Climax, Setting and Theme - Essay Example

The Rocking-Horse Winner: D.H Lawrence (1885-1930) Setting The first setting that comes out at the introductory part of the story is that of a pleasant home, a lovely home that has discreet servants. The entire part of the introduction is dedicated to describing a house constantly haunted by the ghosts of money. All the children can hear are the whispers of ‘There must be more money! There must be more money! (Lawrence, 1926). In this case, the setting already sets the tone and highlights the important theme of poverty and despair in the entire house. Another setting is when the boy attends a racing event with the Uncle and this shows how boy is dedicated to finding or getting money, as the ghosts of the house are instructing. While conversing with the Uncle, the boy says, ‘‘I’m betting three hundred…..But it’s between you and me, Uncle Oscar! Honor Bright?’’(Lawrence, 1926) Climax The climax in the story begins when the child is obsessed about the horse-racing that he cannot take any failure. The trouble begins when Paul’s mother visits the nursery to check out the boy. She asks, ‘Master Paul?’ Is he alright?’’ (Lawrence, 1926). Her concern brings a new tone in the story as the audience or the readers are inclined to think that may be something is wrong with Paul. The mother and father drive to their home where Paul’s mother is shocked to find the boy in a bad state or condition. Her intuitions had guided and in fact, she had left the party with a feeling that the boy may not be alright. However, soon she finds the boy and when asked what he doing, all the boy can say is, ‘‘Malabar! It’s Malaar!Basset, Basset, I know! It’s Malabar!’’ (Lawrence, 1926). The real climax coms about when the gardener informs Pal that Malabar had won the race and he had bagged the eighty thousand pounds. Despite the feeling of success and achievement, the boy dies the same night but the family has had the money they had been endlessly looking for. The climax ends in a sad note when the family loses a child but gets the money that can relieve them of poverty. Theme From the introduction, the first theme which the author highlights is that of poverty and despair as the family lives a casual life where the children question their parents why they cannot own cars like their neighbors or the uncles. The constant whispers, ‘‘there must be more money! There must be more money!’’ (Lawrence, 1926), confirms the status of the family. The theme of luck and bad luck is inherent in the entire story especially when the mother is portrayed as facing a difficult life where she is not successful in everything and even the father does not have luck in life. However, it is the boy, Paul who brings luck in the family and also confirms to the mother that, ‘‘I told you I am lucky!’’ (Lawrence, 1926). Almost on equal measures, the theme of secrecy is evident in the entire story especially when the mother finds her son, Paul, writhing in agony, crying about ‘‘Malabari!Malabari!’’ (Lawrence, 1926). To Build A fire. The World of Jack London Setting The setting of the story, from the introduction, is seemingly a snowy environment, may be a temperate island as the author narrates how the young man had gotten used to the days without sun. From the introduction, the statement, it had been days since he had seen the sun’’ confirms that the story begins in a cold island here there is no sun or and the surrounding is covered in snow. Another setting that the author explains is a camp that the character had to go after collecting logs as he states ‘he would be in to camp by six o’clock’’ (London, 1908). Climax The climax starts in the story when the man fails to make up fire in the snowy creek as the trees fall on the already made piece of fire. To his anguish, there is no chance of making any firing or warming himself. As the story ensues, the audience is treated to a story of a man struggling to come into terms with the danger that awaits him in the entire cold. The climax is also build up by the dog ceaselessly going after the man, maybe happy that the man, who once proved to no more about the cold-island trail is sitting there helplessly waiting for help from nowhere. However, the final climax comes about when the man takes to running and finally stumbles down and falls on the snowing. The narrator points out ‘several times he stumbled, and finally he tottered, crumped up and fell’’ (London, 1908). The falling down marks the end of the endless fighting, trying to stay alive in the snow as the man finally succumbs to the biting cold. As the interaction between the man and the dog ends, the audience is shown that the man is dead. The narrator explains, ‘‘and still later, it crept close to the man and caught the scent of death’’ (London, 1908). Theme The main theme of the entire story is revolving around the stubbornness and boldness of a winter first-timer whom despite being advised not to trail the cold creek alone, ignores the advice and takes to explore the cold island alone. He man does not bother about the biting cold and recollects the advices he had received before coming for the winter adventure. His boldness and arrogance is also shown in the way he treats the dog that seemingly knows how to traverse the cold creek than him. As the narrator describes, he was so troubled with things in life that he ignored the things of significance. The man does not worry about the danger pose by the extremely low temperatures. However, the man owns up to his ignorance and boldness at the end of the story when he pictures himself saying, ‘‘You were right, old hoss; you were right’’(London, 1908). From the entire story, boldness and arrogance of a man is the source of his demise. Summary Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Winner is narrated from different settings, from the pleasant home, the racing-horses and the town where Paul’s mother seeks some livelihood. A climax from the story happens when Paul begins ailing from a serious sickness and later dies the night his horse wins the race. Various themes are portrayed in the story including themes of love, luck and bad luck as well as theme of secrecy. On the other end Jack London’s ‘To Build A fire’ is narrated in a cold island setting within an icy creek where the protagonist, the amateur traveller finds himself locked with a dog in the cold winter and the story reaches climax when the man dies from the extreme cold as he failed to heed the advice of veterans who have had the same experience in the island. The story centers on different themes including boldness, arrogance, being self-centered as the narrator believes to know it all but does not know that even the dog has a good experience traversing the cold winter and this leads to his demise as the story ends with his death. References Lawrence, D., H. (1926). The Rocking-Horse Winner. Retrieved from http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/rockwinr.html London, J. (1908). To Build A fire. The World of Jack London. Retrieved Nov 24, 2015 from http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html Read More