Essay Comparing The Destructors And The Rocking Horse Winner

her lack of luck. Hester’s son, Paul, believes he is lucky and wants to earn her

"And aren't you lucky either, mother? I can't be if I married an unlucky husband. But by yourself, aren't you? I used to think I was, before I married. Now I think I am very unlucky indeed"(77). In the written story Hester also appears to be greedy. When Paul arranges for her to receive one thousand pounds a year for five years, Hester wants it all at once. "He said Paul's mother had had a long interview with the lawyer, asking if the whole five thousand could not be advanced at once, as she was in debt"(83).

Graham Greene’s “The Destructor’s”, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Rocking Horse Winner” (Both stories reprinted in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth] 111-124, 285-298) are two short stories set in post-war England. Despite the similarities of both stories set in post-war eras of Great Britain, the mood and physical settings are vastly different. In fact, the stories each give differing amounts of details and clues about the setting. For instance, “The Destructors” setting is easily discernable, but in contrast, “The Rocking Horse Winner” gives only vague clues regarding the time and setting. Regardless of the differences in the amount of details given, the

Some may say that we are, as human beings, a violent people by nature. We see it in our own history of wars and genocide that the violence in us can grow to extreme proportions. These two stories, “The Destructors” by Graham Greene, and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, show us that some of the violence can be brought on by people simply following blindly. Whether we look at the past or the present, these two short stories, show us the mob mentality can be very dangerous. The long dead tradition of “The Lottery” tells of the town people forgetting most of the different parts of the tradition because it takes too long, or is not feasible. The one part they never

Comparison and Contrast of “The Destructors”, by Graham Greene and “The Rocking Horse Winner”, by D.H. Lawrence

Nearly every person alive has felt the struggle of not having enough money and worrying about fitting into to a higher society. The short story written by Graham Greene, “The Destructors”, demonstrates the difference between classes of society. The short story written by D.H. Lawrence, “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, demonstrates the anxiety over money in poor family. Both of these two short stories appeal to the common man by presenting a universal theme. The theme of both “The Destructors” by Graham Greene and “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence is the struggle between class and wealth however difference in character and setting drive the two stories apart.

D. H. Lawrence also shows conflict between Paul and his mother through a second level of secrecy. He writes the story using the style of story telling or a fantasy style of writing. "The Rocking-Horse Winner" starts off with "there was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust" (Lawrence 524). According to Junkins "mother is the poor, unsatisfied fairy princess who yearns for happiness; Paul is the gallant knight on horseback who rides to her rescue" (88). Lawrence uses this form of story telling to show the reader the conflict Paul has when trying to win his mother's love by giving her riches.

Both stories “ The Destructors” and “The Rocking Horse Winner” were written by British authors, and set in England. “The Rocking Horse Winner” was set after WWI, meanwhile “The Destructors” was set after WWII. In this case, this shows us that both stories have similar living conditions. On the other hand, there are also differences in the two stories. Graham Greene’s “The Destructors” and D. H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking Horse Winner” have similar yet different uses of setting, greediness, emotions and themes of character.

“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.

In "The Rocking Horse Winner" D. H. Lawrence tells us about the traumatic downfall of an upper middle class family struggling to maintain appearances through habitual overspending. Both the parents with common jobs and "expensive tastes" (pg.646) exploit all their resources to give their family the best; however, it was only to retain their high status in the society. "The Rocking Horse Winner" depicts a common demon we all face; greed, society's need for more possessions and money often drives people to do drastic things.<p>The magnificently decorated house had always been haunted by the unspoken phrase, "there must be more money" (pg.646). "Nobody said it aloud. Just as no one says: We are

The narrative starts out telling about Hester having trouble loving her children. It has never been a common thing that a mother just stops loving her children. She also loves money more than her family. This shows how unthankful she is for the family and life she has. Materials such as money mean more to her than family does. This is shown towards the end of the narrative “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, Paul knew that the derby was coming up, so he rode the rocking horse as hard as he could to figure out which horse would win. He thought the more he rode his rocking horse, the more money he would make, to please his mother. He was so stressed about betting on the horse that would win, he became ill. This is when his mother actually became a little concerned about him. Paul was in critical condition, “He neither slept nor regained consciousness, and his eyes were like blue stones. His mother sat, feeling her heart had gone, turned to actual stone” (Lawrence 495). Bassett visited him to tell him that the horse Paul said would win, had won. Paul awoke when Bassett told him the news. Paul asked his mother if he told her how lucky he was, and she said he never did. He died that night. In consequence, she did earn money, but she lost a child because of her

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.

“The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence is an unpredictable, fairytale-like short story about a mother of three who constantly worries about her financial problems. She has a son who is fervent about figuring out a solution to her predicament. This story also has an abrupt ending that gives off strong emotion. Another short story, called “The Lottery”, has the same spectacle of ending the story with suspense. Written by Shirley Jackson, this story begins with a sunny day in a village, but miserably ends with the stoning of one of the villagers. “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “The Lottery” are two sensational stories that have tragic ironies; however, they differ in tone

When a person is lucky, it does not have to mean that they are fortunate with money. Luck is the chance for things to go the way you want them to go with out having any control over the situation. In The Rocking Horse Winner, Hester, the mother seems to believe that luck is strictly having money, and when there is no money, there is no luck. Hester's idea of luck meaning money brings forth the two ideas of greed and death throughout the story.

The "Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence is a story, which emphasizes the battered relationship between a mother and her child. The author's work is known for its explorations of human nature and illustrates the nature of materialism. The author employs techniques of the fairy tale to moralize on the value of love and the dangers of the money. D.H. Lawrence presents an upper class family that is destroyed by greed because they always felt like no matter how much money they had, they always needed more. He tells the reader about the downfall of an upper middle class family struggling to maintain appearances through habitual overspending. The author displays the negative