Compare & Contrast The Rocking Horse Winner and The Destructors
In D.H. Lawerence's short story, “The Rocking Horse Winner”, and Grahm Greene's “The Destructors, there are many truths to consider. Although these two stories are considerably different, the message is the same. Whether in a life-like story, such as “The Destructors”, or a fantacy, like “The Rocking Horse Winner”, the seeds of materialism are planted and nourished in lives of the characters. The aspects of materialism in these two stories develop desired conclusions by its characters. In order to understand the similar message of Greene short story “The Destructors” and Lawerence's “The Rocking Horse Winner”, one must scrutinize the various aspects of each story.
When comparing the themes of each story, surprising similarities arise. First, both are developed around the lives of children. In “The Destructors” a group of boys called the Wormsley Gang have the same view of the world around them. They have grown up together and share stories about the bombs that destroyed their town. They also challenge each other to accomplish various tasks. The house that the boys ultimately destroy represents the greediness of Mr. Thomas, an architect who owns the tattered home. The Wormsley Gang called him ‘Old Misery’. In the Rocking Horse Winner”, the story’s plot is thickend by a a young boys obsessive desire to “become lucky”. This young boy, Paul, believes that his house is continually whispering, “…there must be more money…there must be more money”. Paul is able to relate the self-proclaimed dissatificatoin of his mothers life with the odd mood of his house. Paul knows that although his mother appears to have everything together on the outside, she does not love him on the inside. Paul believes that he can please his mother if he is able to find a way to give her more money. In both stories, the houses were very symbolic.
When comparing the emotions and feelings of “The Destuctors” and “The Rocking Horse Winner”, one will discover how their characteristics affect the plot. In “The Destructors”, Trevor, who is the more natural leader of the Wormsley Gang, discovers his own anger upon visiting the home of Mr. Thomas. Trevor then fuels the already burning curiosities of the gang, by challenging them to do something about it. In “The Rocking Horse Winner”, Paul’s mother is also angry. She feels the life she desperately desires, is not being supported with her husbands income.
Convention’s struggle against nature is one that has existed since the beginning of time. Whether it be through illnesses, facing the elements, or suppressing one’s natural tendencies and desires, man has always suffered greatly from challenging the ways of nature. Man himself is a natural creature; however, due to his own pride, he has been turned against nature, and towards the industrial habits of convention. In the three short stories “The Birth-Mark,” “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and “The Open Boat,” the reader sees this theme of man’s failure to control nature, as well as the risks he takes in order to do so.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story the Lottery and Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, there are a few aspects of a similar nature that attempt to tackle the nature essence of the human condition. Both short stories respectively portray two similar types of foreshadowing where one is random the other is premeditated, which leads these stories to their very surprising dramatic climax that is held until the end of each story. I believe that these important variables of both stories have a strong influence on the reader’s objectification regarding the way each story presents the idea of the human condition.
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a short story about a young boy, Paul, who has the supernatural ability to choose a winning race horse. It is not clear how the boy has this ability but he hears his mother’s voice echo in his mind saying that they are poor and so he sets out to change that. Paul takes on the stress of his mother’s greed. This short story relates to the obsession of wealth which what motivates the characters aside of neglect, faulty sense of value, opportunism and deceit. Paul believes that there is more money to be made and thus goes on a frenzy to win more, but consequently dies after falling off his rocking horse due to convulsions of a fever.
By taking a homeless man and framing a shave and a haircut as the solution to his problem, they’re robbing the problem of its bite. They’re making it something we need to worry less about. And, what’s more, it makes all those dirty, bearded homeless people look like they just don’t care. After all, if they really wanted to turn their lives around, they’d put on a tie. Just look what it did for old Jim Wolf!
In John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”, the American cultural mainsteam ideas on capitalism, religion. During the great depression, as the dust bowl struck the Midwest, many people fell on extreme hard times and began to question cultural assumptions in America. Tom Joad represents the socialist counter-culture emerging in America, while Casy represents the movement away from a more traditionalistic religious identity, expressing his belief that there is no heaven or hell, and discussing the concept of a shared soul.
The Native Americans present during this time, and those that Wolf associated himself with, were known to be traditionally matrilineal. This is a tradition in which the line of decent are passed through the mothers’ side. The use of matrilineage in Cherokee society was a strong tradition. This tradition dictated who they lived near and various ascribed status’, additionally this also displayed how highly the Cherokee valued and thought of the women of their community. The mothers and wives were the heads of the families. This tradition was very unlike the common European-American society of the time that took part in patrilineage. Within this tradition the line of decent is followed through the fathers side. When Wolf created his will he did not follow the tradition of the Cherokee. Rather than pass his possessions to his sisters children, he created a will to pass all of his poss...
narrative focuses on a father and son, Grange and Brownfield Copeland, and illustrates how their respective demons and destructive tendencies affect the people around them. In the opening chapter of the novel, the reader is introduced to Grange as he exhibits abusive tendencies towards his wife, Margaret, while he is in a drunken state. ?Late Saturday night Grange would come home lurching drunk, threatening to kill his wife and Brownfield, he threatened Margaret and she ran and hid in the woods with Brownfield huddled at her feet? (Walker 14). Grange?s prolific consumption of alcohol seems to be a conscious effort to blunt the feeling inferiority he feels as marginalized citizen in southern society. Grange Copeland?s fits of violent anger seems to be misdirected at his family instead of the person whom he truly hates: Shipley.
Jackson in her story, “The Lottery”, describes how society and villagers preserve the tradition of lottery without even knowing its origin. Hawthorne, in his story, “Young Goodman Brown” describes the presence of corruption and evil in the society. Both stories have common ideas such as corruption in our society, continuation of barbarous and unethical old traditions, and failure of people in handling those barbarous actions. Both stories have a common theme of evil and darkness but they are presented in different manners. This paper discusses similarities and differences in “The Lottery” and “Young Goodman Brown” by analyzing different literary elements. Jackson, in her story, questions beliefs of individuals, their actions, and blind faith towards old barbaric traditions by using an evil theme and symbolism. Hawthorne adopted a different approach to show presence of evil in our society by showing the inner struggle of the lead character.
Readers in the twenty-first century can learn from classic and outdated works that human behavior is the same regardless of the time period. Humans can and may resort to violence if the social and environmental conditions are right. History and current events show the thoughts of Golding are still valid today. Over the years symbolism, has played a role in the years prior and today in the book. In this paper, I will analyze the use of two important symbols in the book; the conch shell and the pigs head. Each object brings meaning to each group, ...
The next theme used by the author to inspire a feeling of despair in this story is the randomness of persecution. By making the villagers draw these slips of paper once a year would provoke a feeling of hopelessness. Because they know that no matter what they do one day they may be subjected to this brutal death. And it woul...
Immanuel Kant addresses a question often asked in political theory: the relationship between practical political behavior and morality -- how people do behave in politics and how they ought to behave. Observers of political action recognize that political action is often a morally questionable business. Yet many of us, whether involved heavily in political action or not, have a sense that political behavior could and should be better than this. In Appendix 1 of Perpetual Peace, Kant explicates that conflict does not exist between politics and morality, because politics is an application of morality. Objectively, he argues that morality and politics are reconcilable. In this essay, I will argue two potential problems with Kant’s position on the compatibility of moral and politics: his denial of moral importance in emotion and particular situations when an action seems both politically legitimate and yet almost immoral; if by ‘politics’, regarded as a set of principles of political prudence, and ‘morals’, as a system of laws that bind us unconditionally.
Vestbo, J., (2011), Clinical Assessment of COPD, COPD: a Guide to Diagnosis and Clinical Management, pp. 21-33, New York: Springer Science & Business Media
The Iliad is full to the brim of epithets describing the many major and minor characters. These short descriptive titles contain themes that range from a person’s strengths to his family history. Many of the characters who receive these are only mentioned once, when they die. It lends a sense of sadness to these passings, which would have been insignificant if nothing had been known about them. In Book 4 this can be seen in the killing of a Trojan, the son of Anthemonian Simoeisios, by Aias. The scene of his death is described quite vividly as incredibly grotesque, but not until after Homer describes his family and how “he could not again render again the care of his dear parents, for he was shortlived.” Even...
...lnerable to hunters of evil and corruption. The reader may think that the victors oppress the victims, however the statuses of both rotate around within the novel by making the victors seems like victims and vice-versa. The usage of symbolism contributes to the motif of victors and victims by attaching labels to individuals, helping the reader distinguish the prey and the predator.
The Rocking-Horse Winner is a tragic story that demonstrates how materialism is very destructive in people’s lives. D.H. Lawrence uses one of the main characters, Hester, to symbolize how greed heavily affects the idea of materialism. Hester’s need for money develops the idea that happiness and love is destroyed by the need for money. Lawrence uses money in her short story to convey the idea of how neglect from a mother destroys an innocent, young child such as Paul. Lawrence’s symbolism reveals that children like Paul need love and compassion from their elders. Hester, Paul’s rocking horse and the whispering of the house represent greed, selfishness, and love. They also reveal the character’s real feelings and thoughts of neglect, detachment, greed and selfishness.