flow throughout what should be his safe haven. In an attempt to quiet the voices, Paul secretly gives money to Hester to be distributed over a span of 5 years. Unappreciative of this
had no money, and what the town would think of her. She was one of
The guilt that now rests in Hester is overwhelming to her and is a reason for her change in personality. The secrets Hester keeps are because she is silent and hardly talks to anyone. “Various critics have interpreted her silence. as both empowering. and disempowering. Yet silence, in Hester’s case, offers a type of passive resistance to male probing”
Throughout the novel, the harsh Puritan townspeople begin to realize the abilities of Hester despite her past. Hester works selflessly and devotes herself to the wellbeing of others. “Hester sought not to acquire anything beyond a subsistence of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child.
In this scene, the reader is able to see inside Hester's head. One is able to observe the utter contempt she holds for the Puritan ways. She exhibits he love and respect for the father of her child, when she refuses to relinquish his name to the committee. The reader can see her defiant spirit due to these actions.
She really tried to redeem herself ever since the entire town realized she had cheated on her husband. "Hush, Hester, hush!...The law was broke! - the sin here so awfully revealed! - let these alone be in thy thoughts! I fear! I fear! It may be that, when we forgot our God, - when we violated our reverence each for the other's soul, - it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion." (233). In the end her experience made her and Pearl’s life truly extraordinary and completely changed her outlook on life, this caused her to be helping the poor by the end of the story. "Hester comforted and counseled them as best she might. She assured them, too, of her firm belief, that, at some brighter period, when the world should have grown ripe for it, in Heaven's own time, a new truth would be revealed, in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness." (239). After returning from Europe she really helped to give the poor sustenance and was a completely changed person. Hester’s situation really seemed to be pretty bad at first but after getting used to being labeled as a bad person with the letter “A” on her chest she really grew out of it and became a good person who helps the community
Hester was not like the other puritans in the community she resided in. Hester did not herself a Puritan because she was simply not religious. She had no respect for their religion or moral code. Her lack of respect in the reason she disobeyed the community (Stewart 57). Her reasoning behind committing adultery was her passion and weakness (Draper 1603). Hester thought power and intellect were more important than believing and worshiping a higher being (Stewart 57). Because Hester’s Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, moved away and abandoned her, Hester’s womanly weakness of feeling love and passion immensely grew. This drive for love and passion is what pushed Hester to committing adultery (Draper 1603).
At the time of her ignominy, Hester is connected enough to Puritan society to suffer the entirety of her punishment. Although Hester maintains her strong demeanor, she greatly feels the burden of her sin. She has been raised to believe that her sin, adultery, is one of the worst actions possible for a woman. Without a supportive husband or public lover, Hester is utterly alone. She and her daughter, Pearl, are ridiculed by the entire town the second they exit the prison. Public embarrassment is a very common form of punishment in Puritan communities. It was effective as well, as Hester “continually, and in a thousand other ways, [felt] the innumerable throbs of anguish that had been so cunningly contrived for her by the undying, the ever-active sentence of the Puritan tribunal” (Hawthorne 59). Hester’s
Paul insists that he will become lucky for his mother since she and his father are not. All the children listen to the house whisper “there must be more money” (Kennedy & Gioia pg. 174). The mother is a materialistic person that thrives on keeping the look of her high social status.
Hester's social life is virtually eliminated as a result of her shameful history. She is treated so poorly that often preachers will stop in the street and start to deliver a lecture as she walks by. Hester also begins to hate children, who unconsciously realize there is something different about her and thus start to follow her with "shrill cries" through the city streets.
In the beginning of the written story the author reveals Hester to be a cold-hearted mother. "She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them"(75). In public she is thought of as the perfect mother, but in private she and her children know her true feelings. "Everyone else said of her: 'She is such a good mother. She adores her children.' Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other's eyes"(75). Heste...
Hester is indeed a sinner, adultery is no light matter, even today. On the other hand, her sin has brought her not evil, but good. Her charity to the poor, her comfort to the broken-hearted, her unquestionable presence in times of trouble are all direct results of her quest for repe...
One of the main symbols in Lawrence’s short story is Hester. She is the mother of Paul and both are main characters. Hester is a good representation of greed, selfishness and being materialistic. She values money more than her children “She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them” (Lawrence, 295). Hester is not capable of creating...
Many people forget about the most important things in life, like family and enjoying life