The Rocking Horse Winner - Essay Example

The Rocking Horse Winner The Rocking Horse Winner is a heart touching story written by D.H Lawrencewhich revolves around the life of a family. It tries to explain how the lack of love and affection affects a family and how dissatisfaction deeply disturbs a family unit. The family comprises of a woman named Hester and her husband as well as their two daughters and a son named Paul. The family is self-sufficient but there is always a silent need for more wealth in their house which bothers the members of the family. The story explains how the urge for the fulfillment of materialistic wants deprives a person of happiness and peace of mind. The author has presented the theme of materialism and the negativities associated with the obsession for the attainment of materialistic satisfaction and how it leaves a negative impact on the life of an individual. The Rocking Horse is the story of a family which is living is discontentment despite of the fact that they are financially sound and have enough resources for the running of their family. Hester is particularly the character who is the most obsessed with money and her dissatisfaction and want for more money affects the entire family. The author has tried to explain how materialism fails to fulfill the emotional needs of the human beings and love and emotions are of great importance for a family. Lawrence explains this point by narrating the way in which the family lives and how their needs are not fulfilled despite of the increased money that comes home. He begins by explaining that Hester was a good looking woman who had beautiful children. He explained, “They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighborhood.” (Lawrence) With these words, the author tries to express the fact that they had all the necessities which are needed for leading a healthy and happy life but the family was not leading a content life. Lawrence has then tried to explain the dissatisfaction that existed in the house and he has also expressed the lack of love and emotions in the family. He has also explained the basis for this discontentment which was mainly due to the greed on the part of the mother who wanted more money for the house. The children were not loved by her and she was also aware of this that she could not truly become attached to her children for some reason. There was always an aura of anxiousness in the house which was felt by all the family members in the form of whispers. All the members could hear the house whispering the lines, “There must be more money! There must be more money!” (Lawrence) These whispers best explain the main theme of the story that there was such an extreme desire for wealth in the house that the people living in the house could always feel this need around them in the form of whispers. This lack of love greatly disturbed Hester’s son who always wanted to be loved by her mother. He wanted to gain her attention which can clearly be seen when he converses with her about luck and tries to explain to her that he is lucky. Hester is blinded by her materialistic wants and she does not pay much heed to the innocent talks of the young boy. The young boy needs affection and care from his mother and this drives him to opt for betting on horse races at such an early age. Not only this, he discovers that if he rides a rocking horse, it assists him in knowing the winner of the race. He keeps on riding this horse frantically without caring about his health for the happiness and fulfillment of his mother’s worldly needs and in doing so he loses his life. The story further stresses upon the shortcomings of materialism and presenting that it not the most ideal way of living life by explaining the gloominess which still persists despite of money flowing into the house. This is narrated by the author when he explains how the mother is not happy to receive thousand pounds as her gift but she rather demands that she should be given all the five thousand pounds in advance. Furthermore, no change is seen in the living of the family even after the complete money is taken by her. The author also explains that greed can never be satisfied and running after wealth never leads to contentment and the person always demands for more. This is explained when the author writes, “The voices in the house suddenly went mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring evening……..And yet the voices in the house, behind the sprays of mimosa and almond-blossom, and from under the piles of iridescent cushions, simply trilled and screamed in a sort of ecstasy: "There must be more money! Oh-h-h; there must be more money. Oh, now, now-w! Now-w-w - there must be more money! - more than ever! More than ever!" (Lawrence) With this he tries to shed light upon the fact that even though the woman brought home a huge sum of money, her obsession for materialistic gains was not fulfilled. The theme of materialism is of great significance today. In today’s fast paced world, people have started spending greater time for the fulfillment of their materialistic needs. Competition and desire for earning more money has driven people to spend less quality time with family and friends. Emotions and love have greatly diminished from society. This has led to greater dissatisfaction amongst people which can be assessed by the rise in the number of people suffering from depression as well as very high increase in the suicide rate in comparison to olden times. Not only this, people do not give quality time to their loved ones and this has resulted in a large number of scarred relationships. This can be assessed by the increase in divorce rates and by the rise in the number of abandoned children and parents. The story serves as an eye opener for the readers to explain that materialism is not a perfect way of life. The importance of love and respect for relationships is of great significance and a person can only lead a normal life if he keeps a balance between his materialistic desires and his emotional needs. D.H Lawrence wrote this story in 1921 which was a period following the First World War and the world was in a phase of transition as industrialization and urbanization was at its peak. Economic needs of human beings were increasing and thus people started becoming more interested in gaining wealth. It can be analyzed that these were the factors which influenced this story and the author tried to explain the significance of a family life and love for living a balanced life. The Rocking Horse Winner is an emotional story of a young boy Paul who dies at such an early age in an attempt to gain the love of his mother. The author has done great justice to the story and he has narrated the story to perfectly explain the theme of materialism and its drawbacks. The disturbance created in the family due to greed and the lack of satisfaction affected their living. The parents as well as the children were disturbed and they knew that something was missing in their house. The lack of emotional attachment with each other accompanied with the obsessive desire for money created anxiousness around them. Thus, Lawrence has clearly put forward his point that money cannot be a replacement for love and a happy life can only be led if a proper balance is achieved between the two. Works Cited Lawrence, D.H. The Rocking Horse Winner. Read More