The Rocking Horse Winner Essay
Barbara Norris
Instructor Susan Zweig
ENC-1102-04C
22 February 2015
Rocking-Horse Winner “The Rocking-Horse Winner” was written by D.H. Lawrence in 1926. The theme in this despairing story is all about greed and young boy’s desire to have his mother’s affection.
On the outside the mother, Hester, looked to be “a good mother who adores her children.” However, every time her children came around “she always felt the centre of her heart go hard.” Hester believed luck would bring them more money. Hester says this about luck, "It's what causes you to have money. If you're lucky you have money. That's why it's better to be born lucky than rich. If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money." From …show more content…
this one conversation this was the beginning of the end for Paul as he would venture out to try and make himself lucky to give his mother more money.
Paul’s desire was to give his mother more money and in turn would receive the affection he was so desperate for.
Paul could hear from the rocking horse, “There must be more money! There must be more money!” Paul would climb on to his rocking horse and ride him frantically until a name of a horse came to him. The only name’s that ever came to him was the winner of the next horse race. Paul would not speak to anyone while he was riding his horse, and would ride furiously until he got the name of his winning horse. Paul would have the gardener Basset place his bets for him and hold his money. Once his Uncle Oscar found out what was going he exploited Paul for his own greedy desires even seeing how the boy was …show more content…
acting.
Paul felt that if he was lucky enough and could give his mother the money she so desperately wanted that it would stop the house from whispering.
Paul decided to have his Uncle set up a secret birthday gift with a lawyer of five thousand pounds to be paid to his mother one thousand pounds per year for five years. While most people would be elated that they would be getting one thousand pounds per year, Hester just wanted “more” and told the lawyer she needed the money all at once because she was in debt. Paul agreed to allow her to have all the money at once thinking it would make his mother happy and would stop the whispering. However, the exact opposite happened the mother spent more than ever and the house squealed more than ever, “There must be more money! Oh-h-h; there must be more money. Oh, now, now-w! Now-w-w - there must be more money! - more than ever! More than ever!"
Paul desperately wanted to learn the winner of the Derby. This would be the big payoff the winnings from this would surely show his mother he was lucky and he would achieve her affection that he was craving so much. The mother had a gut instinct that something was wrong even rushing home from a party to check on her son. As she opened the door she could see
Paul
“plunging to and fro. She gazed in fear and amazement.” After screaming to him on what he was doing, Paul screamed in excitement the name of the winning horse and fell to the ground. For three days Paul remained unconscious with some brain-fever, and tossing and screaming out “It’s Malabar!” Oscar came on day three to tell the boy that he was right and that he won over seventy thousand pounds bringing him up to over eighty thousand pounds. It was during that night the boy died.
In the end, young Paul died from exhaustion. Most people would say his body could not recover from extreme amounts of exercise, lack of sleep and proper nutrition, but also from the greed of others around him. The mother, the gardener, the uncle and even Paul himself are all equally guilty of greed and all are the cause of death. This is best summed up by a quote from Erich Fromm, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.”
Instructor Susan Zweig
ENC-1102-04C
22 February 2015
Rocking-Horse Winner “The Rocking-Horse Winner” was written by D.H. Lawrence in 1926. The theme in this despairing story is all about greed and young boy’s desire to have his mother’s affection.
On the outside the mother, Hester, looked to be “a good mother who adores her children.” However, every time her children came around “she always felt the centre of her heart go hard.” Hester believed luck would bring them more money. Hester says this about luck, "It's what causes you to have money. If you're lucky you have money. That's why it's better to be born lucky than rich. If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money." From …show more content…
this one conversation this was the beginning of the end for Paul as he would venture out to try and make himself lucky to give his mother more money.
Paul’s desire was to give his mother more money and in turn would receive the affection he was so desperate for.
Paul could hear from the rocking horse, “There must be more money! There must be more money!” Paul would climb on to his rocking horse and ride him frantically until a name of a horse came to him. The only name’s that ever came to him was the winner of the next horse race. Paul would not speak to anyone while he was riding his horse, and would ride furiously until he got the name of his winning horse. Paul would have the gardener Basset place his bets for him and hold his money. Once his Uncle Oscar found out what was going he exploited Paul for his own greedy desires even seeing how the boy was …show more content…
acting.
Paul felt that if he was lucky enough and could give his mother the money she so desperately wanted that it would stop the house from whispering.
Paul decided to have his Uncle set up a secret birthday gift with a lawyer of five thousand pounds to be paid to his mother one thousand pounds per year for five years. While most people would be elated that they would be getting one thousand pounds per year, Hester just wanted “more” and told the lawyer she needed the money all at once because she was in debt. Paul agreed to allow her to have all the money at once thinking it would make his mother happy and would stop the whispering. However, the exact opposite happened the mother spent more than ever and the house squealed more than ever, “There must be more money! Oh-h-h; there must be more money. Oh, now, now-w! Now-w-w - there must be more money! - more than ever! More than ever!"
Paul desperately wanted to learn the winner of the Derby. This would be the big payoff the winnings from this would surely show his mother he was lucky and he would achieve her affection that he was craving so much. The mother had a gut instinct that something was wrong even rushing home from a party to check on her son. As she opened the door she could see
Paul
“plunging to and fro. She gazed in fear and amazement.” After screaming to him on what he was doing, Paul screamed in excitement the name of the winning horse and fell to the ground. For three days Paul remained unconscious with some brain-fever, and tossing and screaming out “It’s Malabar!” Oscar came on day three to tell the boy that he was right and that he won over seventy thousand pounds bringing him up to over eighty thousand pounds. It was during that night the boy died.
In the end, young Paul died from exhaustion. Most people would say his body could not recover from extreme amounts of exercise, lack of sleep and proper nutrition, but also from the greed of others around him. The mother, the gardener, the uncle and even Paul himself are all equally guilty of greed and all are the cause of death. This is best summed up by a quote from Erich Fromm, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.”