Rocking Horse Winner and The Destructors Essays

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 “The Rocking-Horse Winner” we are introduced to a woman who author D.H Lawrence states, “was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them.” When I dive into the psychology behind that statement, I come up with a thought that this beginning draws similarities to Lawrence’s own upbringing with his coal miner father and schoolteacher mother. Similarly the mother in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” is disenchanted with her marriage and the way her life

In most if not all cases, the class you are born into will determine how you will be raised, and who you will grow up to become. Whether you can speak up for yourself, if you are humble with what you have or you have a more hectic schedule or not, it all plays into what class you are from. No two childhoods are equal and Annette Lareau in her book, Unequal Childhoods explains why this is the case. I will be examining chapters four, five, and seven. These chapters examine poor and working children and teenagers and how their childhoods differ and relate to each other based on the class they were born in whether that be lower class to the poor. What can be learned from examining these three kids, Harold McAllister, Katie Brindle, and Tyrec Taylor is the advantages and disadvantages of having a childhood in the class of the poor or working class.

The opposite is true in “The Rocking-Horse Winner”. The conflict is apparent at the beginning; the family does not have the money for their wants and needs. The mother, Hester has a few children but doesn’t seem to love them like a mother should and her children see that she doesn’t truly care for them. Hester claimed she was not lucky, and has a conversation with her son about

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

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

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 two stories “The Destructors” by Graham Greene and “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence are being analyzed through literary devices on how they demonstrate the shared theme. Greene and Lawrence both use setting, symbolism, and like-minded characters to demonstrate the theme of the destruction and effects of war are long lasting in the stories “The Destructors” and “The Rocking Horse Winner”.

The families in both stories find themselves in situations where their financial situations fail to support their lofty views of themselves and their position. For Paul, his family repeatedly sought money as there was “…not nearly enough for the position they had to keep up.” (Lawrence, 1933/2013, p. 174), neither parent ever made enough despite both working. Also, Trevor’s family struggled since “his father, a former architect and present clerk, had ‘come down in the world’” (Greene, 1954/n.d., p. 1), therefore making less money and causing the family to be looked down upon. The lack of wealth causes more distress for these families than in the case of unmaterialistic ones, resulting in the drama played out by the family’s

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

We may want to judge these characters for reaching for an unattainable goal, but it is important to consider what other choices the had. In American society, the wealth inequality is massive, and it has drastic effects on the lifestyles of people in the different classes. This text isn’t meant to criticize those who want to be in a higher class, but it is meant to call out the corruption in American society and the impossibility of the American Dream. I believe that this text should be able to help people of the upper classes see people of lower classes in a different light. Many people of the upper class are prejudiced against people in a lower class. They may write them off as undeserving or lazy, but this text can help gain a personal insight into the lives of some of those people. This text shows how unfair the system of wealth is in America, and it should help members of the upper class develop sympathy for those without the same privileges as

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.

What kind of change would occur in one’s life if his or her parents made more or less money? How life would be different for them? Easier/Harder? In the book the “Rich Peoples School” it takes place in Botswana. Botswana is known as a single luxury country. “The Rich People’s School” reveals that money can identify a person and reveal how they are treated from any aspects of life even no matter where one is in the world or story.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The depression was an era of extremes. A person was more than likely extremely poor, or in the lucky upper 1% that was extremely wealthy. The middle class was virtually not existent. All of these income groups, including those characterized in our three stories, wanted money because it supposedly brought happiness, but were actually struggling to cling to the intangible, unreachable feeling of love.

A Critical Analysis of "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence and "The Destructors" by Graham Greene