Common Themes of Greed

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, through exaggerated circumstances, Graham Greene's story "The Destructors" and D.H. Lawrence's story "The Rocking Horse Winner" attempt to entertain, as well as convey, a moralistic message pertaining to greed and human nature. The author points out that major complicated incidents in each story revolve around how characters in each story deal with their problems; both T and Paul, the protagonists, are suffering from the negative impact that greed and this impacts their emotions. The paper relates that the setting of each story is a house, which becomes central to the moralistic message each author conveys.

From the Paper:

"Greed becomes the basic conflict in each story. In "The Destructors", T, a major character, is greedy, which becomes apparent when he becomes obsessed with what Old Misery's house represents. In "The Rocking Horse Winner," Paul's mother, a primary character, is also very greedy, becoming obsessed with having more money. Lawrence and Greene use greed to introduce conflict, which is a realistic problem of life. The irony in each circumstance is that the internal struggle that Paul and T encounter cannot be solved by their attempts. T and Paul choose to deal with this conflict in very different ways and, as a result, experience very different results. "

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