Compare And Contrast The Most Dangerous Game And The Rocking Horse Winner

Even though “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence are very different, they both display characters with a desire for more than what they are given. Lawrence’s character, Paul, wants luck mostly for his mother. Paul believes that if he can bring more money into the whispering house then it will stop. Connell’s character, General Zaroff, gets bored with the hunt of regular game so he creates own game to hunt.

Paul insists that he will become lucky for his mother since she and his father are not. All the children listen to the house whisper “there must be more money” (Kennedy & Gioia pg. 174). The mother is a materialistic person that thrives on keeping the look of her high social status.

Paul asks his mother, “Is luck money, mother?” (Kennedy & Gioia pg. 174). Because his mother demonstrates that she is not happy without material things, her son believes that to make the house stop whispering he must provide her with the money to satisfy her materialistic values. Paul knew that when his mother looks at him she “the felt the center of her heart go hard” (Kennedy & Gioia pg. 174). Paul wanted his mother to love him. What he did not understand was that bringing her luck would not change things. Paul and his rocking brought him more money that only made the house whisper louder and louder each time. He did not understand that his mother was not happy because she did not have the money, but because she felt as though she was forced into the life she had. A life that did not suit her high-class expensive

They both wanted more and more. Overall, there is a thin line between satisfying others selfishness and satisfying your own selfishness. Both situations can hurt you if you are not careful. Philippians 4:11-12 (NIV) says, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty of in want.” We need to learn to not be like Paul or Zaroff. We need not to satisfy others or to be selfish ourselves. But to be contented with what we have because God will provide for us when the time is