D. H. Lawrence's The Rocking-Horse Winner
The concluding paragraphs of D. H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” (rpt. in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 11th ed.[Boston: Wadsworth, 2012] 311-324). Paul is a young boy who didn’t receive any love from his mother. The mother cares more about money, but she can’t manage it. He can feel everything that is wrong, and he wants to make it right. Paul is an emotional boy who wasn’t really loved by his mother; With his determination, he tries to get her love by trying to solve the money problem.
Paul’s mother never really loved him. Mothers are supposed to be there for their children and love them. “She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love
them” (311). She is more focused on the things she buys than her children. Paul can clearly see that their mother doesn’t love them. As the narrator says, “They read it in each other’s eyes”(312). Riding the rocking horse is the only thing that keeps him calm and focused.
Paul is able to sense that the family has financial problems. HIs mother told him about not having “luck”, and he wants to prove to his mother that he has luck. Paul is now determined and obsessed with solving the money problem. He is just a young child, and providing money for a family is a responsibility for an adult. He becomes interested in horse races and starts betting on horses. When he starts winning money, he is able to sense the problem even more. “The house had been ‘whispering’ worse than ever lately, and even in spite of his luck, Paul could not bear up against it” (319). He becomes desperate to win, and he won’t leave the house without knowing the horse in the race. His good actions didn’t really fix anything or made anyone happy. Paul thinks he will win her affection if he solves the money problem. When he won money, his mother was never satisfied, and the all the money was gone. HIm winning made everything worse. He then got an obsession with horse races, and not getting money drove him mad:
“Let it alone, son! Don’t you bother about it!” urged Uncle Oscar. But it was as if the boy couldn’t really hear what his uncle was saying.
“I’ve got to know for the Derby! I’ve got to know for the Derby!” the child reiterated, his big blue eyes blazing with a sort of madness.
He gets brain fever when he was desperately trying to know the next horse winner. He finds out which horse won, and he is overjoyed. He later dies in the same night.
Paul went through everything for a mother that never loved him. In the end, he got nothing in return. He becomes dissatisfied with the wins because his mother was unhappy, and the money problem was still there haunting him. The mother was too blinded by greed to see the good deeds Paul was doing for her. Paul died trying to please a woman who could never be satisfied.
Paul’s mother never really loved him. Mothers are supposed to be there for their children and love them. “She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love
them” (311). She is more focused on the things she buys than her children. Paul can clearly see that their mother doesn’t love them. As the narrator says, “They read it in each other’s eyes”(312). Riding the rocking horse is the only thing that keeps him calm and focused.
Paul is able to sense that the family has financial problems. HIs mother told him about not having “luck”, and he wants to prove to his mother that he has luck. Paul is now determined and obsessed with solving the money problem. He is just a young child, and providing money for a family is a responsibility for an adult. He becomes interested in horse races and starts betting on horses. When he starts winning money, he is able to sense the problem even more. “The house had been ‘whispering’ worse than ever lately, and even in spite of his luck, Paul could not bear up against it” (319). He becomes desperate to win, and he won’t leave the house without knowing the horse in the race. His good actions didn’t really fix anything or made anyone happy. Paul thinks he will win her affection if he solves the money problem. When he won money, his mother was never satisfied, and the all the money was gone. HIm winning made everything worse. He then got an obsession with horse races, and not getting money drove him mad:
“Let it alone, son! Don’t you bother about it!” urged Uncle Oscar. But it was as if the boy couldn’t really hear what his uncle was saying.
“I’ve got to know for the Derby! I’ve got to know for the Derby!” the child reiterated, his big blue eyes blazing with a sort of madness.
He gets brain fever when he was desperately trying to know the next horse winner. He finds out which horse won, and he is overjoyed. He later dies in the same night.
Paul went through everything for a mother that never loved him. In the end, he got nothing in return. He becomes dissatisfied with the wins because his mother was unhappy, and the money problem was still there haunting him. The mother was too blinded by greed to see the good deeds Paul was doing for her. Paul died trying to please a woman who could never be satisfied.