drawing of a young boy riding a rocking-horse

The Rocking-Horse Winner

by D. H. Lawrence

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The Rocking-Horse Winner Questions and Answers

In the story "The Rocking-Horse Winner," why does Paul become obsessed with horse racing?

What is the conflict in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence?

What happens when Paul gives his mother her birthday present?

What is a moral to the story "The Rocking-Horse Winner"?

What are some supernatural elements in "The Rocking-Horse Winner"?

What is the meaning of Uncle Oscar's statement to Paul's mother at the end of the story?

What does the rocking-horse symbolize in "The Rocking-Horse Winner"?

Explain the "voice" in "The Rocking-Horse Winner."  Does the house really whisper, "There must be more money"? why do the voice go "mad" when Paul's mother gets 5,000 pounds?

What exactly causes Paul's death?

What is Paul's secret within a secret in "The Rocking Horse Winner"? I am not sure if his first secret is that his mother does not know that he is lucky or if it is that he still rides his horse. I am thinking that the secret within a secret is that riding his horse reveals to him the winner of an upcoming race.

How would you describe Paul’s relationship with his mother?

Why doesn't Paul's mother have any luck in Rocking Horse Winner? What does luck mean to her? When Paul asks his mother if she isn't lucky, she replies: "I can't be, if I married an unlucky husband". Does this provide a clue to her character? Do you find Paul's confusion about "filthy lucre" ironic?

Who is Malabar in "The Rocking-Horse Winner"?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," what do the voices in the house represent?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," why do the father and the mother in the story have too little money?

How is Rocking-Horse Winner like a fairy tale?

How does D.H. Lawrence create an atmosphere of anxiety in the "Rocking Horse Winner"?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner", why does Paul get so sick and die at the end of the story?

Is the mother most responsible for the boy's death? Or can that responsibility be shifted to at least one other character?

What is the tone of the story "The Rocking Horse Winner" ?

Who or what is responsible for Paul's death in "The Rocking Horse Winner"?

What point of view is "The Rocking-Horse Winner" written in?

What unspoken phrase does the house come to be haunted by?

In "The Rocking Horse Winner," what is the setting of the story? What is the moment when the story moves from history to action?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," how does Paul's mother define luck when Paul asks her what it means? What is Paul's confusion about the word luck?

What is a good thesis statement for "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," how can the family's economic condition be described?

What was the reason Paul starting betting on horses?  

How does Paul's mother feel about her children?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul claims, "I’m a lucky person" (544). Evaluate his claim to be lucky. Is he lucky, is he "a poor devil" (553), or both?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner" why is money so important?

Discuss the application of Marxist literary theory in D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner." 

What does Uncle Oscar find out from talking to Paul?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," what idea fills the people in Paul's house with anxiety?

Is stream-of-consciousness used by D.H. Lawrence in "The Rocking Horse Winner"?  

In "The Rocking Horse Winner," the writer describes Paul's eyes. What do they tell us about Paul?  

What is the big problem in the family?

What is the whispering and what does it symbolize?

Does Paul solve his mother's problem?

What figurative language is used in "The Rocking Horse Winner"? (Please give examples.)

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner" what role does the father play in the story?

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," what are the secrets hidden by each character and by the family house?

How is the mother in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence characterized?

How does Paul determine the names of the winning horses in Rocking Horse Winner? Does Paul always pick a winner?  How did he learn about horse-racing in the first place?

Where's the irony in the last statement made to Hester by her brother in "The Rockin-Horse Winner"? "my god Hester you're eighty-odd thousand to the good and a poor devil of a son to the bad. but, poor devil, poor devil, he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking horse to find a winner"

In "The Rocking Horse Winner" what does the symbolism of the eyes mean?

In "The Rocking Horse Winner" the mother's attitude changes.  Describe her first attitude and trace the changes in the story.

Why did the whispering increase in the "The Rocking-Horse Winner"?

What is the deal Paul makes with Bassett and Uncle Oscar?

Why is the winning horse named "Malabar" in "The Rocking-Horse Winner"?