Money Obsession in David Herbert Lawrence's The Rocking-Horse Winner
We have all heard the expression, "Money makes the world go round." But does this make it worthwhile to abandon happiness in order to gain more of it? David Herbert Lawrence reveals the folly of substituting money and luck for family and love in "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the story of a woman's insatiable need to become rich, and her son's struggle to gain her approval.
The mother, Hester, obsesses over money. She comes from a fairly rich family, seemingly, as "there was never enough money ... not nearly enough for the social position which [the family] had to keep up" (363). She grows bitter through the years of her marriage not only due to her unluckiness (for "'[Luck is] what causes you to have money'" (364)), but also due to the presence of three children.
These children are nothing but a burden to her. Because of this, she treats them all the more lovingly in public so as not to draw the suspicion of others. Even so, "when her children were present, she always felt the center of her heart go hard" (363). She is unsure of the reason why she dislikes them so much, but it seems obvious: they require the spending of money that might otherwise be going toward satisfying her expensive tastes.
This bitterness seeps into the very house, and it does not escape her children. The family spends so much money to maintain their image that they become entrenched in debt, and the house constantly whispers of it: "There must be more money! There must be more money!" (363). The children hear it just as well as their mother, and it is no surprise that eventually her son, Paul, becomes curious of it.
He seeks to learn of his family's situation, but Hester...
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... mostly unconscious, lost in a "brain-fever" (373) and chanting the winning horse's name.
Paul is hospitalized, Oscar bets on the predicted winner, Paul's prediction proves correct and Hester receives the winnings, "'Over eighty thousand pounds! I call that lucky, don't you, mother?'" (374). Paul pleads for her acceptance a final time as he lies dying, but she can find nothing to say.
Oscar, though, realizes the inevitability of the situation. Hester's constant need for more money and inability to love her children because of it drove Paul into folly. And "'poor devil ... he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking horse to find a winner'" (374).
Work Cited
Lawrence, David Herbert. "The Rocking-Horse Winner". Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirzner and Stephen R. Mandell. Forth Worth: Harcourt, Inc., 2001. 362-374.
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In "The Rocking Horse Winner" D. H. Lawrence tells us about the traumatic downfall of an upper middle class family struggling to maintain appearances through habitual overspending. Both the parents with common jobs and "expensive tastes" (pg.646) exploit all their resources to give their family the best; however, it was only to retain their high status in the society. "The Rocking Horse Winner" depicts a common demon we all face; greed, society's need for more possessions and money often drives people to do drastic things.The magnificently decorated house had always been haunted by the unspoken phrase, "there must be more money" (pg.646). "Nobody said it aloud. Just as no one says: We are breathing! In spite of the fact that breath is coming and going all the time." (pg.647) "They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery. Behind the shinning modern rocking-horse, behind the smart dolls house, a voice would start whispering: There must be more money!"(pg.646).The house cried with pain as it pitie...
...aul had paid the price of losing out on his childhood in order to try and give his mother money. A child shouldn't have to miss out on his youth because of his mother's obsession with having more money. Paul's mother paid an even greater price, she lost her only son. Paul died from what seemed like exhaustion from riding his rocking-horse for too long. In the end, Hester found out why Paul was riding his rocking-horse and she must of felt horrible that her son had died trying to please her.
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At the beginning of this story the family did not have enough money to support their opulent lifestyle. Mr. Lawrence illustrates their situation like this: "Although they lived in style they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money." (p. 159) The family scrambles to pay the bills at the end of the month. An unspoken phrase "Whispered" throughout the house, "There must be more money! There must be more money!" (p.160) the whispering said. Even though the family had money, they wanted, they needed, more.
The point of view of materialism in the Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence is the seen from inside the mind of child in the story, Paul. “He went off by himself, vaguely, in a childish way, seeking for the clue to “luck,” Absorbed, taking n...
... becomes very disappointed that his mother hasn’t shown any affection. All the money he won never got Hester to show any affection to him and crushes Paul’s heart. The love of his mother is gone because of her selfishness and greed she revealed when her son was just trying to make her happy so he can receive affection.