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The Rocking Horse Winner

            Many factors cause the family to be dysfunctional in "The Rocking Horse Winner". The main causes are secrecy and an overwhelming materialism. The secrecy that is pervasive throughout the story stems mainly from a lack of communication between family members. Also an air of anxiousness that surrounds either the mom or Paul and in that sense they seem to be connected. In addition, the lack of discussion of the father and the other children is worth noting. .
             The father is mentioned only three times; once in the beginning saying that he "was always very handsome and expensive in his tastes" (119) followed in the middle with mom bitterly saying how unlucky he is and the last a depiction of him making a whiskey and soda. He does not appear to have a relationship with anyone in the family; it appears as though his marriage and the children are just for show. Out of the entire family the only relationship that is desired is between Paul and his mother for he is always seeking her approval, "Do you think I"m lucky, mother? I knew Malabar, didn't I?" (132). Paul's behavior is strange because even though the children knew that she could not love them, he still sought her approval rather than that of his father's which is what most little boys have a tendency to do. But the portrait that the mother paints for Paul of his father is one of extreme bitterness and misfortune, it appears as though she has completely forgotten that she once "married for love" (118). .
             The only real communication that takes place is between Paul and the gardener, Bassett, and between Paul and his uncle, who seems to serve as more of a father figure to him than his own father does. Paul also views his uncle as lucky because of the ten shilling piece that he gave him that he started winning with. In Paul's eyes if he becomes lucky he might gain the love and approval of his mother. No satisfaction is gained through any of the relationships in the story.


Essays Related to The Rocking Horse Winner

1. The Rocking Horse Winter

The Rocking Horse Winner It seems that to be successful, you had to have a certain amount of luck. Paul seemed to be the first to realize it when he asked his mother why don't we keep a car of our own? Why do we always use Uncle's, or else ... approached his nephew about his lucky streak. Paul said that all he did was ride his rocking horse until something in his head told him who the winner would be. His Uncle did not question his methods and eventually started betting on the horses that Paul did. They went on living like this for a long time with Paul riding ... did prove to his mother th...

  • Word Count: 1075
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Rocking-Horse Winner

... "an addiction that will eventually take his young life. One of the characteristics of a gambling addiction is the desire to be wealthy. It is justified to the gambler by saying "everyone wants to be wealthy-. This is a definite theme in "The Rocking-Horse winner-, as the reason that Paul starts to gamble is to stop the house from whispering, "There must be more money!-. After Paul's mother ... tells him that luck is what makes money, Paul decides that he 2 wants luck and sets off on his rocking horse to find it. He wants to find luck so badly ... Paul's mother returns to find her son "...

  • Word Count: 1082
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

3. compare and contrast the Rocking horse Winner and the Destru

... make Trevor famous. Paul's only desire was to help another, and Trevor wanted to help himself. In "The Destructors", the main theme deals with a street gang who has to complete its goal of destroying the home of Mr. Thomas, who is often called "Old Misery". In the "Rocking-Horse Winner", the theme centers on a young boy, Paul, who is obsessed with horseracing. Initially both stories seem to have ... than likely Mr. Thomas will have a great financial burden when trying to rebuild his home again. In "The Rocking-Horse Winner", the family is poor throughout the story, until the very end whe...

  • Word Count: 850
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Rocking Horse Winner

"The Rocking-Horse Winner- is a short story written by D.H. Lawrence. This is a story about a young boy, Paul, who is desperately searching for luck and money in order to please his unhappy mother. In the end this search leads to Paul's untimely death. I wonder if his mother is satisfied with the fortune the family gained in replace of Paul's life lost? We will explore how the key symbols of this ... . Paul did not care; he gained his inspiration for the horse races from his rides on the "rocking-horse."" This "wooden- toy was going to show him his destiny, and it ultimately did. He tried so h...

  • Word Count: 917
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

5. rocking horse winner

... hidden meaning that is applicable to these theories to create a greater density in the plot of the story. D.H. Lawrence's short story, "The Rocking Horse Winner," is a prime example of an author cleverly applying this theoretical approach to the creation of a story. In this simple plotted, yet eerie toned story, the psychoanalytic theory is applied. In terms of literature, there are two types of psychoanalytic ... These simple stages are solely based around three terms in Lacanian theory: need, demand and desire, all of which are blatant in the main character of "The Rocking Horse Winne...

  • Word Count: 1349
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Rocking Horse Winner

... poison to you. 5. Central symbol of the story. - Central symbol of this story is Rocking-Horse. Rocking-Horse gave him his inspiration as it said. And from that inspiration, Paul could get luck, even though he died because of that luck. Rocking-Horse is a central symbol of this story which represents both luck and misery. 6. Irony 㧠The Rocking-Horse Winner' - Verbal irony (we say opposite of ... what we mean) - Winner or loser? Who was lucky ... or unlucky? We can't say Paul not only winner but also loser. Even though the writer can't say winnner', he expressed opposite way. ã dra...

  • Word Count: 786
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

7. The Rocking-Horse Winner

... intense, and in turn rides his rocking-horse more frantically and insanely than ever before. At this moment, the rocking horse symbolizes madness and self-destruction. On the surface, Paul madly urges the rocking-horse to give him an inspiration, but in fact he drives himself so hard that the moment he screams the name of the potential winner horse, he falls from the rocking-horse into unconsciousness. The pace of the rocking-horse, namely the process of Paul's self-destruction, is ... controlled by Hester's desire for money. The acceleration of her greed results in the speeding up of t...

  • Word Count: 1090
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Rocking Horse Winner

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner", Paul can be seen as a messianic figure, because he appears to become close to God when he rocks back and forth on his rocking-horse, and saves the house. This book has other religious references as well. Paul rides a rocking horse to become close to god, whereas the biblical figure of Saul/Paul was riding a horse into Damascus when he he encountered and became close to god ... we can see that a rocking-horse can be used as a religious tool. Paul uses the rocking-horse a lot like catholics would use a rosary to pray with. This story also shows Paul as a messianic...

  • Word Count: 357
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

9. The Rocking Horse Winner

... something as long as it is out there. If there is a chance of having more money, or more material items, there will be people trying desperately to receive them. The house in The Rocking-Horse Winner is always chanting that "there must be more money, there must be more money," even after Paul had given his mother his winnings. Paul's mother did not want to ... Paul's gambling but loses her son: My God, Hester, you"re eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking horse to find a ...

  • Word Count: 737
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

10. The Rocking-Horse Winner

THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER Every human being desires to rise in life or society; it's how we get there that determine our consequences, Greed has no boundaries with social inequality, however the innocent pay the maximum price. Once goals are accomplished, who's to say if the craving is satisfied? People are never happy with what they have, it's human nature. The more one gets the more one ... came to learn about horseracing. Paul and Bassett had started a partnership, and began to bid on horses regularly. Paul rocking-horse, was the key element to getting his "luck". The boy would ride it in f...

  • Word Count: 1384
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

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