The Power of the Author on a Novel

“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a short story by the English novelist, essayist and literary critic D.H. Lawrence. It represents how the author cautions about the negative effects of materialism, as it can never fully satisfy the human need and will eventually end in tragedy and unhappiness. Lawrence does so through the archetypes of the terrible mother, the hero, and the anti-wise old man.

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 “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.

In the opening paragraphs, the author's description of the characters creates an easy, inevitable story for the ready to understand. For example, Jackson describes how at first the young boy is entering the house like any other child would do before his imagination goes grim, saying: “He came running home the same way, the front door slamming open, his cap on the floor, and the voice suddenly become raucous shouting…” By describing how Laurie comes home, Jackson gives the readers a clear understanding of how Laurie is actually going to act. Furthermore, Laurie acts as if Charles is indeed another kid instead of admitting to all his wrongdoings saying, “Charles yelled so in school they sent a boy in from first grade to tell the teacher she had to make Charles keep quiet, and so Charles had to stay after school. And so all the children stayed to watch him.” Jackson uses Charles to hid the fact it is Laurie doing all these things and that is why Laurie was late for lunch that day. When the innocent boy becomes an alternate character, Jackson simultaneously shows the innocent and the evil in the grim reality of human nature, marrying the normal with the abnormal and joining the usual with the unusual to describe how Laurie was trying to get out of trouble. Indeed, Jackson manipulates characters to more forcefully promote the underlying message of inherent evil through lying which exists in all

D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking Horse Winner” is a captivating dive into the primitive psyche of a mentally disturbed child. Paul has an incredible gift that he desperately wishes his mother, Hester, will notice. Hester does not recognize Paul’s talents and he refuses to quit until she realizes what he can do for her. In Paul’s despair he exhausts his short life in an oedipal flurry of attempts at indulging his mother’s desires for money and sexual fulfilment.

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

The narrator through out most of the short story comes of as a pretty shallow character. Besides his stereotyping tendencies he comes of as callous and un-imaginative. He shows his lack of

Throughout the composition of a short story, one of the major factors that makes a short story affective is symbolism. Many short stories today are filled with symbols, and symbolic language. Symbols are used to help visualize events in the short story, as well as convey various themes. In D.H Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner, and John Cheever’s The Enormous Radio, numerous symbols are used to achieve distinct themes in each of the stories.

Greed, a sin that will tear mothers from their children and families. In the year of 1926, the new founded author D.H Lawrence had witnessed many years of poverty within his own community, and even family. Having been in such a poor situation, he was inspired to write a novel to show how less fortunate families reacted to not being able to afford to live, representing how greedy they can be. Within the story, he included realistic problems that were present in 1920’s America, specifically gambling and the lust for money. In the short story, “The Rocking Horse Winner”, written by D.H Lawrence, the main theme is conveyed with two types of irony, the two demonstrating how luck and happiness do not necessarily always make a person truly happy with

The main symbol in “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence is the rocking house itself. It symbolizes the desire of money and luck that Paul is trying to achieve for his troubling mother. It is represented during horse whispering, “There must be more money! There must be more money!” (Lawrence 97). Hester’s obsession with luxurious appearance is overwhelming which leads to dwindling financial situation in her family. According to Hester, wealth is fulfilled by pure luck. To satisfy Hester’s desire for money and luck, Paul rides the rocking horse to predict the next winner of the race. In return, the flow of money advances over time. Paul’s relationship with his horse toy gets abnormal over time. It suggests that the eagerness to earn

The following stories in cluster 5 were grouped together because they all had to do with other people shaping the author's life. It could be a mom, a teacher or even a neighbor. These people helped the author develop as a person and teach them new things. The authors might only know these people for a couple days or a whole lifetime. Whatever the case is the people in their lives have changed them as a person. Many people have helped me shape my life, most of them positively. People can affect your actions and mood, so I think it’s important to surround yourself with good people. I liked Raymond Carver, Mentor. I love the stories of people helping others to become their best and amazing, they’re very inspiring. One of Carver's worst students

Throughout history, many people struggle with greed. Greed is defined as a selfish desire for something. Throughout the story each character faces there own form of greed, whether they know it or not each action impacts each other and leads to the death of the mother’s son. In the short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, the author D.H lawrence uses a rocking horse, wealth, and lack of family intimacy to illustrate to the reader the disastrous problems with greed.

In the story “The Rocking Horse Winner”, by D. H Lawrence, the opening words sound like a fairy story, “There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck.” (Lawrence 792). However, this story talks about a family who lives in style, but the household has feelings there is never have enough money. The family is unhappy because Paul’s parent’s marriage is unsatisfactory, and his mother is sexual frustrated (Saaris). More than that, they always had anxiety about a young boy named Paul in their family. Paul, who always dedicated in his life to fulfilling her greedy expectations by making more money from his mother to make her happy. Therefore, it was an interesting story about love, money, and luck in

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