"Rocking-Horse Winner"

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the novel "Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence about the devastating effects that money can have on a family. In particular it looks at how Lawrence uses the rocking-horse to symbolize not only the lost innocence of childhood but also the lost innocence of a world gone mad with greed. It examines how the meanings of the rocking-horse evolve through the story. The object first emerges as a symbol of the type of monetary greed expressed by a family attempting to live beyond their means in the form of a Christmas present. Later the horse becomes the avenue for which young Paul attempts to find the luck that his mother feels she and his father are missing. Further on in the novel, images of the horses at the races become superimposed over the idea of a little boy growing too large for his new, then old and worn, rocking-horse and this is the imagery that really influences the reader into the idea of the rocking-horse as a real sweating and shackled racer. It attempts to put forward the message that people living in a corrupt environment imagining that the bridle of a horse can bring them salvation can only receive salvation at a high price.

From the Paper:

"Paul steps away from innocence and embraces the faith that embodies the world of horse racing. The track representing almost a poor mans modern cathedral. His cohorts look upon the manner in which Paul receives the knowledge of the name of the winner as a mystical occurrence. When Paul's Uncle Oscar questions the servant Basset about just how the whole betting process occurs with his young nephew, he still thinks it rather comical and is not quite sure how much to believe."

More papers on "Rocking-Horse Winner":

• Essay # 72349 : "'The Rocking-Horse Winner'"
• Analytical Essay # 121192 : "D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner"
• Analytical Essay # 46989 : "The Rocking-Horse Winner": A Critique"

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