The Rocking Horse Winner By D. H. Lawrence

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.

To begin, this short story has a lot of secrets various people keep from one another. One of the secrets that is in the short story is that the mom does not like her own children. Only Hester and her children know that secret, everyone else surrounded thinks that Hester the mom loves and is happy with her children. The author states, “Only she herself knew that at the centre of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody.

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

her lack of luck. Hester’s son, Paul, believes he is lucky and wants to earn her

One of the emotional essentials of life is to be loved, and there are quite a few cases where material things can hinder receiving this much-needed love, the greatest culprit of all being money. D. H. Lawrence’s short story “The Rocking Horse Winner” tells of a boy, Paul, who desires love and affection from his mother, Hester, but she is so wrapped up in her concerns with money that she does not display any of this needed affection toward her son or any of her children. She has grown unloving and bitter due to her husband’s inability to meet her expectations, and she tells Paul his father is unlucky. Full of curiosity, Paul asks his mother what luck is, and she tells him, “‘It’s 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 your money. But if you’re lucky, you will always get more money” (Lawrence, 2). Paul is quite intuitive and interprets that the only way he can finally obtain love from his mother is if he is lucky, much unlike his father. He proudly shares with his mother that he is lucky, but when she does not take his word seriously, he falls into a blinded rage as he madly rides his rocking horse, hoping it will take him to where the luck is, “‘Now take me to where there is luck!’” (3). By riding his rocking-horse, he knows which horse will win the derby. The association of love with money brings about the idea of a love for money, or greed, which is one of the seven

Paul gets Bassett, his "young gardener, who had been wounded in the left foot in the war and had been batman for Oscar Creswell" (pg. 649), to keep him posted on the racing events and starts winning money with the first ten shilling note he receives from uncle Oscar . By the time Uncle Oscar learns about Paul's gambling habits, Paul had made about 1560 pounds. After the Leger event Paul had made 10560 pounds which he considered a considerable amount and gave half of it to his mother to drive that haunting phase away. Hester was supposed to be getting a thousand pounds every year for the next five years on her birthdays. Hester's greed however insisted on getting the five thousand all at once which is then used to decorate the house and send the kids to good schools

The "Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence is a story, which emphasizes the battered relationship between a mother and her child. The author's work is known for its explorations of human nature and illustrates the nature of materialism. The author employs techniques of the fairy tale to moralize on the value of love and the dangers of the money. D.H. Lawrence presents an upper class family that is destroyed by greed because they always felt like no matter how much money they had, they always needed more. He tells the reader about the downfall of an upper middle class family struggling to maintain appearances through habitual overspending. The author displays the negative

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 role of money is merely to buy attention. Hester wants to use it to buy acceptance in the higher classes, and Paul wants to use it to buy his mother’s affection. The attention the characters seek is only superficial, however. The attention is based on outward signs of prosperity. Hester’s family is considered the best on the block because everything they own looks rich and expensive, but they are in great debt. Hester’s compassion for Paul is also based on this money- presents are the only things that show her love. This never stops Hester from pushing for more luxuries in an attempt to win this false admiration. Of course, in the end, Hester’s vanity will cost them

Being loved and cared for is what most people have grown up to know. “Rocking Horse Winner” by DH Lawrence is about a little boy who wants to make his mother happy. Lawrence uses money, the house, and the rocking-horse as symbols to convey the theme that greed destroys happiness. To start off, money symbolises happiness for a person. In the story it is said, “There must be more money!

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.

Paul also hears the cry, "there must be more money" echoing through the house's walls (Lawrence 525). "Paul . . . takes upon himself the intolerable burden of attempting to solve mother's 'problem' . . . the lack of money" (Jinkins 88). He takes this challenge hoping to receive his mother's love in return. Instead Paul rides himself to his death because he is unable to meet his "devouring" mother's needs (Jinkins 89).

Over time, society has developed into a widely accepted culture that spreads implied rules, guidelines, and principles on how people should conduct their lives. In order to follow the expectations of society, a person must be dedicated to acting in a manner that they are accepted by others. This results in a lack of lasting accomplishment since society’s customs can fluctuate, so a persons dedication to following societal norms to gain acceptance by others are now non-existent. On the contrary, people who have dedicated there life to a specific goal or cause may contradict society’s imposed customs, but will ultimately achieve their goal and have lasting success. In D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking Horse Winner”, Paul is determined to

The dramatic short story "The rocking horse winner," is about a young boy who desires to be loved by his mother. The author, D.H. Lawrence develops a theme that states, the desire for money and social status is a destructive force. The story is about a young boy named Paul who tries to win his mothers love by gambling for money. Paul has a supernatural power which he can commute with his rocking horse to find out the winning races. However, in the end Paul tries too hard to win his mothers love and dies. The moral theme is revealed through Paul, who is the protagonist, and his relationships with the characters. The relationships which result in conflict is between Paul's mother and father, between mother and