The Rocking Horse Winner
Uploaded by blowindank on Jan 7, 2006 |
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The Rocking Horse Winner
The dramatic short story "The rocking horse winner," is about a young boy who desires to be loved by his mother. The author, D.H. Lawrence develops a theme that states, the desire for money and social status is a destructive force. The story is about a young boy named Paul who tries to win his mothers love by gambling for money. Paul has a supernatural power which he can commute with his rocking horse to find out the winning races. However, in the end Paul tries too hard to win his mothers love and dies. The moral theme is revealed through Paul, who is the protagonist, and his relationships with the characters. The relationships which result in conflict is between Paul's mother and father, between mother and Paul, Oscar and Paul and Paul and himself. The standard of living in their society is very important to Paul's family but it becomes a destructive force. The symbolism unrolls the theme by Paul's wooden rocking horse, his wild eyes and the whispering within the house. Thus, the theme is revealed by the use of relationships, and symbolism which in the end leads Paul to his awful death.
D.H. Lawrence accomplishes the theme by using dramatic relationships with the characters. Paul's mother, Hester is determined to fit in with society but she does not notice that her desires are ruining her family. A conversation with Hester and Paul displays how she feels about Paul. Hester believes that being lucky is the key to becoming rich, but her belief has a large impact on Paul. Paul is determined to receive his mothers attention when he says "I'm a lucky person," and then she goes on to say "excellent," but in a sarcastic manner, which makes him more compelled in receiving her attention. Also, when Paul started winning the horse races he decided to give his mother 5000 pounds and when it arrived in the mail Paul asks "didn't you have anything nice in the post for your Birthday, mother?"her reply is "Quite moderately nice." The author displays that even when his mother receives what she desires she is still longing for more wealth which in the end results in Pauls death and her realization of what has become of her family. Paul's mother reveals her feeling towards her husband. In a conversation between the mother and Paul, Paul asks if she feels that she is lucky and her reply is "I can't be if, I married an unlucky husband." The mother associates love by how successful one is, and this reveals that since her husband does not earn enough money she does not have love for him or even Paul. The mother also states in the conversation "I used to think I was, before I married. Now I think I am very unlucky indeed." In the end Paul's mothers greed pushes him to the limit. Oscar is Paul's uncle, and like Paul is interested in horse racing. He does not like to place high wagers like Paul because unlike Paul he is not sure who the winner is. Paul asks Oscar to keep this a secret by saying "honor bright," but doesn't really take him serious and agrees because he wants to make money. When Paul dies, Oscar states "My God, Hester, you're eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad." Paul's death really is not something which affected the Uncle because he tries to comfort Hester by telling her how much money she has. Paul's greatest conflict is against himself, because he allows the pressure from his mother and society to drive him into yearning money and social status, the outcome of this resulted in his death. The desire for money and social status ruins the love and relationships between Paul's mother and himself, the mother and father, Oscar and Paul and Paul and himself.
The author uses symbolism which is important in revealing the theme to this short story. The wooden rocking horse is supernatural and it is what Paul uses to find out the winning race horses. Paul is determined to achieve social status and money by finding the winners, as an example he says "now, take me to where there is luck!" However, the rocking horse ends up taking Paul's life. The whispering in the house symbolizes the desire to stay in the upper class. The family needs to have the best things in order to keep their stature. "There was never enough money," which means that the family is always searching for more money. The whispering is partly caused by Paul's mother because she says to Paul "we're the poor members of the family." This means that the kids are more worried about money because they are the only ones who can hear this whispering. Thus, symbolism is used here as a means of revealing the theme.
In summary, the desire for money and social status ends up in taking the protagonist's life. The author, D.H. Lawrence reveals the theme exceedingly well through the use of relations between the engraved characters and the symbolic inferences. Paul in the end receives the attention and love which he longs for, but unfortunately his mother realizes this too late. The author in the end succeeds in revealing the theme which makes this short story more developed. |
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