The main protagonist, Paul, in the short story “The Rocking Horse Winner”, written by D. H. Lawrence, is a young boy who figures out what extremely good luck he possesses after being told by his mother that his father’s misfortune was the reason for their low income. As Paul continuously hears the “whispers” around the house that sound “there must be more money”, he tests his luck by gambling for horse races in attempt to help his mother with her financial issues. In terms of qualities, Paul is a very strong-willed, smart, mature, and supportive person. Paul expresses many of these characteristics in the relationships presented in the story. However, Paul’s relationship with his mother shows Paul’s resilience, as Paul makes every effort to …show more content…
While Hester is going through a hard time in her life, where she could not feel compassion for anyone who she once loved deeply, she is not able to deceive Paul as he suspects that there is something the matter with her. “Everybody else said of her: ‘She is such a good mother. She adores her children.’ Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other 's eyes”(Lawrence 379). Although Hester is able to fool her peers, Paul knows that she does not have the emotional connection with him that others seem to see. After Paul learns that the reason Hester is in distress due to having no luck, and therefore not enough money, he then focuses on being the lucky one in the family in order to please his mother. The broken relationship between Paul and Hester is what causes Paul to attempt to resolve this issue. While Paul wants to help his mother, and prove to her that he can be lucky, Hester very sarcastically entertains the idea that he has good luck."Well, anyhow, he said stoutly, I 'm a lucky person. Why? said his mother, with a sudden laugh. He stared at her. He didn 't even know why he had said it. God told me, he asserted, brazening it out. I hope He did, dear!, she said, again with a laugh, but rather bitter”(Lawrence 381). Hester’s sarcasm towards Paul describes the disconnection between the two, which would motivate Paul to start …show more content…
While Paul makes every effort to help his mother and prove his luck, Hester denies his previous claims of good fortune, although she indeed remembers Paul said. "I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I 'm absolutely sure - oh, absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky! No, you never did, said his mother”(Lawrence 391). Here, we get a familiar sense of Mother son relationship when it comes to the writing of D.H Lawrence. Similar to “The Odour of Chrysanthemums”, where the Mother Elizabeth Bates has this feeling deep down that she does not truly love her children. Paul’s relationship with Hester is really controlled by Paul himself, while Hester makes little effort to be affectionate with her son. In terms of qualities, Paul is very strong-willed, smart, mature, and supportive. On the other hand, Hester is a very bitter woman and expresses those qualities often in responses to Paul actions. However, Paul has a completely different relationship with his uncle Oscar, and his gardener Bassett. Oscar and Bassett, being the partners of Paul in his pursuit, gain his trust and work well together. When Paul introduces his uncle to Bassett, he assures him that he can be trusted with his earnings and that he would invest the money for him."Bassett be damned, old man! What 's he got to do with it? We 're partners. We 've been partners from the first. Uncle, he
In order to sustain her indulgence for the finer conditions, her hunger for moneys grows so much that even the house whispers about it because there is never enough. Hester's anxiety over wealth affects her children to the point they feel as if they can hear the house constantly saying they need money: "And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money! There must be more money!" (Lawerence 411). Children feed off their parent's energy. In the mother's constant state of distress, Paul feels trapped by the overwhelming cries that flow throughout what should be his safe haven. In an attempt to quiet the voices, Paul secretly gives money to Hester to be distributed over a span of 5 years. Unappreciative of this
In both stories it is explicitly told that the mothers in fact do not love their children and it is just a façade. Hester felt as if her children “…had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them” but according to individuals she knew “…[s]he adores her children (334-335).” Hester was not fit to be a mother because her children knew she did not love them and cared for him as a mother should and she showed herself to be phony by accepting everyone’s false beliefs on her parenting. Mrs. Dickinson is “…really ashamed of…” Frederick and since love is about acceptance and she has not accepted her child her love for him is questionable (111). Her being a mother is not admirable because her child id unable to be himself around her and she does not love him and accept him for who he
Hester is indeed a sinner, adultery is no light matter, even today. On the other hand, her sin has brought her not evil, but good. Her charity to the poor, her comfort to the broken-hearted, her unquestionable presence in times of trouble are all direct results of her quest for repe...
...lways in constant horror because of the unknown who is going to win. The Symbolism in the Rocking Horse winner is the wooden horse because this was away for Master Paul to escape out the reality of grown up unlucky. And the word lucky is fate!
When being questioned on the identity of her child’s father, Hester unflinchingly refuses to give him up, shouting “I will not speak!…my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!” (47). Hester takes on the full brunt of adultery, allowing Dimmesdale to continue on with his life and frees him from the public ridicule the magistrates force upon her. She then stands on the scaffold for three hours, subject to the townspeople’s disdain and condescending remarks. However, Hester bears it all “with glazed eyed, and an air of weary indifference.” (48). Hester does not break down and cry, or wail, or beg for forgiveness, or confess who she sinned with; she stands defiantly strong in the face of the harsh Puritan law and answers to her crime. After, when Hester must put the pieces of her life back together, she continues to show her iron backbone and sheer determination by using her marvelous talent with needle work “to supply food for her thriving infant and herself.” (56). Some of her clients relish in making snide remarks and lewd commends towards Hester while she works, yet Hester never gives them the satisfaction of her reaction.
Throughout the novel, the harsh Puritan townspeople begin to realize the abilities of Hester despite her past. Hester works selflessly and devotes herself to the wellbeing of others. “Hester sought not to acquire anything beyond a subsistence of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child.
In fact, now many women revere her as a wise counselor and go to her seeking advice. Hester tells them that she has come to believe that the world is still growing and developing, and someday it will be ready to accept a new more equal relationship between men and women. However, despite her renewed optimism and the people’s apparent forgiveness for her transgressions, Hester still sees herself as “a woman stained with sin, bowed down with shame, or even burdened with a life-long sorrow” (232-233.36-2). In her youth, she sometimes envisioned herself as one who could usher in the newer and more accepting age, but she now believes that she is too tainted to play such a role and that the task must instead be left to a woman who could be “a medium of joy” and exemplify “sacred love” (233.4-5). In this final description of Hester, we don’t see any trace of the vanity she exhibited when she was young. Her opinion of herself has become much more humble and self-deprecating, and it is clear that she has matured greatly since the opening of the
In the beginning of the story, Paul seems to be a typical teenage boy: in trouble for causing problems in the classroom. As the story progresses, the reader can infer that Paul is rather withdrawn. He would rather live in his fantasy world than face reality. Paul dreaded returning home after the Carnegie Hall performances. He loathed his "ugly sleeping chamber with the yellow walls," but most of all, he feared his father. This is the first sign that he has a troubled homelife. Next, the reader learns that Paul has no mother, and that his father holds a neighbor boy up to Paul as "a model" . The lack of affection that Paul received at home caused him to look elsewhere for the attention that he craved.
...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.
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 first distinct moral in The Rocking Horse Winner is that we must not let ourselves be succumbed to greed and the need for materialistic items over our responsibilities in life. The mother and father’s obsession with wealth and material items is at battle with their parenting responsibilities within The Rocking Horse Winner.
Paul, the child, knew that his family wanted money, and he knew that he was lucky, betting on the horses. Paul became partners with the gardener. He picked the horse, and the gardener placed the bet. Paul had started out with five shillings but his winnings kept adding up. When he had made 10,000 pounds he decided to give his mother 1000 pounds a year for five years. He wanted his winnings to be a secret so a lawyer handled the money. Paul saw the envelope from the lawyer and asked his mother if she had received anything good in the mail. She said "Quite moderately nice" (p. 168) in a cold voice. She liked getting the money, but she wasn't happy. She wanted 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...
"Overview: 'The Rocking-Horse Winner'." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
One of the main symbols in Lawrence’s short story is Hester. She is the mother of Paul and both are main characters. Hester is a good representation of greed, selfishness and being materialistic. She values money more than her children “She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them” (Lawrence, 295). Hester is not capable of creating...
According to D.H. Lawrence: a study of the short fiction Paul’s last words ““Mother did I ever tell you? I am lucky!” Are really a desperate, confused proclamation of his love” (4)? This demonstrates that even after all his mother has done he still loves her and cares about her. He sees more in his mother than her materialism, he knows that she still loves her family, even if she cannot control her need for more money. Unlike his mother Paul shows that he does not care about money by saying “oh, let her have it, then! We can get some more with the other,” (Lawrence 800). This proves how different both characters are and how not all people are materialistic even if they come from the same family. He is willing to give his mother all the money he has earned just to make her happy. This proves how important his mom is to him and how money is not important to him because he is willing to give up all the money he