Rocking Horse Winner Thesis

The Rocking-Horse Winner is a short story written by D.H. Lawrence. The story revolves around Paul, a little boy, who gets involved in gambling in order to improve the financial conditions of his family and prove his luck to his mother. At the first glance, from the title, I assumed that it would be an upbeat tale about a little kid who surmounts his little obstacles. However, it turns out to be completely different. Starting off as a gloomy tale, it turns even darker towards the end. It begins with description of a mother who is fed up of her life and husband. She has a never ending greed for money and does not live her children. Paul, on of her children is determined to find a way to end the financial problems and prove his luck to his mother in order to win her love. His endeavor, however, ends in defeat as he fails to get his mother’s affection.

The short story that has the best quality off literary fiction would be, The Rocking-Horse Winner by D H Lawrence, a story about a young boy trying to win his mother’s love by seeking the luck she thinks she does not have also, wanting to give her the luxurious lifestyle she dreams of by betting on horse races he begins to make money to hopefully make everything better. This short story represents setting, plot, theme, symbol and character very well. Without these main points of emphasis being made a short story would have no structure so that’s what I feel is most important.

“The Rocking Horse Winner” is a short story written by D.H Lawrence that follows the short and tragic life of a boy named Paul, who assumes he has amazing luck after realizing he can predict racehorse winners by furiously riding his rocking horse until he reaches a trance-like state. Unfortunately, as his family takes advantage of his gift and starts gaining more money, Paul’s luck begins to kill him. Literally. Throughout the story, there are several themes evident, such as wealth, life, conscious, existence; luck, family, and greed. The conflicts displayed are man vs man, man vs self, and man vs. society. The rocking horse has become an obsession for paul and the potential benefits it would have on his family, ultimately not knowing the actual harm it will cause.

“The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence is a story about a little boy who is neglected by his mom and desperately rides his horse in order to predict which horse will be the next winner at the race track. He wins a lot of money for his mother, hoping that it will earn her love; however, he is greatly mistaken. He ends up riding his horse to exhaustion just to get more money and ends up dying. In “The Rocking Horse Winner” Lawrence uses symbolism, a biblical allusion, and negative characterization of the mother to explain the pursuit of money is a futile quest and does not result in a happy ending.

In response to Paul’s need to provide for his mother and become lucky, he discovers rocking on his rocking horse will provide him with race winners and money, which he thinks will satisfy his mother and make her happy; however, it only seems to intensify her greed and need for more., this only fuels the fire. Paul gives most of his race winnings to his mother for her birthday and expects an excited reaction; instead, her voice was “cold and absent” (96). As well as ungrateful, she tried to access the whole amount at once: So Uncle Oscar signed the agreement, and Paul’s mother touched the whole five thousand. Then something very curious happened. The voices in the house suddenly went mad” (96). Paul’s gift to Hester only manages to fuel her

Two divisions, two dissimilar endings, but the identical connotation, but what is that repercussion? We all phenomenon what it’s like to speculation and always know the conqueror, or to be able to tell how someone will retort when you tell them an anomalous, but catastrophic story. But which story has a more shocking ending? Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence has the most shocking consummation because you don’t envisage what will materialize to the boy. In Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence a young boy gambles by horse racing because he almost always knows who will triumph. He works with his family’s gardener to save and spend money on gambling at horse races, even when no one else thinks he will victory, he customarily does. And when he isn’t sure, he doesn’t gamble as much, so he doesn’t lose as much. In Rocking Horse there is voluminous messages because it is a life knowledge lesson from right and wrong, allotment on to money and spending it sagaciously and how his mother squelches to those types of condition.

Throughout the reading of Rocking Horse Winner a boy named Paul endures many hardships. He is told from his mother that they are unlucky and he begins to think that he needs to do something to help out his mother. “...belongs to the group of stories D. H. Lawrence wrote in the last years of his life.” (Piedmont-Marton) Lawrence was one of the few writers that wrote stories about his life. We are told many messages from this reading, we are told of detachment, unprovoked attacks, and the folklore of the story.

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 hear the voices and so can the rocking horse Paul received. Even though they can hear the voices they do not say anything. This is due to the fact that every one is used to it so it would be like saying “we are breathing”(20). This led Paul to realizes that there family is in debt and he believes that in order for them to get out of this debt, he has to take action. This shows that he is willing to take the problem into his own hands because he believes that no one else can do anything about

“The Rocking Horse Winner,” a short story written by D.H. Lawrence is a testimony to the fact that parents can often harm their children, and yet be completely unaware of it. Often times in modern society, one of the most recognizable examples of this is for instance when a parent makes their child participate in a certain activity; the stereotype is a certain sport. Often times this will end up only harming the child because for a main reason they are participating in something that is not of their choosing, and also because their parent is not listening to them, is not tending to their needs. On the contrary, parents sometimes force their children to do something when they’re young, and the child ends up being a stunning success at that particular thing, and they in turn love the activity. The child’s resistance in these situations can often stem from laziness or the want to just play with their friends. There is yet another situation when the simple words or complaints of a parent harm their children and the family as a whole. So where is the balance? How does one find a balance between forcing your child to do something out of love, or forcing them to do something out of self-seeking motives? “The Rocking Horse Winner,” is a perfect example of a parent who seemed to be solely concerned with her will and what she wanted. It appeared on the outside that she loved her children

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot”(Lawrence). In 1926 D.H lawrence wrote one of his most famous stories, Rocking Horse Winner. This story is about a boy who gambles to make money that will make his mom happy. He ends up getting addicted to gambling, and this addiction ended up being extremely fatal to the boy. In life we go to the extreme to make the ones we love around us happy just like this little boy in the story did. This story betrays many important messages, three of the messages presented by D.H Lawrence are, economic problems, luck and unluck, and raising a child without damaging them.

Lucky Charms “Three Messages From The Rocking Horse Winner” D. H. Lawrence was an incredible writer. His writing of short stories was what set him apart from the other writers. Stories like The Rocking Horse Winner, validated his position as truly a great writer. D. H. Lawrence uses his characters to project certain messages.

When Paul's mother received the letter from the lawyer, she got even more greedy. She went to the lawyer and asked if she could have all the money at once. Paul agreed that this would be okay. But the house just whispered louder, with more greed. Paul's mother had used the money foolishly again, instead of using it wisely to pay off her debt. "The voices in the house suddenly went mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring evening. There were certain new furnishings and Paul had a new tutor…there were flowers in the winter, and a blossoming of the luxury that Paul's mother had been used to" (442). Paul's mother and Paul's greed amplified: Paul continued to bet to make more money for his mother, and his mother kept spending money that she didn't have.

In the story “The Rocking Horse Winner”, by D. H Lawrence, the opening words sound like a fairy story, “There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck.” (Lawrence 792). However, this story talks about a family who lives in style, but the household has feelings there is never have enough money. The family is unhappy because Paul’s parent’s marriage is unsatisfactory, and his mother is sexual frustrated (Saaris). More than that, they always had anxiety about a young boy named Paul in their family. Paul, who always dedicated in his life to fulfilling her greedy expectations by making more money from his mother to make her happy. Therefore, it was an interesting story about love, money, and luck in

D. H. Lawrence was born in England on September 11, 1885. Lawrence grew up in the small mining town of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire where his father, Arthur John Lawrence, was a coal miner, and Lydia Lawrence, his mother, worked in the lace making industry (D.H Lawrence Biography). The same town depended on the mining industry to provide jobs for the family's. Growing up in Eastwood, Lawrence was bullied at school for not playing sports like the other boys. Lawrence father, Arthur, wanted him to follow his footsteps and become a miner but Lawrence did not want to. Lawrence became the first boy in Eastwood to win a county council scholarship to attend Nottingham high school (D.H Lawrence Biography). In high-school, the scholarship boys where separated in a different class.

The central theme mainly focuses on a woman named Hester who had no luck and was never satisfied with her life. Since Paul didn’t recognized his circumstances, it created him to desperately seek for his mother’s love and approval. Therefore, the pursuit of money and material riches are the arguments conveyed in the story that interprets Paul attempting to brighten up his need for love by pleasing his mother’s lust for money. However, others may believe that Paul is just an ordinary kid who enjoys his rocking horse and don’t really understand the true meaning of money. In the story, “The Rocking Horse Winner”, Paul’s arc demonstrates that the power of money led to greediness and the intense desire for wealth.