This essay sample on The Rocking Horse Winner Summary provides all necessary basic information on this matter, including the most common “for and against” arguments. Below are the introduction, body and conclusion parts of this essay.
In David Herbert Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” Paul was a young child from a money-oriented family whose personality evolved from an introverted and inquisitive little boy seeking his mother’s attention to an obsession with trying to please her. Paul’s mother was merely attracted to material possessions and uninterested in her offspring.
She was in debt and continued to live beyond their funds. Paul was starving for love and attention from his mother and struggled to please her. He became captivated with laying a bet on horse racing and making money to satisfy his mother.
Paul’s obsessions with trying to gain his mother’s warmth eventually lead to his downfall. D. H. Lawrence shows of the traumatic ruin of an upper middle class family stressed to maintain appearances in the face of customary overspending.
The most terrible offender is the status-conscious mother because unfortunately, no matter how much capital Paul earns, her over-elaborate tastes only grows rapidly. In literature, theoretical analysis behaves as a crucial function in the understanding and critical meaning of a text.
Some writers supply hidden meaning that is suitable to these theories to produce a greater density in the plot of the story. “The Rocking Horse Winner” is a leading example of an author skillfully utilizing this theoretical approach to the development of a story.
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In this story the psychoanalytic theory is applied. In literature, there are two types of psychoanalytic theory. One is built on the work of Sigmund Freud and the other is the modification of Freud’s work by Jacques Lacan, a French psychoanalyst.
The Rockinghorse Winner
From these two perspectives of this specific theory, Jacques Lacan’s theory appears to be the inspiration that Lawrence wrote his story from. In Lacan’s vision, he points toward the development of children and society. He sees the evolution of the child from the early years to maturity as a progression of stages in life. This development stresses the affiliation of the child to language and the relationships it has with others. This accentuation directly influences the child’s sense of self. In application to the Psychoanalytic Theory, the story extensively reflects Lacan’s “mirror stage. The similarity may possibly cause an individual to trust that Lawrence was an intense advocate in this theory. Not only from Paul’s obsession and ultimate downfall, but the relationship of child and mother expressed in the course of the story makes it apparent that Lacan did have a substantial inspiration on the tale. The psychological aspect of the story also manifests Freud’s Oedipus complex. Freud suggested that all boys go through a stage where they want to take their father’s place. Paul’s desire to earn money for the family can be said to be an unconscious desire to take his father’s place.
Paul’s desire to take care of the family’s needs is Oedipal. In the story, it is the lack of the father’s luck that originally causes Paul to be fixated with the desire to be lucky, generously for his mother. Psychological Criticism is a technique that concentrates on the “unconscious” thoughts of the human intellect. Psychological criticism makes an effort to reveal those profound and unexplained concepts in the literary field. In numerous ways D. H. Lawrence’s story, “The Rocking-Horse Winner” deals with the contradictory feelings and perspective of the two main characters, mother and son.
Through the story, it is obvious that the mother concentrates primarily on her misery in life, predominantly that she lacks all the wealth she desires. This is noticeable where she mentions to her son “I used to think I was, before I married. Now I think I am very unlucky indeed. ” (Kennedy 595) When Paul makes an attempt to get her to see that despite her bitterness towards her life, his outlook on luck is distinct from hers. Despite her resentment, he states at one point to her “I’m a lucky person. ” The mother’s great denial of any opportunity of happiness though transforms the Paul’s plan.
In addition, the action alone unmistakably manifests the son’s desire to please his egocentric mother. The son seems determined to give his mother some good luck. It was not until she was married that she claimed her bad luck began. This is apparent when her son asks her if she received anything pleasant for her birthday, which to she responds coldly “Quite moderately nice. ” Paul was never fully satisfied with his earnings for the reason that he felt it wasn’t sufficient for his mother. Every time the house chanted, “There must be more money!
There must be more money! ” there was a consistent drain of Paul’s strength and determination for life, leading him to a painful stage. His life is taken because of his obsession to be “lucky. ” To be lucky, in the words of his mother, was to be wealthy. This misunderstanding drives Paul to go insane where it ultimately results in his young death. The depictions of trauma in the story are illustrated through Paul and his obsession. His mother conditions him in a way that he feels the only way to prove to her his adoration is to be as prosperous as he can be.
Yet, being a young child, he forces all of his power into pleasing her desires and ends up taking his own life. At the end of the story, Paul lies dead due to a sickness apparently brought on by exhaustion. He has ridden his rocking-horse for the last time, and received a considerable amount of money for his mother, thus proving to her that he is, in fact, lucky. Paul was an inquisitive little boy. He was concerned as to why his mother was so miserable. His mother told him that they were the poor ones in the family because they were unlucky.
Paul, in an attempt to please his mother told her that he was lucky. His mother belittled this idea causing Paul to feel rejected. Paul went in search of luck to gain his mother’s approval. As with most children Paul had a longing to be loved and accepted by his mother and felt that he could accomplish this by providing her with the material things she longed for. This was shown by the development of his character from curious to pleasing to obsessed. His successful efforts in providing his mother with monetary wealth proved to be pointless in obtaining the love that he desired from her.
Paul’s mother in “The Rocking Horse Winner” is a cold, unloving parent who is extravagant and materialistic. The mother has a cold heart and an inability to love when it comes to her children. The cold and unloving quality of the mother is demonstrated clearly by Lawrence. “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” (Kennedy 594). The quote creates an image of how cold the mother is towards her children.
Hester stopped respecting and loving her husband, once he was unable to provide her with all her extravagant taste. Hester blames their financial failure to her “unlucky” husband. The situation made her grow bitter. Hester’s priorities; obviously not the children but her greed, has made her unable to display any affection toward the children. This story critically judges those who associate love with money and luck with happiness. The mother with her insatiable desire for material possessions believes that money will make her happy despite the obvious fact that so far it has not.
Paul, who learns from his mother to associate money with love, represents the desperate search for values in a cash culture. Mothers mold their sons into men who are the opposites of their undesirable husbands. Since mothers cannot change their husbands they create desirable sons. Making her feelings known the mother coldly characterizes her husband as “very unlucky”. By telling Paul this she sets in motion the boy’s useless mission to please her to be the man his father could not.
The Rocking Horse Winner Summary. (2019, Dec 06). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/paper-on-the-rocking-horse-winner-david-herbert-lawrences/
