The Rocking-Horse Winner

D.H.Lawrence

Introduction---background/setting
plot
Character - Analysis
Style
Theme

Introduction
"The Rocking-Horse Winner" is a
short story by D. H. Lawrence. It
was first published in July 1926 in
Harper's Bazaar and subsequently
appeared in the first volume of
Lawrence's collected short stories.
It was made into a film under the
same title in 1950, directed by
Anthony Pelissier and starring John
Mills and Valerie Hobson.

Setting
The setting is post
industrial revolution England, and
the story takes place during a
period the Americans call the
roaring 20s, a time characterized
by greed and a grasping
materialism. The home of the
family is a posh suburban English
dwelling, maybe it is a rural part of
England within reach of London.

A young boy
who notices
that his mother
doesnt love
him and his
sisters

Paul
he rides the
rocking-horse
often and come to
find that he can
predict what horse
is going to win the
next big horse
race

mother

uncle

Basset

She becomes dissatisfied with

her marriage when she finds that
her husband is not lucky and
doesnt make enough money due
to that fact
Provided the money that
Paul used to make his first
win at the horse race.
Signed the lawyer papers
Becomes partners with Paul
and Basse
The family gardener. Is
the one who gets Paul
into horse racing, and
later becomes betting
partners

Summary
In "The Rocking-Horse
Winner," a young boy, Paul,
perceives that there is never
enough money in his family, he
sets out to find a way to get
money through luck. He
discovers that if he rides his
rocking-horse fast enough, he will
somehow "know" the name of the
winning horse in the next race.

He begins to make money

and secretly give this money to
his mother, but the desire for
more money only grows more
intense instead of going away. He
finally rides his rocking horse so
furiously in order to discover the
winner of the Derby that he falls

Characters
Young

Paul --- innocent, sensitive

and intelligent.
the

mother --- a cold, unfeeling,

grasping(greedy), materialistic
woman disguised in the cover of a
loving mother and wife;

Characters
the

husband --- more or less a

non-entity/never- do- well.

English

gardener ---he is

passive, loyal, a little bit afraid of

his superiors, and somewhat
greedy to the extent

Characters
Uncle

Oscar --- an unscrupulous

[n'skru:pjuls]

man

who takes advantage of his

nephews supernatural talents to his
own advantage, without considering
for a moment the pressures such
activity may place upon the young
boy. shallow and selfish.

Style1
The opening paragraphs of story
are written in a style is similar to that
of a fairy tale. Instead of once upon a
time, Lawrence begins with There
was a woman who was beautiful, who
started with all the advantages, yet
she had no luck. This is a conscious
attempt on the part of the author to
use the traditional oral storytelling
technique.

Style2
This story also combines the
supernatural elements of a fable,
mainly Pauls ability to know the
winners just by riding his rocking horse,
with the serious themes of an unhappy
marriage and an unhealthy desire for
wealth at all costs. The story begins
with fable-like simplicity but ends with a
serious message about wasted lives.

themes
Responsibility
Generosity

and Greed
Oedipus Complex

Responsibility
obsession with
Wealth and
material items

V.S

The mother :tried this thing and the other,

but could not find anything successful. When
Paul gives his mother 5,000 pounds from his
winnings, she spends all of it on material
things, causing an even more urgent need for
more money.

The father: whose main talents are having

expensive tastes and being handsome

responsibilities
of parenting

the responsibility of the parents to

provide for the children in a family
the responsibility of the parents to spend
money wisely and budget carefully

Generosity and Greed

Pauls unselfish
generosity--- Paul
generously offers
all his winnings to
the family, in order
to relieve the
family and seems
to have no needs
of his own.

Mothers greed and

selfishness. ---she has
no idea where all this
money is coming from
and does not seem to
care. she has become so
obsessed with wealth
that her heart turns
completely to stone, so
that she cannot even feel
sad when her son dies.

Oedipus Complex
Pauls

desire to earn money for the

family can be said to be an
unconscious desire to take his
fathers place, a concept that
psychoanalyst [saiku'nlist]
Sigmund Freud termed the
Oedipus complex.

Questions

Does " luck" mean

money? How do you
define it.