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 probably has no intentions of giving up on gambling anytime soon. I also had that problem, the more I started to win, the more money I wanted. I had gotten cocky overtime at the rate i was winning at and started to place higher bets on games I knew were an instant win. At first, it all went well, 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, which then lead me to winning even more. At this rate, I told myself I that I had no thought of giving up on gambling, the amount of money I had pulled in was mind blowing to me. Paul and I had gone through the same events, we started off great, everything was smooth and going the way we wanted it to be, but not everything lasts forever and we had both experienced it
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.
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.
THESIS: The themes of Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery” and D.H. Lawrence’s, “The Rocking-Horse Winner” demonstrate a very powerful and sinister aspect of fallen human nature. The characters in both of these stories are driven to what many would describe as insanity in the pursuit of a passion. Ultimately, these pursuits end in unimaginable tragedy and pain.
In Daniel P. Watkins journal entitled “Labor and Religion in D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking- Horse Winner,” ” he references the piece of the story where Paul’s mother has begun to take and utilize the money he has been making. Unbeknownst as to where it actually came from she simply accepts and inquires as to more and more money coming in. It is not utilized to better their situation but to again keep with appearances and advance social standing and status. “There were certain new furnishings, and Paul had a tutor. He was really going to Eton, his father’s school, in the following autumn. There were flowers in the winter, and a blossoming of the luxury Paul’s mother had been used to. And yet the voices in the house, behind the sprays of mimosa and
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.
D.H. Lawrence is representing that the greed of wanting money leads to insanity and unhappiness. The text states,”So the child cried, trying to get up and urge the rocking horse that gave him his inspiration.” In this text the symbolism is that the rocking horse represents the possession the rocking horse has acquired over Paul. In the text it says “Paul is urging” this non living object. Therefore, this proves that Paul has lost grasp of his insanity and lost his authority of his greed. If money wasn’t Paul’s only goal, then he wouldn’t feel like he needed permission from an inanimate object to stop. His greed for money
“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
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.
3. What similarities and differences do these stories have in common, considering where and when they take place
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
When Paul talks to his mother regarding luck, he instantly determines that he will dedicate his life towards the pursuit of luck. Although Paul is told he cannot be lucky since his parents are not lucky, Paul sets his goal and uses his circumstances to achieve this goal. Paul has an old rocking horse in his room, and is encouraged to bet on horse races by his uncle, Oscar Creswell, and his friend, Bassett. Since Paul is determined to become lucky, he uses his environment and event he has no control over to work at achieving his goal. By riding his rocking horse with a strict determination, Paul can discover which horse will win the upcoming races. This unnatural talent achieved Paul’s goal of becoming lucky, and only resulted because he utilized the circumstances he faced towards becoming lucky. If Paul followed the influence of society, he would not ride his rocking horse, but likely find a job so he can earn money and buy material goods. Thus, Paul achieved his goal in life because he was determined to use the situations he encountered to achieve his goal, instead of just following the influence of society.
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