The Rocking-Horse Winner VS. Janus - Essay Example

The Rocking-Horse Winner Vs Janus The two short stories “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “Janus” basically deal with the concept of luck. The former is written by a prominent author D.H Lawrence and this story narrates the burden and bad luck of a woman. “Janus” by Anne Beattie, on the other hand, shows the success and good luck of an upper-middle class woman. Both the stories are different and have contrasting plots, however before comparing the stories it is important to first analyze them thoroughly.

The lady portrayed in the story by Lawrence is Paul’s mother “Hester,” who finds her marriage to be unlucky as she is unable to cope up with the poor financial situation of her married life. She even feels that her children are a burden for her. The story opens with the line “woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck” (Lawrence). Hester is blessed with three children and her son Paul is shown as a strange character who after receiving the rocking horse gets a strange power, which helps him to predict the horse race winners correctly.

He makes a good amount of money out of this and tries to help his mother so that she can pay off the debts. Instead of clearing the debts, she squanders the money for their stylish living. This shows that the lady has a sick desire for money. The story ends with the tragic death of Paul after falling from the horse. In Ann Beatties’s “Janus,” the protagonist’s name is Andrea, and she is a successful real estate agent who believes in her lucky bowl. When she gets a buyer for the house, “she places the bowl in the house that was up for sale” (Beattie 595).

This indicates that she was a blind believer of her luck, which she thought relied on the bowl. She credits her achievement to the bowl that is often also admired by the buyers. The story starts with the introduction of bowl – “The Bowl was perfect,” as the author puts it. The main features about the bowl mentioned are “its glaze was the color of cream and seemed to glow no matter what light it was placed in” (595). Throughout the story, the bowl is shown as empty indicating that something about her past is holding her back.

The story ends with the revelation about the bowl’s history as it was a present to Andrea by her former lover. In both the above mentioned stories, luck plays a significant role. Janus is a detailed story with the description of bowl as well as Andreas’ and other characters’ thoughts. Whereas in The Rocking-Horse winner, characters play an important role, though they also seem to be a noteworthy factor. Both the stories have symbolism, personification and irony as well as contain elements of mystery that is undermined in the end.

In Janus, there is no revelation about the bowl’s history and her lover till the last portion of the story. Whereas in Lawrence’s story, the mystery about Paul’s power is something that readers would like to know more, whether he is a psychic is the basic question formed in the minds of all readers. Also the writer has tried to reveal the minds of characters in the lines like – “she was again dissatisfied” and “his mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him” (Lawrence).

Sometimes, for half an hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him that was almost anguish” (Lawrence). In Janus there is not much revelation on the thoughts of Andrea although it does tells that she is obsessed with the bowl and feels her relationship is much stronger with the bowl than her husband as “she was sure that the bowl brought her luck” (Beattie p.596). This subtle story by Beattie leaves many gaps in the narrative. This enables the readers to admire the art or beauty of the bowl.

The opening of both stories is contrasting as one speaks of perfection and luck, while the other talks about bad luck and unhappiness. Lawrence’s story deals with more materialistic things and hunger for money. In Janus the protagonist is happy, successful and financially sound. Using irony and symbolism, Lawrence explores the topic of human greed in his story and he shows that the house they live in also cry for money on their behalf – “there must be more money, there must be more money!

The children could hear it all the time though nobody said it loud” (Lawrence). The irony used by the writer here is that Paul wants to stop the house from crying by giving her mother more money. But even after helping her mother with a somewhat large amount of money, the house further yearns for more money. That means Paul’s mother is never satisfied and she continues to crib for money and luck. She even thinks that her marriage is unlucky as she is not able to live her upper-middle class life.

This thought of hers is very well evidenced in the lines “I used to think I was, before I married. Now I think I am very unlucky indeed” (Lawrence). In Janus, Beattie has used symbolism to convey the message of emptiness in the protagonist’s life. It is also a symbol of Andrea’s love affair. Even though she is successful in her business, she seems to be a little unhappy and keeping the bowl empty makes the reader feel that she is still holding her old memories. The story ends with Andrea staring at the bowl at night – “she would get up at the night and look at the bowl” (Beattie 598).

This also conveys a message of loneliness of the character to the readers. Unlike Janus, The Rocking-Horse winner is a fast story with characters contributing to move the story. There is no gap for the readers to think much about any mysterious elements or power shown in the story. Paul the small boy is desperately fighting for his mother’s love and this eventually leads him to his death. The horse in the story thus becomes a symbol of his death, as in olden days it was believed that the horse carries the soul.

This money minded lady drives her son to death by telling him what luck is – “If you are lucky you have money” (Lawrence). The theme of both stories is different but they primarily lay emphasis on the importance of human thoughts and behavior. The frequent description of bowl in Janus brings in a gap for the readers, where they can think to themselves about what they are reading. It is hard to find such a space in Lawrence’s story, as it paints the familiar picture the modern society.

The theme and plot of this story resemble that of many of his other works. The common feature about both the works is the theme of luck. Both stories, through symbolism and irony, define the topic of luck very effectively. It also tells that to be a successful individual one certainly needs some amount of luck. In the story by Lawrence, Paul competes for luck and his mother desires for material things. In Janus, by Ann Beattie, Andrea is proud of her success and credits her luck and achievements to the ‘bowl.

’ The story generates curiosity for the readers to want to know the history of the bowl and the revelation is made at the end of the story that “she had first seen the bowl several years earlier, at a crafts fair she had visited half in secret, with her lover” (Beattie 599). A reader can get the hint of affair by the kind of attachment the protagonist shows to the bowl. The woman portrayed in The Rocking-horse winner is a contrary character to that of Janus. Hester is selfish and lacks emotions, whereas Andrea is self-dependant and is emotionally attached to the bowl, however, both women have a deep belief in luck.

Both the works cast a tremendous spell on the readers. The tragic death of Paul at the end in the quest for his mother’s love leaves a deep impact on the minds of the readers. When one analyzes the titles, Janus can be a perfect choice as the word in Roman mythology means God with two faces and, thus, it brings a strong relation between the protagonist and her emotions or internal conflicts of her mind. Both stories have compelling themes of human values as well as the theme of luck. The theme of greed and hunger for materialistic happiness is evident in The Rocking-Horse Winner.

There is frequent involvement of characters in Lawrence’s story. Paul rides the horse to find the winner of the race using his senses and the last line of the story tells the irony of the theme and story “he’s best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to find a winner” (Lawrence). He was not a winner in attaining his mother’s love and at the end his quest for his mother’s affection leads him to his demise, which is the irony of the story. In Janus, the story is completely told from Andrea’s point of view.

Janus is not an interactive story like the other one. The description makes the story a little boring, whereas in The Rocking-Horse winner readers can get interested in the story without any gap or spaces in between where they can ‘think.’ Both stories convey the description of modern society and their thinking. Beattie in her story lay more emphasis on details, which makes it less impressive for the modern reader. She uses the details in her story to connect to basic human life. The story is slow but it effect is long lasting.

Whereas Lawrence has also done justice to his story by defining the symbolism and the character’s mind. Both the short stories have its own flaws but convey the message through the deft deployment of various literary devices. Works Cited Beattie, Ann. Janus. The New Yorker, 1986. 595-599. Web. Lawrence, D. H. The rocking-horse winner. 1969. Web.