Symbolism in The Rocking Horse Winner by David Herbert Lawrence - Essay Example

Abstract This essay purports to understand the symbols behind the short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by David Herbert Lawrence. These symbols are found in the actions of the two main characters: Hester, the materialistic mother, and Paul, her lucky but emotionally neglected son. The essay discusses these two metaphors as both a critique on the materialistic world that has caused parents to abandon their real responsibilities and a narrative on a little boy’s quest for luck in order to gain parental love and acceptance. The emphasis of this work is also placed on the story’s contents and not on its structure or genre. To back up the analysis of aforementioned symbols, passages from the story are used and the characteristics of Paul and his mother are examined and contrasted. In conclusion, this essay affirms how unrestrained pursuit of wealth only breeds discontent and that luck comes with a price. The short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by David Herbery Lawrence is an indirect satire and verbal pun on the materialism of individuals in society and, more simplistically, it is also a narrative of a boy who seeks the approval of his mother. Hester and Paul, the two main characters in the story, serve as the main metaphor for the two different quests of material things and affection (Miles 189-190). In criticizing the materialistic society, D.H. Lawrence deftly crafts Hester as the embodiment of the vain and greedy who live their lives in the greedy pursuit of wealth and then basking in the material and oftentimes unnecessary comforts that money can buy (“The Rocking-Horse Winner, D.H”). Hester is depicted to be a woman born into a rich family and used to an easy and grand lifestyle. Although she marries for love, she later places more importance on a luxurious existence and a high status in the neighborhood rather than choose to become an efficient housewife and a loving mother (“The Rocking-Horse Winner Study”). Because of her vain and greedy mindset, her household turns sad and gloomy that it begins to be “haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money! There must be more money!” (Lawrence). This unspoken phrase reverberates not only in every corner of the house but also in the ears of the children, particularly Paul. Hester equates life with luck. Just because she and her could not make enough money from their respective careers to keep up the lifestyle she wants, she already considers her husband as much as herself as unlucky. She defines luck as “what causes you to have money.” She tells her son: “If you're lucky you have money" (Lawrence). By this way of thinking alone, one can deem Hester as a person who cares too much about what the society thinks of her. To boost her image, she prioritizes wants over those that are truly needed. This is clearly exemplified by the way she spends. She buys Paul an expensive rocking horse and her daughters a doll house inhabited by dolls in fancy dresses. However, she seems to have bought these items not because of her love for her children but merely to show off since she “felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighbourhood” (Lawrence).  When Paul questions the family’s lack of money, Hester shallowly explains to her son how only luck can determine whether a person is going to be rich or fall into financial difficulties. Perhaps in an effort to please her and to at least show her affection for him, Paul tells his mother that he is lucky but she receives this claim cynically and angers hims (“The Rocking-Horse Winner, D.H”; “The Rocking-Horse Winner Study”). As a result, Paul places his mother’s burden unto his shoulder and effectively becomes the tormented slave of her self-conceit and avarice for the finer things in life. He desperately attempts to be lucky by betting on racehorses after “madly” riding on his rocking horse. It is an even greater blow to the child when Hester still refuses to acknowledge him despite already receiving the full proof of his luck. Her unquenchable appetite for material things and superficiality led Paul to an identity crisis, of which he could no longer spot out his luck or understand what he must do to silence the deafening call for money in the house (Miles 189). As he desperately seeks to regain back the fortune he lost and please his mother more, he falls into illness and later dies with it. Before he lays dying, he tells Hester: "I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure – oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!" (Lawrence). Compared to her mother, Paul has a more mature outlook in life and about luck in particular. Unlike his mother, who tends to complain about her situation rather than work harder for it, Paul puts his luck into action. Although he misunderstands the meaning of “luck” because of the way Hester defines it, Paul nevertheless takes chances. The act of rocking his horse madly speaks of how much he works hard to achieve his luck and not just by simply betting on it with the help of his uncle Oscar and the gardener Bassett. This is evident in the passage below: When he had ridden to the end of his mad little journey, he climbed down and stood in front of his rocking-horse, staring fixedly into its lowered face … Now! he would silently command the snorting steed. Now take me to where there is luck! (Lawrence) Working with the rocking horse increases his luck and makes it accurate. Yet the mother, on one hand, does not take chances in the way her son does. She considers wealth as something given, or won out of nowhere, without subsequent effort or hard work. She believes that luck is a condition wherein you find money easily and smoothly. As she tells Paul, “That's why it's better to be born lucky than rich. If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money” (Lawrence). It is worth wondering whether the family would still suffer financially if the mother has not pursued such an extravagant lifestyle. What causes them to be “poor” is basically the mother’s tendency to spend beyond the family’s means. Hester’s reckless pursuit for more and more wealth and to be above everyone else in the neighborhood backfires against her. She becomes even more discontent and in her discontent, she becomes someone incapable of truly loving anyone (Miles 190). Hester is the author’s major critique on rank materialism, which not only puts individuals at a dead-end, but dries up genuine human affection in them. Paul, however, is Lawrence’s ideal—he takes chances with his rocking horse to find luck, the absent of which caused her mother’s sadness. He gives back to his mother as any good son would. His life is eventually sacrificed after the luck Hester desperately yearns for has finally been granted. Here, the author tells the reader that luck comes with a price. Almost always, one never gets what one wants without risking or sacrificing anything back. Works Cited Lawrence, David Herbert. “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” The Ghost Book: Sixteen New Stories of the Uncanny. Ed. Lady Asquith. London: Hutchinson, 1927. Print. Miles, Kathryn. “D.H. Lawrence’s Short Stories: “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” and “The Rocking Horse Winner.”” A Companion to the British and Irish Short Story. Eds. Cheryl Alexander Malcolm and David Malcolm. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. 183- 192. Print. “The Rocking-Horse Winner, D.H. Lawrence.” Enotes.com. Enotes, n.d. Web. 23 July 2010. . “The Rocking-Horse Winner Study Guide.” Bookrags.com. Bookrags, n.d. Web. 23 July 2010. . Read More