“The Rocking Horse Winner,” written over 8 decades ago by D.H Lawrence, is an intricate and complicated tale about the role wealth plays in one’s happiness. The relationship between the characters, especially between mother and the only son, is heavily affected by money, and its acquisition. Not only do misbeliefs of a grand lifestyle ruin the relationship at the apex of the story, but also so does the fixation. What is most outstanding, however, is the mother’s greed to have more and more money that it became the root of the death of one of her own children.
Very few things in a person’s life are as damaging as ignorance. We all suffer from ignorance. While we have all heard the saying "ignorance is bliss," we all regard it as mere words that have been used one too many times. The reality is ignorance is a very destructive aspect in our lives, and this has proven indeed factual in the psychological short story by D.H. Lawrence.
Mrs. Hester was good-looking, and she married for the right reasons - love. However, she was trapped in an ill-fated marriage life. This short detail is crucial in the short story because it brings forth the element of sexual subtext in Lawrence’s short story. Scholars have observed that the portrayals of Paul riding his rocking horse have an erotic quality, and such incidences have been understood as symbols of sex and masturbation. Subsequently these, quasi-sexual actions, are fixated on pleasing Paul's mother, and we see Paul's father proving incapable of satisfying the wife. From this, many critics presume that the story draws on the perceptions of psychologist Sigmund Freud. In the article by W.D Snodgrass “A Rocking-Horse: the Symbol, the Pattern, the Way to Live” Snodgrass claims, “The father withd...
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...he modern world, so does the word luck” (Junkins).
Although there are one or two passages in which Lawrence sacrifices the objectivity and tells us what goes on in Paul’s mind. These passages fail to occur at significant moments and end up unnoticed or have less impact on readers. “The Rocking-horse Winner” shows a face of human nature, which, if not controlled, things like desire and greed would never be satisfied and would only result to more desires. Capturing the obscurity in human nature and linking it to the reader is complex than it initially seems. This intricacy is what makes writing and understanding this short story a tough and yet satisfying process. Authors have the chance to utilize these precise literary devices to make each story their own. Knowing which appropriate method to use, or trickier, when to employ it, is what makes or breaks the story.
“Money doesn’t buy happiness.” Most children learn this proverb and immediately try to disprove it, or simply do not believe it. However, age allows one to see the truth in this phrase. In My Antonia, a novel by Willa Cather, the protagonist, Jim Burden, reflects on his childhood in the American frontier. Despite achieving wealth and an elevated social position, benefits most associate with attaining the American Dream, Jim Burden eventually realizes that true success, and happiness, is found in strong emotional connections.
Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses, is an incredulous story with no happy ending, where no one attains what they were attempting to achieve in the end. The story begins with a flat tone, but eventually grows to be suspenseful .[It] is set in a world of comparative [regularity], which is not to say it is any less dominated by evil ,any more controlled by rationality , logic or a divine purpose, than that of its predecessors.”(McCarthy) John and Rawlins are seventeen year olds, who have left their hometown to seek a better life,but what John doesn't know is that things will only turn for the worse. Both individuals come across a boy named Blevins ,who will be a very important character throughout the novel. As the story progresses, John will be faced with many poisonous encounters . John will face evil and evil will face him in the wake of the resurfacing of the heinous crimes that Blevins has committed, which leads them to being arrested and tortured atrociously. From having everything he will go to having nothing. Nothing.. This was
Many years later, in desperation for a remedy to cure his tortured soul, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale takes to the scaffold where Hester had once suffered her shame. He is envious of the public nature of her ...
The number five printed on a green piece of paper can be invaluable to one person and insignificant to another person. This green piece of paper can bring people together and quickly tear people apart. The value of money and the power that comes with having money affects everyone. However, money should not define people’s life. As part of Morley Callaghan 2003 novel “The Complete Stories: Volume One”, in the short story “A Cap for Steve”, Callaghan explores the nature of wealth and the value of money in the lives of his characters. He uses the relationship between a father and his son to portray the struggles they can go through because of money. Using third person limited narrative and symbolism, he depicts the misinterpretation of money by the father and the father misunderstandings with his son. Callaghan shows us that money can not buy people happiness and it can
Schwartz, S. (2006) The arrogance of ignorance:Hidden away, out of sight and out of mind. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://nativevillage.org
Hester is a youthful, beautiful, proud woman who has committed an awful sin and a scandal that changes her life in a major way. She commits adultery with a man known as Arthur Dimmesdale, leader of the local Puritan church and Hester’s minister. The adultery committed results in a baby girl named Pearl. This child she clutches to her chest is the proof of her sin. This behavior is unacceptable. Hester is sent to prison and then punished. Hester is the only one who gets punished for this horrendous act, because no one knows who the man is that Hester has this scandalous affair with. Hester’s sin is confessed, and she lives with two constant reminders of that sin: the scarlet letter itself, and Pearl, the child conceived with Dimmesdale. Her punishment is that she must stand upon a scaffold receiving public humiliation for several hours each day, wearing the scarlet letter “A” on her chest, represe...
The late Irish poet Oscar Wilde once stated, "In the world, there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” This quote accurately describes human nature to the extent that man is never fully satisfied with his current possessions. In fact, most people who rely on materialistic items for happiness are typically desolated and miserable. This story is based on an archaic view on women, where women have no caste or hierarchy. The people grade women based off their looks and beauty. Money “practically makes nobility” (Shmoop). It “enables the user to pay for the high life” (Shmoop) and confine the person with luxurious items known to man. Money controls the life of people, rather than vise versa, causing greed. Malthide, who is the wife of a minor clerk, has immense greed to live a sumptuous life. Malthide’s greed led to her destruction and turmoil, however her grief is what taught her an everlasting lesson.
In conclusion, "The Rocking-Horse Winner," written by D. H. Lawrence is a story about the family and the feelings of shame that we acquire from our parents that could have disastrous consequences for the whole family. We saw the effects of a mother's obsession with money, a son's plan to please his mother, and the prices the family paid for their obsession with money.
D.H. Lawrence’s writings often mirror elements of his own life, though they contain decidedly fictitious components. The characters in Lawrence’s The Rocking- Horse Winner closely resemble his own family. Like Paul, Lawrence was seeking a way out of the misfortune of pre-war London living. Unlike Lawrence, Paul is already well-to-do. Paul’s search consists of a yearning for affection and acceptance. In The Rocking-Horse Winner a young boy finds a certain calling within himself that serves to vastly improve the standing of his entire family. However, Paul’s supernatural ability to choose the winners of horse races is but a cursory assessment of the story’s secrets. Digging deeper, the reader becomes aware of a darker meaning to Paul’s wild rides. There are two things are revealed throughout Paul’s character development; first, that he is seeking his mother’s affection. Secondly, in doing so, there is an apparent autoeroticism linked to his seemingly innocent rocking-horse.
purchase materialistic things. The Rocking Horse Winner depicts how greed and the need possessions and money drives a member of this upper class family to resort to drastic measures.
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. These symbols convey a theme and make the characters in the short story. The Rocking-Horse Winner is a tragic story where Paul dies trying to gain his mother’s love and compassion. The mother was just interested in the money he was winning in the derbies. The story conveys a major them of materialism and shapes the characters through the symbols.
Instead they rely completely on money to be happy. People often do not appreciate what they have, and they feel like they deserve better, and they complain instead of making the best of what they have. It is not necessary to be rich to enjoy life. Often those who have everything tend to live miserably. People can become too attached to money to the point that they forget about enjoying life and caring for their family. The theme of materialism is shown throughout the story of “The Rocking Horse Winner” to explain how being too attached to money can ruin people’s lives.
“The Rocking Horse Winner” is a story that discusses a young boy, named Paul, and his family who feel they never have enough money. The family has insufficient funds, but when Paul provides the mother with money, she only desires further. This constant yearning causes the boy to feel the desperate and the interminable need to provide for his family. He in a sense almost hungers to replace his father and become the sole provider. Through trying to please his mother, the young boy Paul meets his demise. This tragic conclusion illustrates the lengths Paul will go in order to replace his father and become the provider for his mother. This story displays elements of an Oedipus complex, because of Paul’s desires to replace his father and the effects of insatiable greed, eventually resulting in his premature mortality.
Hester’s attitude is a rebellion against both puritan rules and puritan culture, and when she is bound to carry an “A” over her breast, she transforms the adultery in art. This transformation is carried out by means of the beauty of her needlework, but also through her daughter Pearl. In this story art is compared to beauty, the b...
Have you ever believed in a supernatural power or something that gives the ability to have an edge over others? In D.H Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner, there is a young boy named Paul that has the ability to be able to see the future somewhat and win bets for a rather sad reason. All the boy wants is for his mother to believe that he is lucky and for her show him love and affection. Sadly, Paul works very hard to attempt to prove to his mother that he is indeed lucky, and to prove to her that their family is not cursed with bad luck. Then sadly, the mother does not give Paul the appreciation he wants until it is far too late and her son dies of exhaustion, all just for his mother to see that he is lucky so she would show him affection. Three messages portrayed in this story are, family, wealth, and luck.