Luck and Fate in The Rocking Horse Winner
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.
Lawrence uses to contrasting characters to help convey his point, namely those of the boy Paul, and his mother, Hester. Paul, according to the story, is lucky, whereas his mother is not. It was not simply decided upon that it would be this way, but each character had a hand in how they would end up. Paul's mother allowed herself to be resigned to the fact that fate had dealt her an unlucky hand. Though she had three wonderful children, she could not love them. Though she had a roof over her head, she was not content, and yet she did nothing to change this besides wait for the difference that never came. The story says that Hester "wanted to be first in something, and did not succeed," and when she did not succeed, she moved on instead of working towards her goal. Paul, on the other hand, learned very quickly that if he is to succeed, he must have dedication. Paul applied him...
... middle of paper ...
...mple, and death. She discovers the poor boy rocking himself into unconsciousness on the horse, and only understands the significance and importance of his exertion upon his death. Paul's mother, the inadvertent teacher, becomes the student, only to lose her teacher.
Lawrence wishes for his reader's to understand the significance of working towards your goals before enjoying the fruits of one's labor. He instructs that waiting for good things to just fall into your lap is a lost cause, and the odds are hugely against you. If however, this does happen to you, that you should "take your gold and sit on it," before making any kind of decision about its proper use. Chances might be that the products themselves might depict their use, as in Paul's case.
A Comparison of the Magic in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" and "A Very Old Man With
Comparing William Shakespeare's Macbeth Productions For the purpose of this assignment I shall compare and contrast act 1 scene 1 and the scene surrounding the murder of King Duncan in the play 'Macbeth' as presented in the BBC production and Roman Polanski's production. The Roman Polanski's version of Macbeth opens with a shot of a beach, with a calm blue sea lapping against the shiny sand, and a red sunrise. The red sky suggesting blood or evil turns slowly to blue suggesting coldness. This scene is filmed on location.
Contrary to Hawthorne’s perspective, Lawrence emphasizes that Hester is corrupt rather than the Puritan society. Although there are various portrayals of Hester, Lawrence focuses on Hester’s mortal sin rather than its consequences and therefore claims that her sin is unforgivable. He persuades his audience that Hawthorne’s portrayal
his face whereas in the BBC's we can see the top half of his body.
he is depicted as an old king and in the Judi Dench version he is
Imagine year after year being forced to participate in an event that you did not accept all. You are doing it because everyone else is, because it is tradition. This is exactly what happens in “The Lottery”. The purpose of this essay is to explain the literary elements of this short story. Also I will explain how similar it is the famous “Hunger Games”.
“The Rocking-Horse Winner”, by D.H. Lawrence is set in post-war London and chronicles the journey of a boy named Paul’s uncanny ability to choose the winning horse in the popular horse races of his time. We never find out how he possessed these abilities to predict the outcome of the races, but eventually the strain of his predictions became too great for him. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson depicts a small town with a history of choosing an inhabitant to be stoned through the use of the lottery. The setting seems pleasant and unassuming to start, but the vile nature of the lottery is revealed at the end. Both stories depict the importance of setting and theme practices in the story.
Are all mothers fit for motherhood? The concept of motherhood is scrutinized in the stories “The Rocking Horse Winner” and “Tears Idle Tears”. In “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H Lawrence the mother, Hester, unpremeditatedly provokes her son into providing for her through gambling. In the story “Tears Idle Tears” by Elizabeth Bowen, Mrs. Dickinson disregards her son’s emotions and puts more emphasis in her appearance than her son’s wellbeing. Hester and Mrs. Dickinson both were inadequate mothers. Both the mothers were materialistic, pretended to love their offspring, and their dominance hindered their children’s progress in life.
Going to work for a full day isn’t much fun after working fifteen hours the day before! 60-70 hour work days are never pleasant in anybody’s mind. How is it that so many people did this during the Industrial Revolution? Was it because they wanted the extra money? Or was it because they wanted the high political or economic status? For some people these were the reasons, but for most it was because of one concern. Survival! The Industrial Revolution greatly changed the workplace and the proletarians.
We can transform our life by altering our thinking process, and the stories by Shirley Jackson and Chris Abani emphasize on changing the thought. Shirley Jackson’s story, “The Lottery”, conveys a great ironic tradition of a certain American community at some time in history, probably not that old. Similarly, “The Lottery” by Chris Abani also explores a similar tragic story about a loss of a life, and presents the life and survival as a lottery, which is never certain. In these regards, both these stories express a common theme of a traditional belief and a tragic end of a life but in a very contrasting fashion and settings.
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.
“The Lottery” was written by Shirley Jackson in the year 1948. The story takes place in a village on June 27th, and it is a beautiful, sunny summer day. Around ten o’clock in the morning, the villagers start to go and meet near the town square. All of the boys start to gather stones and fill up their pockets completely, while the girls keep to themselves. The men speak to each other about things like farming, and the weather. Mr. Summers is the man who is in charge of all of the events in the village. He arrives at the town square, carrying a black wooden box. The same black box has been used every single year, and although it is very old and somewhat shabby, no one in the village wants it to be replaced because it represents their annual tradition. Just as the lottery is about to begin, Mrs. Hutchinson, a woman in the village, runs into the town square, noting that she was late because she forgot about the lottery until she realized her children were not at home. The lottery then begins. The head of each household is called up and draws a single slip of paper from the black box until everyone has one. When all of the slips of paper are opened, it is learned that Mr. Hutchinson has “it”, and Mrs. Hutchinson immediately begins to protest. Because the Hutchinson family has five members, five new slips of paper and put into the black box. Each member of the family is to draw a slip for themselves. They all open their slips of paper and realize that Mrs. Hutchinson’s has a black dot on it. When the people in the village find out, they all immediately surround her. They pick up the stones that they have been collecting throughout the day and they attack Mrs. Hutchinson until she has been stoned to death. Although many elements of ficti...
“Revolutions are the locomotives of history” (Karl Marx). The concept of how far we’ve progressed in the past couple of centuries is hard to grasp. A revolution is defined as an instance of revolving and I think this quote from Karl Marx sums up the significance of revolutions in relevance to us as the human race; they pull us forward and allow us to progress. It’s whether or not these progressions are beneficial or not that makes or breaks the usefulness of a revolution. Although the industrial revolution in Britain had its ups and downs, it ultimately paved the road for Britain to become the world power it is today. There is much discussion about how, or why, the Industrial revolution started in Britain. I contribute this to three main attributes of Britain; the scientific and agricultural revolution, the cheap energy economy, and their social structure.
Within the story entitled The Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence, the audience is divulged into the sordid family life of a adolescent boy named Paul, where there are three obvious morals told through the story’s style and symbolism. Also present within The Rocking Horse Winner are elements of supernaturalism and cold harsh reality.
“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses” (Thinkexist, 2010). The mass media, including news, movies, magazines, music, or other entertainment source has become a part of daily life for many people. As the quote mentions mass media and its power are capable of influencing people’s mind and behavior. Contents in the media introduced to young people make it difficult for them to distinguish between what is real and what is not, as a result stimulating confusion and blind imitation. The mass media plays an important role in the increase of violence, sexual activity, and risky behaviors among teenagers.