Paradoxical Power in The Horse Dealer's Daughter
In D.H Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," Mabel Pervin and her three brothers are left with debts to pay after the death of their father. To pay these debts, the Pervins are forced to sell every horse that they own. Then, they must separately create new lives elsewhere. Although Mabel's brothers have decided where they will be going and what they will be doing, as the story opens, Mabel's fate seems undetermined. Her apparent inability to plan her future is initially a source of tension and conflict. However, the events that unfold make clear that the life that Mabel has led for the past twenty-seven years has molded her into a determined and independent woman. Through these characteristics, Mabel finds her strength. Yet ironically these qualities also make her see the horror of the loss of self-suifficiency that seem inevitable with the family's breakup.
At first, Mabel's strength isn't very apparent. The initial scene, presented from her brother Joe's point of view, makes it appear that Joe may be a strong, dominating voice in the story. Furthermore, Joe and his brothers speak harshly to Mabel. The three brothers know what they're going to do now that they have to leave; Mabel does not. When Joe and Fred Henry question Mabel about her plans, she has little to say. In her silence, she seems small and weak. Ironically, it is in her silence, however, that Mabel gains her independence and strength.
These qualities emerge through the image motif of horses Lawrence uses in the story. Like a horse, Mabel is very powerful. For years she has been a workhorse of the family, especially since her father's death: "For months, Mabel had been servantless in the big hous...
... middle of paper ...
...ork. If her plan does succeed, then she will no longer be completely independent because she will be with Jack. If she loses her independence she loses her strength, and that ultimately will be her real death. Thus, to Mabel's ears, Jack's insistence that "I want you" is a "terrible intonation which frightened her almost more than her horror lest he should not want her" (256).
D. H. Lawrence's story, then, offers a subtle and complex psychological portrait of "The Horse-Dealer's Daughter." Mabel Pervin is both a manipulator of others and a victim of social circumstance. She is at once powerful and vulnerable. Perhaps these complexities and paradoxes are what make her seem so real, so human.
Works Cited
Lawrence, D.H. "The Horse Dealer's Daughter." 1922. Short Story Masterpieces. Ed. Robert Penn Warren and Albert Erskine. New York: Dell, 1958. 237-56.
Jack Salmon, Susie’s father, is most vocal about his sorrow for losing his daughter. However, his initial reaction was much different. Upon hearing that Susie’s ski hat had been found, he immediately retreats upstairs because “he [is] too devastated to reach out to [Abigail] sitting on the carpet…he could not let [her] see him” (Sebold 32). Jack retreats initially because he did not know what to do or say to console his family and he did not want them to see him upset. This first reaction, although it is small, is the first indicator of the marital problems to come. After recovering from the initial shock, Jack decides that he must bring justice for his daughter’s sake and allows this goal to completely engulf his life. He is both an intuitive and instrumental griever, experiencing outbursts of uncontrolled emotions then channeling that emotion into capturing the killer. He focuses his efforts in such an e...
The central character in the book is Grace Marks, who migrated to Canada from Ireland when she was 13 years old. On the way to Canada, Grace lost her mother because of a tumour that the latter had developed due to the unhygienic conditions on the voyage. After that, the only person whom Grace was close to was Mary Whitney, a co-servant in the Parkinson household. Mary Whitney’s death, due to pre-marital pregnancy and lame efforts to abort the foetus, weighs heavily on Grace who claims to have hea...
For Christians it is impossible to comprehend all of God’s mysteries, all of God’s plans, all of God’s desires, abilities, mercies, and blessings. It’s impossible to comprehend all of God. This is the price they pay for serving a divine God of infinitive complexity. Even when he spells it out for them, as he did with creating the bible, the human mind is incapable of understanding how God works. Since people are simple minded and selfish beings, debates over what God is trying to tell them in scripture can be formed, and can get to the point where these debates spilt the Christian churches. The question of whether or not the gifts of the holy spirit still has an active role in the modern day churches is one that has been greatly argued among the believers. Although many ideas have been presented on the matter, three major viewpoints have been formed; Cessationism, Continuationism, and an open but cautious view. Whether or not the gifts of the spirit are still part of the Christian chu...
Music can decipher a narrative event by indicating a perspective. To unify a set of diverse images and provide rhythmic and formal continuity and momentum, a film’s structure is more often than not, directly articulated by a musical structure. Music can assist the dialogue and visuals of film and often is inaudible (e.g. music is meant to be heard unconsciously, not consciously). Music has been used by directors to reinforce or strengthen certain weak scenes in film and then on the other hand when music is not needed to reinforce a scene
Religion is the main concern for non-vaccination. There are many that believe vaccinations go against the word of God, such as religious groups in the Netherlands. There are also people who are all for vaccines. “Vaccines are mandatory in California to attend school. If it is against a person’s beliefs, they have to be home schooled (McGreevy).” There have been many epidemics in the past 10 years. For example, just this year, there was a “measles outbreak at Disney Land that affected 147 people in the United States; the people who were infected had not received their vaccinations for measles (NBC news).” If the health department would release more information and prove and disprove what vaccines do, than more people would be able to make a clear and effective decision on
Like any other novel or short story, a lot can be learned about the actual story by understanding the historical content embedded in the piece. Louise Erdrich draws from her her imagination, life experiences, and social climate to piece together American Horse into a fictitious short story that somehow manages to give the reader a very real sense of the socioeconomic divide between the two groups portrayed in the story.
In the satiric novel entitled Animal Farm by George Orwell the character Napoleon represents a group of corrupted leaders who gradually lose sight of what they were working for. The group of pigs, including Napoleon himself, rebelled and fought for freedom against Farmer Jones. However, the utopia that they fought for was forgotten, and the pigs manipulate the other animals. As a result, Animal Farm ends up exactly where it had originally started. Napoleon is deceitful, corrupt, and cunning, and if Napoleon and the other pigs had never appointed themselves the ultimate leaders, Animal Farm would have never failed, and would have been much more successful.
The use of sweatshop in multinational companies has become a common practice around the world. The main reason is because it could maximize profit by overseas manufacturing with lower labour costs. According to Skarbek et al (2012, p.556),the sweatshop is a factory in the developing country which employ the low wage labors in the poor working environment to produce goods for multinational enterprises. The proponent of sweatshop claimed that based on consequentialist approach, sweatshop has given a positive impact on the welfare of developing countries included workers and even future generations
Many authors are recognized by a reoccurring theme found throughout their works. The author D.H. Lawrence can be classified into this group. He is well known for his reoccurring theme that romantic love is psychologically redeeming. He wrote “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” , a short story that exemplifies this theme quite accurately, in 1922 (Sagar 12). Through excellent use of symbolism in “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter”, Lawrence renders his theme of romantic love being psychologically redeeming through the emotional development of the two main characters, Mabel and Dr. Fergusson.
While Maria, the main character, is in the insane asylum she meets and in a way befriends a nurse named Jemima. Jemima, though a side character, portrays women’s real struggles in the world and exemplifies the perfection that humans are born with and the corruption that is taken from them by society. Jemima is born an illegitimate child and after her mother dies she is taken in by her father. Used as a slave of the household by her half-sister and step-mother as well as abused by her father Jemima is stripped of her humanity and never feels the love of humanity. Jemima’s half-sister is loved and spoiled by her parents and Jemima soon starts to hate her half-sister for the love and affection she rec...
Christianity obtained much growth from the great moral force of its central beliefs and values. Their message was one of salvation through the crucified and risen Lord. "Through this man," said Paul in 13:38, "forgiveness is proclaimed to you." In Peter's speeches, this forgiveness was confined to forgiving the Jews for crucifying Jesus. For Paul it included much more: "You are freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses" (13: 39). In other words, the requirements of the law to be circumcised, to sacrifice in the temple, to keep the food laws of the Jewish people did not offer freedom but slavery. But in Christ the person is freed from the false requirements that do not bring life and is ushered into the new life in Christ. Additionally, in a society where many suffered crisis Christians successfully responded to the challenges of social chaos precipitated by poverty, disease, famine, and social chaos and thus singling itself out as the only movement to deal effectively with the large scale social problems of the Roman Empire. The Christian church possessed the organizational structures to carry out its mission along with the reli...
Part of the Spirit’s ministry includes His convicting of sin in the world, guiding people to truth, and leading them into righteousness. One of the first interactions the Holy Spirit has with humans is to draw the sinner
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.
In actuality, she was defiant, and ate macaroons secretly when her husband had forbidden her to do so. She was quite wise and resourceful. While her husband was gravely ill she forged her father’s signature and borrowed money without her father or husband’s permission to do so and then boastfully related the story of doing so to her friend, Mrs. Linde. She was proud of the sacrifices she made for her husband, but her perceptions of what her husband truly thought of her would become clear. She had realized that the childlike and submissive role she was playing for her husband was no longer a role she wanted to play. She defied the normal roles of the nineteenth century and chose to find her true self, leaving her husband and children
Music follows us everywhere we go. It’s a big part of our lives and it is now significantly used in films. Before the 1930’s, films have started out completely silent. But after that period of time music began to infuse in the world of films and it played a big role in it. According to Fischoff, a media psychologist and a professor in music studies on films explains how we do not just experience films visually, but we actually experience the film through our ears. Music plays upon the audience feelings and it communicates the scenes to them, it makes us feel the events and the atmosphere that is happening in the film. Fischoff says that people remember memorable films from their break out hit, he gives an example of the song “My