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

Uncle Oscar's final line, "My God, Hester, you're eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad," underscores the tragic irony of the story. It highlights the futility of...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Analyzing "The Rocking-Horse Winner" through a Marxist lens reveals themes of class struggle and the destructive nature of materialism, as the family’s pursuit of wealth leads to tragedy. From a...

3 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the rocking horse symbolizes multiple themes including childhood, anxiety, and the futility of seeking love and wealth. It represents Paul's desperate...

18 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

"The Rocking-Horse Winner" employs various literary devices and figurative language, including symbolism, irony, and personification. The rocking horse symbolizes Paul's intense desire for luck and...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Paul's death in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is caused by his obsessive quest to predict race winners to earn money for his greedy mother. This obsession leads to physical exhaustion and a fatal fever....

9 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The moral of "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is the destructive nature of materialism and the pursuit of wealth. Insights on life include the idea that love and genuine human connections are more valuable...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the central conflict revolves around the family's incessant need for money and the mother's dissatisfaction, leading Paul to believe that luck equates...

24 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The irony of the boy's actions increasing the whispers in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" reveals the story's theme that the pursuit of wealth only intensifies greed and dissatisfaction. As the boy seeks...

2 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Malabar is the name of the winning horse that Paul bets on in the Derby. Its significance lies in the fact that Paul's supernatural ability to predict winners reaches...

5 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Paul's confusion about luck and its relationship to money stems from his mother's definition. She equates luck with financial success, implying that being lucky means having money. This perspective...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul is a well-meaning child driven by a desire to earn his mother's love through financial success, which he equates with luck. His mother, Hester, is cold and...

6 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Paul’s eyes represent his dreams, his passion and the futility of his attempts to get luck for his mother. The truth about Hester is in her eyes. When Paul tries to find luck, after his mother tells...

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Fairy tale elements in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" include the use of a magical toy, the personification of luck, and a moral lesson. These elements contribute to the story's purpose by highlighting...

5 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

"The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence is set in 1920s England and follows young Paul, who seeks his mother's love by using a rocking horse to predict horse race winners. The story explores...

21 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

You are correct in your assumption here. Clearly in the tale there are two secrets going on - the more overt, clearly narrated one about Paul and his betting with Basset and Uncle Oscar, but then...

2 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Both stories certainly show the dangers of conformity. In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the mother feels that "she felt she must cover up some fault," and even though there's never any particular...

2 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

There are references to religion itself but these occur in discussions between Bassett and Uncle Oscar. After Oscar first discovers that Paul is interested in horse racing, Bassett tells him that...

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Paul responds to the house's whispers by obsessively riding his rocking horse to predict winning horses in races, believing this will change his family's luck. His intense efforts stem from a desire...

3 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

A feminist reading of "The Rocking Horse Winner" would focus on the way in which the corrupt, patriarchal, money-obsessed society she inhabits dictates Hester's priorities as a mother and then...

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul gives his mother £5,000 in installments as a birthday gift, hoping to alleviate her financial woes. However, his mother's greed and obsession with...

6 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The first description is "The boy watched her with unsure eyes" which indicates that he is thoughtful, ponderous.  Most of the descriptions are:  "His eyes had a strange glare", "big blue...

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Paul's initiation into horse betting begins when he starts riding his rocking-horse to predict the winners of horse races. His Uncle Oscar and the family gardener, Bassett, become involved after...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul thinks his wooden horse with no name allows him to predict the winners of horse races. He believes that if he can make the rocking-horse gallop, it will win the...

6 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

"The Rocking-Horse Winner" critiques modern society's obsession with materialism by illustrating how the pursuit of wealth can destroy familial relationships. The story explores the relationship...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The story starts off with a very full description of the mother, and it would be worth going through this again to pick out some of the answers you are looking for. We are told that although she...

2 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

After speaking to Bassett about Paul gambling on horses, Uncle Oscar asks Paul himself about betting on horse races and Paul confirms that he does indeed gamble on them with the help of Bassett....

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

"The Rocking-Horse Winner" differs from typical fairy tales by presenting a darker, more psychological narrative. While fairy tales often involve magical elements and moral lessons with happy...

6 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul partners with Bassett and Uncle Oscar to place bets on horse races. Paul provides winning predictions, Bassett places the bets, and Uncle Oscar funds them. They...

2 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

What are Lawrence's comments on parenting in the Rocking-Horse Winner? The parents are shallow, petty, and cold. They don't love their children and they don't show it.

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Bassett's role in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is that of a caretaker and confidant to Paul. His motivations for keeping Paul's secret stem from his deep loyalty and respect for Paul. Bassett believes...

2 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The whispering is symbolic of the family's financial problems. The phrase, "There must be more money," is the family's constant worry, but it is never spoken about openly. Thus, Paul senses...

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the whispering symbolizes the insatiable greed and materialism of Paul's mother, reflecting the family's constant need for more money. The whispering...

5 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

This quote from the short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner” contains various literary devices, including personification, synecdoche, and hyperbole. First, the characters’ house is personified by...

3 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The irony of the statement is that the uncle implies Paul is better off dead. The uncle realized Paul was mad and believes that the boy has been released from his agony. This reinforces the theme...

2 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul is a young boy who internalizes the stress of his family's financial struggles, driven by his mother's obsession with wealth. Unlike typical...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Samuel Taylor Coleridge is famous for coining the phrase "the willing suspension of disbelief." What he meant was that the reader must accept the events in a work of fiction or poetry as being true...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

But in fact, the adult characters are not at all responsible because they want Paul to keep betting on the horses. They want to maintain their enjoyment of gambling, but also they want him to use his...

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," supernatural elements are incorporated through Paul's uncanny ability to predict horse race winners while riding his rocking horse. This mystical talent, which seems to...

3 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Generally, when an author leaves an important character unnamed it is to make the character universal. In other words, Hester could represent any materialistic mother. In "Rocking Horse Winner",...

2 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

A potential thesis statement for D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner" could be: "The story explores the destructive nature of materialism and the impact of parental pressure on a child's...

3 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The boy's riding is very symbolic of some people's pursuit of material wealth.  He is not riding the horse to enjoy it - that would be a leisurely fun ride that we see children do all of...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The tone of "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence is predominantly bleak and tense, underscoring themes of materialism and familial dysfunction. The narrative uses a third-person omniscient...

4 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul's mother is emotionally disconnected and dissatisfied because she feels unloved and trapped in a life of financial struggle. Her constant desire for more money and...

5 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," materialism profoundly affects nearly every character. Hester, the mother, is driven by an insatiable desire for wealth, impacting her son Paul, who...

6 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Paul's mother is greedy and incapable of being grateful for what she has. The fact that she will be given money over time is not enough for her. She want the entire amount at once. Instead of being...

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," greed is a central theme that corrupts innocence and leads to tragic consequences. Paul, a young boy with a gift for predicting horse race winners, is...

8 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

No direct reason is supplied for Paul's reluctance to let his mother know about his "luck." Paul says that if his mother knew "She'd stop me," and this perhaps reflects the way that Paul is gaining...

1 educator answer

The Rocking-Horse Winner

D.H. Lawrence's style in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" uses a blend of realism and fantasy to create a tense and eerie atmosphere. His detailed descriptions and use of symbolism, such as the whispering...

2 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Paul's obsession with horse racing stems from his desire to win his mother's love by proving himself lucky, as she equates luck with wealth. Haunted by the whispering...

7 educator answers

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The title, "The Rocking-Horse Winner," foreshadows what the boy becomes, but is also ironic.  The boy wins much money, but of course loses his life in the end trying to win more. The voice in...

2 educator answers