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

The name "Malabar" could be said to have significance on a number of different levels. Firstly, it is the name given to part of the west coast of India, where a number of trading posts were historically situated, giving the name a connotation of wealth and prosperity.

Malabar is also situated very far from where Paul's family lives—and this name could be a play on the fact that his mother wishes that her circumstances were very far from her actual reality.

The word "Malabar" could also refer to Malabar Spinach, a member of a deadly plant genus called Nightshade. This would be fitting, due to the fact that Paul's pursuit of money from the horses ultimately came at the cost of his life.

First, it is important to note that a name or object can have multi-layered meanings, symbolizing more than one thing, so multiple answers to the question of "Malabar" can all be correct and enhance our understanding of the story. Lawrence himself left open-ended what "Malabar," as the winning horse's name, really means, allowing us as readers to think about why the final racehorse is called what it is.

Malabar is the name of the southwest coast of India. To me, this indicates that by betting on a horse named Malabar, Paul is going the longest distance, metaphorically speaking, that he ever has on his rocking horse. In a sense, he is giving it his all to get, in imagination, halfway around the world. He wants to win his mother so much money that she will be satisfied (though, unbeknownst to Paul, she never will).

Like a person who survives a perilous trip to India in search of vast riches and then dies, Paul does the same. He achieves his goal, but at the cost of his life.

As well as being associated with a deadly poison, Malabar is the name of several remote regions of the globe, most notably India. The name of the horse is well-chosen for the purposes of the story. For Malabar conjures up images of an exotic fantasy world, the kind which Hester constructs for herself to escape her humdrum existence. This far-off mysterious place with the exotic-sounding name comes to symbolize Hester's single-minded obsession with achieving a luxurious, opulent lifestyle, a lifestyle to which she believes herself rightly accustomed. But the pursuit of riches brings tragedy as it invariably does. And this is where the other meaning of Malabar as a deadly poison comes into play. Fantasies, like certain poisonous plants, can be enticing and deadly at the same time.

The first winning horse that Paul chose was named Daffodil. After earning quite a bit of money, Lawrence writes, "There were flowers in the winter and a blossoming of luxury Paul's mother had not been used to ...and yet behind the sprays of mimosa and almond blossom...[she screamed} "There must be more money! This "frightens Paul" and he begins riding the rocking horse more and more to try to discern the winner of the National Derby. Finally, Paul says the winner will be "Malabar" Malabar is a plant that can be used as a poison, part of the nightshade family. When one is poisoned by the malabar plant, its symptoms are very much Paul's symptoms, fever, and then madness, followed by death. The horse's name foreshadows Paul's demise.

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

Malabar is the name of the horse that Paul believes will win—and the horse that does win—the Derby. After learning from his mother, Hester, that being lucky is the very best thing a person can be and that being lucky means that one will always have lots of money, little Paul determines to ride his rocking horse until it takes him to luck. He rides and rides, furiously and as though he is possessed, and while he is riding, the name of a horse will sometimes come to him; he "just know[s]" that the horse is going to be the winner of the next big race.

Paul correctly predicts a number of race winners, even when those particular horses are not favored to win. In this way, he and the family gardener, Bassett, make a great deal of money from placing bets based on Paul's hunches.

Ultimately, Malabar is the final horse Paul predicts to win a big race. Bassett does as Paul tells him and bets a large amount of money on the horse, and Bassett comes to tell the very sick Paul that Paul now has over eighty thousand pounds in winnings. Bassett had won quite a bit of money as well. Paul is exquisitely happy to tell his mother how lucky he is, and then he dies the same night.