Rocking Horse Winner

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 demonstration to live the dream through rejection happens more than once in All the Pretty Horses. As a new chapter opens in the life of John Grady, an oasis seems to appear in the middle of the desert, or in the middle of the darkness. This oasis is many things for John Grady. Physically, it is Hacienda, the ranch. As a person, it is Alejandra, his future lover. Emotionally, it is hope and optimism

"A wounded soldier? I shout to him-no answer- must be dead." The dead body has fallen out the coffin and the coffin has been unearthed because of the shelling. Even the dead and buried cannot rest in peace during this war. This just adds to the horror of the situation Paul is in.

They found that children from higher income families and households were advanced over their peers in both reading and cognitive reasoning skills. When we start to see Paul’s irrational and erratic behavior, specifically rocking violently back and forth on a childhood toy at what I assumed was teenage age, one has to question his cognitive and rationalizing skills. He seems to be out of touch with reality and almost entranced by this rocking horse and its fantasy. The rocking horse in fact was one of those extravagant gifts given to Paul and his sisters at Christmas. It’s ironic to me that this gift ultimately plays a large part in Paul’s unraveling and undoing.

Hester tells Paul that luck is “what causes you to have money. If you’re lucky you have money. That’s why it’s better to be born lucky than rich. If you’re rich you may lose money. But if you’re lucky, you will always have money.” (236) This pushes Paul to desperately seek out luck so that his mother will be grateful for her life and provide her family with the love and affection that they so rightfully deserve. Paul believes his rocking horse is full of magical powers, which will help him achieve the luck he needs to gain his mother’s love. While Paul rides his rocking horse, the horse predicts the winning horse and ends up making Paul an appalling amount of money. Paul gives his winnings to his mother who squanders it on unnecessary materialistic things. He realizes that he must win more money to win his mother’s affections. He becomes mad and frantically searches for the next winner of the horse races. On Paul’s last ride to find the last winner of the horse race, he falls of the horse and eventually dies.

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

Conversely, author D.H. Lawrence gives fewer details about the exact time and place in which the setting of “The Rocking Horse Winner” is set. Unlike “The Destructors”, Lawrence only gives the reader a brief glimpse of time and setting. However, several clues suggest the setting is in the English countryside, sometime after the end of World War I.

The hard-working ranch father loved his son but also lived by a realist unlike his son, “Last chance son, you had better pick a horse that you have some hope of riding one day” (Harrison 500). Kenneth’s mother Nell was very supportive to her son’s dreams and hopes of owning a colt. An author of New York times Rebecca Mead states, “We see private bedroom conversations between Rob and Nell, in which the mother, who recognizes her son’s dreaminess as an admirable sensitivity, not as an irritating handicap, challenges her stubborn husband’s rulings”. This support for her son is shown when the little filly is injured and Ken’s mother makes a poultice for the injury every

“The author's work is known for its explorations of human nature and illustrates the nature of materialism” (Jones). Throughout life, we are constantly developing who we are as people. As we grow, we grasp hold of things we wish to portray ourselves with. In doing so, we create ourselves as humans. In this philosophy that has been developed, we base how we are raised in order to develop who we become in the long run. Over time, we receive knowledge pertaining to who we wish to become. In the story story “The Rocking Horse Winner” written by D. H. Lawrence, we are taken to a questionable development of humans in an equally disturbing adventure. In this short story, there are many messages that can be traced throughout.

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.

It’s the true story of how three men and a great racehorse captivated and inspired the entire world! Story has it that Sea Biscuit was a most unlikely champion because he was a small mud colored animal with forelegs that didn’t straighten all the way. In other words he had short, knobby knees that were distasteful to the experienced horse trader. The horse was that of a severely abused, beaten, and run- down w retch that no one paid any attention to. Sea Biscuit spent nearly two seasons floundering in the lowest ranks of racing, misunderstood and mishandled. Ironically his jockey, Red Pollard, was a poor young man who had been abandoned as a young boy at a makeshift race track that had been recently cut through a Montana hay field. Sea Biscuit’s trainer, a mysterious, almost mute mustang breaker named Tom Smith, was a refugee from a vanishing frontier, bearing with him generations of lost wisdom about the secrets of horses. Last, but not least, Sea Biscuit’s owner Charles Howard, was a broad, beaming former cavalryman that had begun his career as a bicycle mechanic before parlaying 21 cents into an all-time automotive empire. Then, one sunny, August day in Detroit, Pollard, Smith, and Howard formed an unlikely alliance. Each man independently recognizing the unseen, dormant talent in the horse, as well as in one another, began a sort of rehabilitation of Sea Biscuit that would lift him, and them, from obscurity and into the

The “when,” in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” is quiet a mystery, however the where in more conclusive. Almost the whole story plays of in “The House,” the very pleasant but haunted house.

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.

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.