Rocking Horse Winner Thesis
FINANCIAL INFLUENCE ON MOTHER AND CHILD RELATIONSHIPS IN “ D.H LAWRENCE’S “THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER” By JULIA M.ALAI
In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” we are introduced to a woman who author D.H Lawrence states, “was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them.” When I dive into the psychology behind that statement, I come up with a thought that this beginning draws similarities to Lawrence’s own upbringing with his coal miner father and schoolteacher mother. Similarly the mother in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” is disenchanted with her marriage and the way her life has turned out. In Lawrence’s own childhood he had parents who were suspected of treason and very status minded. (559) When I look at the relationship in the opening of the story between mother and children it is one of feeling burdened and having been ill prepared for child rearing and mother hood. This family seems completely motivated and driven by social status and superficial impressions. It seems to me that the children were brought into the world not by want or out of love but by obligation and social standards. What was a woman back then who did not raise a family and keep a home?
In my thesis paper I will dive deeper into Paul’s strained relationship with his mother and how it can be attributed in part to his observation of the financial struggles and hardships they have faced and how it ultimately is his undoing. I will also reflect on personal experience and call upon excerpts from other works and research papers and journals to strengthen my points. We are told about the lifestyle they strive for and the sacrifices that have been made. In particular the gifts at Christmas stood out to me as something many families struggle with. I know in recent years my family has scaled back on extravagant gifts and outings
In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” we are introduced to a woman who author D.H Lawrence states, “was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them.” When I dive into the psychology behind that statement, I come up with a thought that this beginning draws similarities to Lawrence’s own upbringing with his coal miner father and schoolteacher mother. Similarly the mother in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” is disenchanted with her marriage and the way her life has turned out. In Lawrence’s own childhood he had parents who were suspected of treason and very status minded. (559) When I look at the relationship in the opening of the story between mother and children it is one of feeling burdened and having been ill prepared for child rearing and mother hood. This family seems completely motivated and driven by social status and superficial impressions. It seems to me that the children were brought into the world not by want or out of love but by obligation and social standards. What was a woman back then who did not raise a family and keep a home?
In my thesis paper I will dive deeper into Paul’s strained relationship with his mother and how it can be attributed in part to his observation of the financial struggles and hardships they have faced and how it ultimately is his undoing. I will also reflect on personal experience and call upon excerpts from other works and research papers and journals to strengthen my points. We are told about the lifestyle they strive for and the sacrifices that have been made. In particular the gifts at Christmas stood out to me as something many families struggle with. I know in recent years my family has scaled back on extravagant gifts and outings
Cited: Davies, Rosemary Reeves. " 'The Rocking-Horse Winner ' Again: A Correction." Studies In Short Fiction 18.3 (1981): 320. Literary Reference Center. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Kennedy, X.J and Gioia, Dana “Literature, An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing” Eleventh Addition 2010, 2007, and 2005 Koban, Charles. "Allegory And The Death Of The Heart In 'The Rocking-Horse Winner '." Studies In Short Fiction 15.4 (1978): 391. Literary Reference Center. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Zhang, Xiao. "The Effects Of Parental Education And Family Income On Mother-Child Relationships, Father-Child Relationships, And Family Environments In The People 's Republic Of China." Family Process 51.4 (2012): 483-497. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.