At some point, everyone has gone through an addiction that will end up tremendously costing them a lot throughout their life. In D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking Horse Winner,” the main character, Paul, has a gambling addiction towards betting on horse races. Lawrence’s “The Rocking Horse Winner” has a similarity towards my life. As Paul had his gambling addiction and was betting to receive as much money as he can, I had also gone through a similar addiction towards gambling. The similarity Paul and I shared in relation to gambling was the amount of time and money we both dedicated towards our addiction.
In Lawrence’s “The Rocking Horse Winner,” Paul went through a major gambling addiction such as I did in the past. Paul had wanted to try and
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The horse racing Paul had been involved in had given him a huge amount of cash, more than he had ever exceeded. Paul went on to win thousands and thousands of dollars using his knowledge and luck of choosing what horse to place his bets on. Lawrence describes during their bets, “The boy insisted on putting a thousand on the horse, Bassett went for five hundred, and Oscar Cresswell two hundred. Lively spark came in first, and the betting had been ten to one against him. Paul had made ten thousand” (108). This shows that Paul had no intentions of giving up on gambling anytime soon. I faced the same problem where I wanted to continue to earn more money the more times I won. I became arrogant overtime at the rate I was winning at and started to place higher bets on games I knew were an instant win.In the beginning of this experience, it was successful, I started pulling in five times the amount I had ever imagined I would have, which lead to others wanting to double up to try and earn their money back. At this rate, I told myself that I had no thought of giving up on gambling, the amount of money I had pulled in was shocking to me. Paul and I had gone through the same experience, where everything was rewarding and successful in the beginning but that eventually came to an end. Paul had everything going his way, earning all the money he had wanted to end his family’s
In the short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, by David Herbert Lawrence, there is this family, as the family wants to keep their economic status, the mom want’s to have money all the time. The Mom has a mental mindset of the family being rich, as she believes that she has money, but in reality, the family is not rich and they have no money as they are in debt. The mom is unhappy as the parent's marriage is unsatisfactory, the mom thought she was lucky before she got married to her husband, so she thinks that her husband gave her bad luck. Both parents have no luck. The mom does not like her own children. The mom tells his son Paul, that she and Dad have no luck. This short story has many secrets that various of the characters keep from one another. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, the theme is a Moral Obligation as Hester the mom does not like her kids and only her and the kids know, Paul keeps from his mom that him, uncle Oscar, and Bassett have been betting on horse races and that the “Rocking-Horse” gives Paul luck.
In reading the story’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” written by D.H. Lawrence, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor we find three families who share nothing in common but one noticeable thing. They come from different places and come from different times. Family dysfunction is the one thing that both families sadly share.
In both “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the authors take critical aim at two staples of mainstream values, materialism and tradition respectively. Both authors approach these themes through several different literary devices such as personification and symbolism; however, it is the authors' use of characterization that most develop their themes. We'll be taking a look at the parallel passages in the stories that advance their themes particularly when those passages involve both of the authors' subtle character descriptions, and why this method of character development is so powerful in conveying the authors' messages.
Passions drive people, and the townspeople in “The Lottery” and Paul in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are no different. Each of the members of the unnamed town has a strong passion for tradition. The original black box used for the lottery is described as being, “lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born” (Jackson 251). This sentence gives the reader an understanding that the lottery is an ancient tradition that has become an integral part of the town’s lifestyle. Such a tradition can only be carried on for this length of time if the people are passionate about preserving the tradition. Paul had a passion to be wealthy as a way to prove to his mother that he was lucky. From a young age, he saw that his family always wanted more money to support a better lifestyle, yet
In “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” by D. H. Lawrence, and “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, the two authors illustrate symbols and themes throughout their stories in which one common idea is present: perhaps winning is not always positive.
First and foremost, Jimenez argues the lotteries effect on the majority of lower class Americans and people who are effected by the addiction to gamble. Jimenez backs up this argument by telling of the “Deceptive slogans” used to tempt the less fortunate. Among the slogans used, she emphasizes on the slogan “This could be your ticket out”. This is one of many slogans that explicitly
“Gambling addiction, particularly is easy to start; it requires no elaborate or illegal activities, no troublesome ingestion of substances, and it programs the body using its own chemicals” (Brodak 302). Molly Brodak the daughter of Joseph and the author of “Bandit” speaks up about growing up with a father who is addicted to gambling. Molly, her sister, and mother struggle to overcome the challenges that come along with having a man in their life who loses everything for them. Not only does this gambling addiction that Joseph suffers from harm his life financially but also emotionally.
In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” the mother is quite obsessed with the fact that she does not have enough money, even though she spends lavishly on materialistic things. She whispers to herself constantly about not having enough money, thus giving Paul the impression that he needs to do something in order to make her happy. The story mysteriously unfolds with Paul riding a magical horse that gives him prophetic visions of which horse would win the Epsom Derby. At first it seems like an interesting idea, but eventually Paul obsesses over money exactly like his mother. In the very end of this story, Paul dies from convulsions. Paul chooses the winning horse in the race, but he ends up losing his
In his essay, “Horse and Gentlemen,” T.H. Breen describes the cultural significance of gambling, specifically in relation to the quarter-horse races, in late 17th century Virginia. Breen primarily argues that the three main aspects of gambling – competitiveness, materialism, and individualism – reflected and reinforced the socio-economic structure of Virginia in this period. The high stakes wagers of the affluent planters reinforced their dominant status in the social structure and the gentry’s right to rule over this colony. Breen’s argument to this effect is supported by letters, court transcripts, documentation of wagers, and other written first-hand accounts. Breen’s case for the cultural significance of gambling has persuasive arguments for its representation of competitiveness and materialism. However, his argument for individualism has contrary elements and his essay would have been improved with the inclusion of women’s role in the gambling culture.
237). By riding his rocking horse Paul is able to predict the winner of horse races at the track. He uses this ability in an attempt to provide for the family. In doing this he tries to assume his father’s in an attempt to please his mother and the household’s constant whispering the need for more money. “I started it for mother. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if I was lucky, it might stop whispering.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, pp. 240) even as Paul is dying he is still consumed with trying fill the role of a provider for his mother, “I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse and get there, then I’m absolutely sure – oh, absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!” […] “But the boy died in the night.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, pp. 245). Paul’s death was a sacrifice to please his mother, who put her desires for money and material things above the love of her children.
The atmosphere within the setting of “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” was also one of depression, stress, anxiety and fear. Although not all the symptoms were present in all of the characters, Paul’s mother was the one that had all the symptoms due to the lack of money. Paul and his other siblings had fear as on of their symptoms when that house started saying, “There must be more money,” one
Some people may look at the gambling as an addiction. These people would argue that it is not the anguish created by the power of freedom that brings a gambler back to gambling, but rather the chemicals in
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.
Tessie’s personality is somewhat similar to Paul’s but they also have their differences. Paul is very hopeful about winning the money his family needs, he has an incredible love for his mother. He is also very passionate about horse-races. He has a real gift for picking a winner and it’s this attitude that leads him to make money for his mother and save their house from haunting them. Tessie is also hopeful, hopeful that she will not ‘win’ the lottery. Of course, we find as we read that this doesn’t happen. Tessie does ‘win’ the lottery and she seems to be the only one that is saddened by this fact. Little Paul is a very hopeful, fortunate boy. He so vividly pictures the horse races to come while riding his rocking-horse, it’s as if he’s in the race himself and the rocking-horse is the winning horse. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, Lawrence really paints a imaginative picture with descriptions such as with Paul’s "big blue eyes that had an uncanny cold fire in them”, and in “The Lottery” Jackson paints a picture with words such as The town's children are collecting rocks like young children regularly do. The men are "speaking of rain, planting, tractors and taxes." The women are making small talk with one another. It seems like a regular day in a regular town.” So, in both stories the setting is different and the people are different but they have a similarity in the fact that they are all gambling for something, whether good or bad. In reading these
Lawrence is Bassett, or the family gardener. This man truly meant well and had good intentions on trying to help not only this boy but this family. He never stole the money from the boy or the family, but simply stored it for him so it was safe. Unfortunately, this kind act was something that also lead to the death of Paul. Had Bassett not begun to help Paul and even support his obsession with gambling, then he may have been able to survive. “Bassett, the young gardener who had been wounded in the left foot in the war… He lived in racing events, and the small boy lived with him,” (Pg. 1250). This man was also at the roots of the obsession that would soon take the life of young Paul. Had Bassett never assisted the boy in betting and gambling on horse races, the boy would have never begun. While Bassett truly had a kind soul to the young boy, the young boy took on this gambling because of