In the short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence the first conflict that is introduced to the reader is the external conflict of man vs. man, where the Paul, the protagonist, is fighting a losing battle with his mother, the antagonist, for her love and affection. The second conflict that is shown is the internal conflict of man vs. self when Paul begins to believe that the only way to have his mother’s love is to become lucky and acquire money from his luck. This is a sad tale of one child’s struggle to obtain the acceptance and love from a parent by taking any all drastic measures necessary, only to learn that no amount of money can buy happiness or love. Subsequently, the underlying need for money can affect anyone, even a small child. The power of financial stability is dangerous to toy around with; one could work their selves to death just to earn a dollar.
In the beginning of the story the author introduces the setting as being a beautiful home that is made cold by the lack of love of the parents, specifically the mother. “She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them” (Lawrence, 2007, p. 493). It is the mother’s lack of security within her own life that portrays the same feelings to her children. She feels the pressure of not having the financial stability to support her home, children, and lifestyle; therefore she resents her children and her husband. “Children who are rejected by their parents experience more personality disorders and behavior problems in adolescence and adulthood than those whose parents accept them” (Erkan, 2010). Sadly, this was the case with Paul because of his mother’s lack of acceptance for him.
Due to the fact that the mother could ...
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...be the death of a person.
Works Cited
Bayley, N. (1940). Factors influencing the growth of intelligence in young children. In G. Whipple, G. Whipple (Eds.) , The thirty-ninth yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education: Intelligence: Its nature and nurture, Part II, Original studies and experiments (pp. 49-79). Public School Publishing Co. doi:10.1037/11228-003. http://web.ebscohost.com.library.capella.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=106&sid=160bf917-d5c1-4d1d-961e-160f7741a2f2%40sessionmgr114&vid=8
ERKAN, S., & TORAN, M. (2010). CHILD ACCEPTANCE-REJECTION BEHAVIORS OF LOWER AND UPPER SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS MOTHERS. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 38(3), 427-432. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Lawrence, D. (2007). The Rocking-Horse Winner. In A. Charters, The Story and Its Writer (pp. 493-504). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a short story about a young boy, Paul, who has the supernatural ability to choose a winning race horse. It is not clear how the boy has this ability but he hears his mother’s voice echo in his mind saying that they are poor and so he sets out to change that. Paul takes on the stress of his mother’s greed. This short story relates to the obsession of wealth which what motivates the characters aside of neglect, faulty sense of value, opportunism and deceit. Paul believes that there is more money to be made and thus goes on a frenzy to win more, but consequently dies after falling off his rocking horse due to convulsions of a fever.
They loved them so much even though the parents didn’t deserve it most of the time. That is unconditional love. They grew up very poor and were often forgotten about. There dad was an alcoholic who disappeared for days at a time, and bouncing from job to job. When he was home and drinking he “turned into an angry-eyed stranger who threw around furniture and threatened to beat up [their] mom or anyone who got in his way”(23). Most of her memories of her dad are him being drunk, which turns him abusive and rude. They don’t have much money so she looks at is as good opportunity for her father to stop drinking. Jeannette never only sees her dad as an alcoholic like she should, she still cherishes his love. Along with her father’s drinking problem, her mother’s lack of rules and parental skills are out of the norm. She believes "people worry.... “people worry too much about their children. Suffering when they are young is good for them”(28). Her mother believes that they can learn on their own, showing that she does not care about the hardships her children are constantly dealing with in their environment. With this negligence the children are often forgotten about as well. Jeannette was put in many situations where she thought her parents “might not come back for her or they might not notice she was missing”(30). That is not how a child is suppose to feel about her parents yet she constantly
In D.H. Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner, Paul is searching for an identity and love. Paul’s mother was incapable of love; “when her children were present, she always felt the centre of her heart go hard.” Paul’s mother desires materialistic possessions and excludes priceless items such as love. Paul’s mother and father were incapable of maintaining the social position they had to uphold with the amount of money they made. The house was always high strung and believed that there was always a need for more money. The house became haunted by the unspoken phrase, “There must be more money!” Paul was outraged when he confronted his mother about the family’s lack of wealth, and she rejected his statement that he is lucky. After this scene, Paul was easily influenced that he would be able to reach this place of luck and finally satisfy his mother. Her desires for more money and luck are never satisfied, and as a result, lead to tragic consequences when love and money are confused in Paul’s mind. Paul’s heartbreaking attempt to win his mother’s love inevitably leads to his own death.
Certain individuals have a drive that can lead them to achieve what they desire most. In the Short story “The Rocking Horse Winner”, D.H Lawrence showcases this through character motivation and symbolism. He further this using pursuit of desire, and how if you take it to a certain extent it can result in tragedy if the individual chooses not to conform. Paul wants to please his mother because his mother feels that there family has no luck, but Paul proclaims that he is lucky. Paul suddenly becomes consumed with this sudden spree of good luck and feels this is the only way he will be able to gain to the affection of his mother. D.H Lawrence reveals that Paul has a certain flaw that turns him to believe that the only way he will be able to gain his mothers love and affection is by winning money in the horse races. He leads this pursuit of desire to the standards he thought he wanted to, but not to the standards that would have achieved what he wanted, which leads to his down fall. When individuals desire love from another, they may choose to conform their beliefs and actions to that person. At first they may feel successful, however if they sacrifice everything, in pursuing this kind of goal, they may pay a heavy price instead of gaining there hearts desire.
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.
Human intelligence is an eel-like subject: slippery, difficult to grasp, and almost impossible to get straight [3]. Many scientist and psychologist have made numerous attempts to come up with an explanation for the development of human intelligence. For many years, there has been much controversy over what intelligence is and whether it is hereditary or nurtured by the environment. Webster's dictionary defines intelligence as "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge; which includes a sensing an environment and reaching conclusions about the state of that environment [7]. In this paper I am going to examine the factors, which make up ones intelligence. I will be investigating whether or not intelligence is fostered by genetic heritance or nurtured by ones environment.
...osh, D.E., Dixon, F. Newton, J.H., & Youman, E. (2010). A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition, With A High-Achieving Sample. Psychology in Schools, 47(10), 1071-1083.
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...
D.H. Lawrence illustrates dilemma’s regarding toxic human nature and the way it affects Paul in “The Rocking Horse Winner”. The first dilemma shown is greed but the greed in this story goes beyond the surface of the word regarding the wanting of material objects, this greed pertains to the ignorance of his mother towards himself and his needs as she puts her wants in front of Paul’s needs. The second dilemma regards to the way even though Paul understands his mother is greedy, he will do whatever it may take to get a hint of acceptance so that the his need to satisfy her happiness can be fulfilled. The third dilemma is the absence of Paul’s father in his life; even though he is there he is never a true providing father which forces Paul to assume the role of provider. These three dilemmas negatively affect Paul, a
This is an essay about the different theories of intelligence; it will discuss which theory is best at determining intelligence in my opinion. The information provided will help describe the pros and cons of each of the theories being used to define intelligence, explain why is it important to assess children’s intelligence, and discuss the type of intelligence I possess. The different theories of intelligence are complex and understanding the elements of each can help an individual choose the one that they believe is the best for determining intelligence. Comparing the positive and the negative elements of each theory of intelligence will allow an individual to see both sides of the theory and the flaws that may be twisted
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