Summary Of ' The 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.

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

There are people in this world who think that money can give them anything. This can be food to water to ease and joy. Consequently, they comprehend that money will have a life filled with ease and happiness. But what you don’t visualize is that building these thoughts will lead to an obsessive, joyless, person going the extra mile to get that cash. Why this is unacceptable I might add is where is the ease and the joy you endured obsessively to have? Suffering long hours so you have ease but have no time to rest. Tolerating days of labor to find happiness, but find yourself empty when you have nothing to show yourself for it. D.H. Lawrence demonstrates this perfectly in his short story by including foreshadowing and symbolism, “The Rocking

“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.

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 first message we are told in Rocking Horse Winner is one of detachment from many events in the story. D.H. Lawrence “establishes its tone of detached irony--a fairy.”

The greed for wealth and materialistic objects is an intrinsic component of human nature. It plays a crucial role as motivation for one to work to achieve financial success. However, when one singularly focuses on money and ignores all else, their greed becomes detrimental to their state of mind. People whose ambitions revolve solely around becoming wealthy and successful often ignore other aspects of life that are equally important for happiness, including relationships, health, and personal freedom. As a result, those who manage to obtain material success often find that they are not fulfilled by their riches, and seek to become even more wealthy; however, they can never achieve true satisfaction when they are in this cycle of avarice.

The mysteries of the world are mysteries for a reason, because nobody knows them. D.H. Lawrence tells a story, where a young boy tries and seems to find out those mysteries, called The Rocking-Horse Winner. He gives three messages on the mysteries of life in this story. He starts with money. Does our money make us who we are? Then he talks about the strength and power of ones words. Lastly Lawrence talks about luck. Can a person be lucky or is that just what life gave them.

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 plot in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence reveals to the reader conflicts between Paul and his mother using different levels or forms of secrecy. There are secrets hidden throughout the house that leads Paul and his mother to an unpleasant life. The first level of secrecy is the actual secrets that Paul and Paul's mother keep from each other. The second form of secrecy is that D. H. Lawrence uses a story telling style of writing. This way of writing in itself holds many secrets. Finally, the third level of secrecy is through the use of symbolism.

“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.

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot”(Lawrence). In 1926 D.H lawrence wrote one of his most famous stories, Rocking Horse Winner. This story is about a boy who gambles to make money that will make his mom happy. He ends up getting addicted to gambling, and this addiction ended up being extremely fatal to the boy. In life we go to the extreme to make the ones we love around us happy just like this little boy in the story did. This story betrays many important messages, three of the messages presented by D.H Lawrence are, economic problems, luck and unluck, and raising a child without damaging them.

The Rocking Horse Winner, by D.H. Lawrence, is an informative story about luck and one's own fortune.  In this story, Lawrence attempts to illustrate how one can guide one's own fate, instead of allowing things to happen by chance.  He believes that the only person that affects what happens to someone, is really that person himself.  "Everything is what you make of it," is Lawrence's message to the reader.  By his use of characterization, instructional images, and irony in The Rocking Horse Winner, D.H. Lawrence attempts to convey to the reader that success and luck are not something that one simply waits for to arrive, but things that one must works to achieve.

In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Rocking Horse Winner” by David Herbert Lawrence, character actions and dialogue reveal how not thinking critically on one’s beliefs and the actions that result from them can lead to tragedy for oneself and loved ones. In “The Lottery”, Jackson uses the character element to show how influential beliefs can be, and how the actions resulting from these can be unfortunate, making a lack of self-reflection dangerous. The danger of not pondering one’s actions is best illustrated through Bill Hutchinson, who “[goes] over to his wife and [forces] the slip of paper out of her hand” (Jackson 7) right as he realizes that she drew the marked paper. Knowing that Tessie Hutchinson drew the marked paper, the townsfolk’s and even Tessie’s own husband’s perception of her changes immediately: going from a well respected, albeit a bit different member of the community, to a person to be killed. Similarly, in “The Rocking Horse Winner”, Lawrence uses the character element to illustrate how a certain family’s habits with money, not luck as they say in the story, is the driving force behind their financial issues. The family’s failure to critically think about their lifestyle is ultimately devastating, leading to the untimely death of Paul. In the beginning of the story, Paul’s mom Hester tells him that “[Luck] is what causes you to have money” (Lawrence 3). Hearing this, throughout the rest of the story Paul is determined to become “lucky”. He is