In D. H. Lawrence=s AThe Rocking-Horse Winner@, the protagonist Paul is exhausted to death by the greed of the men in his life. In the short story young Paul in a attempt to escape the torturing voices of greed in his house; rides his violently on his magic rocking-horse that predicts the winner to horse races. Paul does this in order to please his mother, who relates money luck to money, and money to class and success. Although Paul=s mother comes off prominently as a antagonist in the story, Paul=s uncle and gardener, Bassett play an equal if not dominating role in Paul=s demise through the exhaustion of ridding a rocking horse to find a winner.
Paul=s mother is a cold woman that only loves money. If fact her greed prevents her from loving anything more, including her own children. AOnly she herself knew that at the cent
Bassett is an equal contributor to Paul=s death. Bassett was wounded in the war, where he served Paul=s Uncle who got him his job as there gardener (439). Bassett a man who Alived in the
Although Paul never really succeeds in his pursuit of Aluck@ he does leave a lasting impression on his Uncle who at the end began to realize the error in his ways after Paul dies, Ahe=s best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking horse to find a winner@(446). After Paul dies there does not seem to be much indication that his mother learned anything from her his=s death. She is most definitely a driving force for Paul=s obsession with luck. However in the end it proves to be the men that were closest to him that directly contribute to his downfall into a materialist world of greed, from which no amount of luck or money can ever rep
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