The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence - Research Paper Example

Research Paper on The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence Published in 1926, the story portrays the nature of theearly English society. The writer maintains the conventional literary skills thus developing an appropriate story. The story has remained relevant to millions of readers throughout the time despite the changing nature of the story thus prompting its adoption into a film in 1949. The writer uses some appropriate literary skills thus determining an effective audience group to the story thus earning the short story some relevance in the contemporary society. The author addresses different social features in the form of themes. Among the most evident themes in the story are poverty, cohesions in the family institution and death among many others. By addressing such, the author provides a relative portrayal of the early English society from his point of view (Barrett, Thomas and Lawrence 121). Art is a cultural product that provides a relative representation of the society. The relativity of art arises from the angles of adoptions preferred by the artists. As an artist, D. H. Lawrence seeks to portray the early English society. He investigates the social structure of the time thus writes a story that typifies specific social features that he believes are of relevance to the people. Poverty for example has remained a major factor in most societies as people strive to obtain a living through their merger earnings. The author thus uses an imaginary family and imaginary characters to depict the effects of poverty on family relations. The story centers on the life of a middle class early English woman who believed she had no luck. Her husband strives to make a living out of arts but his endeavors do not pay off thus compelling the family to live miserably in poverty. Poverty is a state of deprival as people fail to afford a decent living. The same is the case with the family that struggles with the need to sustain the woman’s high profile life since she is an extravagant spender. In an attempt to help his family, her son takes to gambling and realizes that he is lucky as she predicts the winning horse in the local rocking competition. He however practice hard on his rocking horse thus acquires an infection and dies at the end of the story. The mother does not change her lifestyle and even as the boy dies the family makes a hefty eighty thousand pounds that the woman spends extravagantly (Lawrence 31). The author centers the story on fundamental social features and institutions that define the nature of life in societies. in doing this, the author understands the need to achieve some relevance with his audience and therefore uses familiar social features which help earn the story the much desired relevance. Such activities as horse rocking were common in the early European culture and therefore relevant to the society. The same is attributable to such features as the family institution, poverty and even death. The relationship among the members of the family is an equally important determinant of the peace and stability in the family. The author analyses the need for peace and love in a family by portraying the nature of the family in the story. The woman, Hester does not love her son Paul who on the other hand loves his mother and therefore strives to support the family. The lack of maternal love compels the boy to hide some secrets from the mother. He takes to gambling secretly and only tells his father much later when he realizes that the family situation is overwhelming the old man. Another important determinant of the relevance of the book among its diverse audience group is the use of language. The language an author uses to develop a story helps define an audience for the story thus earing their acknowledgement of the work. Additionally, the language among other literary features helps portray the authors’ professionalism and ability to communicate to the specific target audience. Lawrence’s story targets a general readership. This implies that the story has no specific target audience group. To achieve relevance among a general audience, the author employs specific literary features such as the use of simple descriptive language. The simple English he uses in constructing his sentences makes it possible for diverse readers to conceptualize and understand the ideas he portrays in the story. The author does not use any jargon and maintains a simple and plain descriptive literary structure thus improving the readability of the story. Among the literary styles, the author uses include vivid description; he describes the events and places in the plot thus establishing the actions and the setting. Vivid description facilitated the adoption of the story into a film. Through the gaudy description of both the actions and settings in the plot, the author aids the conceptualization f the story thus improving the understanding of the facts in the story. He describes the events and the characters thus helping understand the features of the characters in the story. Through the elaborate avid description of the relationship between the mother and her son, the mother’s hatred for her son portrays itself effortlessly. The style is a fundamental literary feature that has remained relevant in other literary works and employed by established authors throughout the history of literature. Several established linguists, authors and film critics have developed elaborate criticism of the short story often acknowledging the authors’ employment of specific literary features. Developing a story is an enduring process that demands the appropriate portrayal of social features that an author wishes to criticize in the work. In his work, Lawrence portrays the understanding of this basic literary required as he selects a few thematic issues to portray and ensures that he portrays tem effectively suing various literary styles thus earning them relevance among his target audience group (Greiff 44). Additionally, the author portrays a relative employment of both the literary features and the portrayal of the specific thematic issues thus earning the story relevance even in the contemporary literary society. The author’s specific choice of words earns the story timelessness thus the desired relevance even in the modern day literature. The author maintains a vivid description of both the actions and the characters in the plot thus developing a conflict that sustains the story to the end. Stories revolve on specific conflicts. The author portrays different types of conflicts ranging from intrapersonal to personal. This way, the author maintains the suspense and action thus sustaining the story to its end. He does so carefully yet creatively thus developing a unique and original story, which is a compulsory read to any literary student. Works cited Barrett, Gerald R, Thomas L. Erskine, and D H. Lawrence. From Fiction to Film: D.h. Lawrence's "the Rocking-Horse Winner.". Encino, Calif: Dickenson Pub. Co, 1974. Print. Greiff, Louis K. D.h. Lawrence: Fifty Years on Film. Carbondale [u.a.: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 2001. Print. Lawrence, D H. The Rocking-Horse Winner. New York: Associated Educational Services Corporation, 1967. Print. Read More