The Horse Dealer's Daughter Questions and Answers
by D. H. Lawrence

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What kind of person is Mabel? How do her brothers treat her? How does she feel about her brothers? What dilemma does she face as the story begins?
  In D.H. Lawrence’s story, Mabel is a young woman who is living with three adult brothers after their parents have died. They are all facing a major upheaval because they all must leave the ranch;...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  How do their responses signify their growth as characters?
  The short story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" by D. H. Lawrence tells of siblings in a once-prosperous family that has fallen into poverty and debt. Their mother died years previously, and now...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What do Mabel and Fergusson realize as he revives and warms her in paragraphs 113–142 of "The Horse Dealer's Daughter"? How do their responses signify their growth as characters?
  In the short story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" by D. H. Lawrence, three men and a woman, the sons and daughter of a formerly well-to-do horse dealer, meet in the kitchen of their home after their...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What is the dialect in "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" by D. H. Lawrence, and how does it relate to the story's theme?
  In writing "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," D. H. Lawrence was strongly influenced by the work of the Italian author Giovanni Verga. Verga was renowned for his ability to capture peasant life,...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  How would you describe Dr. Jack Fergusson and his relationship to the family members in The Horse Dealer's Daughter?
  In this D. H. Lawrence novel, Jack Fergusson is initially presented as the town physician. He visits the Pervin siblings on their farm to bid them all farewell as they prepare to leave for good....

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  Using the Freytag Pyramid, discuss the plot of "The Horse Dealer's Daughter."
  Freytag's Pyramid is a tool that enables literary analysis through the structure of a work of literature. It has five parts: the exposition, the rising action, the conflict, the falling action, and...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," how does the narrative voice suit the story's effect? How does the third person narrative suit the effect of the story?
  The narrative choice chosen by Lawrence in this story adds to the effect of the tale as it allows him to focus on the key theme of his story, which is the strength of passion and how it overpowers...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What does the story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" say about the nature of love? What does it insinuate about the relationship between men and women?
  This is an interesting love story as Lawrence incorporates the elements of the darkness of love in this tale of Mabel and Jack Fergusson. Mabel is seen dressed in black, tending her mother's grave,...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," what is Mabel's situation within her family? What is her relationship with her brothers? What are her feelings for her mother? For her father?
  It is clear from the ways in which her brothers treat her and discuss her future without compassion or care that Mabel does not occupy a very good position in the family of which she is a part. At...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What does D.H. Lawrence say about love in his short story, "The Horse Dealer's Daughter?"
  In D.H. Lawrence's short story, "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," the speaker first mentions familial love. Mabel has known no love from her brothers—they have treated her as if she were invisible....

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," what role does animal imagery in the story and the title play in commenting on the romance in the story?
  The animal imagery relates to Mabel in this short story. She emerges from the "animal pride" of the Pervin family and she is described as she lies naked on the floor as if she were an animal from...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What do water and mud symbolize in the story?  
  First, let's look at the symbol of mud. Lawrence describes the horses at the ranch as living in "fine black mud." One thing we know about mud is that it's very easy to get in stuck in. One could...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What are the major themes evident in "The Horse Dealer's Daughter"?
  One major theme in this story is that of female oppression. Mabel Pervin, a young rural working-class woman, appears isolated in the midst of her own family. She has kept house for her three...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  Explain how the Thematic Characteristics of Modern Literature are evident in "The Horesedealer's Daughter."
  The basic premise of Modernism can be seen in the background of the family that Lawrence outlines in his story. Initially, consider Woolf's understanding of a critical element of the "shift"...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," in what way does the opening scene help us to understand Mabel and the events that follow?
  In this excellent short story by D. H. Lawrence, the situation of Mabel is clearly indicated in the opening paragraphs. However, unlike her three brothers, she has no real hope or chance of finding...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What is the point of view in "The Horse Dealer's Daughter"?
  This story is written in the third-person omniscient point of view. What that means is that the narrator is outside the story and that the reader is able to know the thoughts and feelings of all...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  In D.H. Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," what powerful feeling do both Mabel and the doctor share?
  Both Dr. Ferguson and Mabel, following his rescue of her from trying to drown herself, experience a serious sexual awakening as they literally are overcome by passion and their reason is...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  Examine the most important or striking details of this passage. Point out details on character and characterization, setting, conflict, style, and narrative point of view. Include a clear thesis statement that explains the importance of the...
  In the passage from The Horse Dealer's Daughter, the third-person narrator is providing Mabel's thoughts as she prepares to take her own life. As the only girl among the siblings, Mabel understands...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  In the story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" after Mabel and Ferguson realize their love, why does Lawrence explore these feelings so extensively?
  This is really a very interesting love story to analyse and think about. Key to understanding what Lawrence does in it, however, is to realise how he saw society as a repressive influence that...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  In Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," why does the narrator tell us at the story's end that Fergusson "had no intention of loving" Mabel? What idea does this repeated assertion convey?
  In D.H. Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," the narrator presents the notion that life can often astonish us. Mabel and Fergusson are very different people: she has grown up with nature, and...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What is the conflict, complication, moment of change, and resolution in the story of "The Horse Dealer's Daughter"?
  Critic Jeffrey Mayers writes of D.H.Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," His conscious debt to literary tradition enhances rather than diminishes his originality. Clearly, Lawrence draws...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What is the central theme of "The Horse Dealer's Daughter"?
  Certainly any work of literature could be argued to have a number of different themes, and this excellent short story by D. H. Lawrence is no exception. However, one of the themes that I found...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  In D.H. Lawrence's, "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," what elements in the plot demonstrate the concept of realism?
  English Realism is the response by writers at the turn of the century against the Romantic literary movement that idealized life. The distinction between "romance" and "realism" is important....

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What effect does Mabel have on Ferguson as he watches her in her home, in the churchyard and at the pond; and what does this say about Lawrence's ideas on love? D.H. Lawrence, "The Horse Dealer's Daughter"
  In D.H. Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," Mabel seems to enthrall Ferguson, but not as the story begins. When Mabel and her brothers receive the news of their shattered futures around the...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  Please identify the theme of initiation in D.H. Lawrence's short story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter."
  Initiation is defined as... […a] ceremony, ritual, test, or period of instruction with which a new member is admitted to an organization or office or to knowledge. In D.H. Lawrence's short story...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  Interactions between Mabel Pervin and Ferguson? Has their relationship undergone any change?
  Jack Fergusson is a young doctor. He is introduced to the reader at the beginning of the story when he visits Mabel’s family, just as they are nearing the end of what appears to have been a family...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  How can one interpret "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" using a mythological/archetypal analysis?
  I suppose one way to do this would be to examine the way in which love overrules judgement. This is an archetypal theme and is present in so many stories, mythological or otherwise. If we look at...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," what elements in the short story does Lawrence use to express imagination to his readers?
  You might want to consider the way in which Lawrence describes the figure of Mabel as she sets herself on her course to killing herself. Note the way in which the powers of the imagination are...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  Where is allegory and paradox in the story of " The Horse Dealer's Daughter"?                                 Thank you Story written by D.H. Lawrence
  Allegory is a lesson communicated through symbolism, usually involving moral or spiritual ideas. A paradox is a statement that seems to contradict itself but actually contains a truth, or it can be...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  How is animal imagery used and how it is integrated into "The Horse Dealer's Daughter"?
  Significantly, animal imagery is used to describe Mabel when she is naked and after she comes round when Fergusson revives her after she tries to drown herself. This of course is highly...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  Pick out images, emotions and language in "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" that are used to described love.
  Love does steal upon both of the central characters rather swiftly in this excellent short story. We first see the indications of love when the doctor brings Mabel around after her abortive suicide...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  How is "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" a departure from more traditional romantic stories?
  This is a romantic story unlike the traditional romantic tales that a reader might expect to read. This is achieved through the focus Lawrence places on the tension between the "mental...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  What typical thematic focus of his does Lawrence apply in "The Horse Dealers Daughter"?
  The major theme that can be detected in all of Lawrence's fiction is the power of passion and how it often overpowers the intellect and reason. This is of course expressed primarily in this story...

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• The Horse Dealer's Daughter
  Who or what is the motif?
  One motif is the interaction between two classes of people. Jack Ferguson is a young doctor and he represents someone of a different social class than the Pervins. He has a job that we might call...

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