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The Rocking –Horse Winner: D. H. Lawrence ‘The Rocking –Horse Winner’ is a short story written by D. H. Lawrence which was first published in1926 in Harper’s Bazaar magazine. Lawrence’s works are mainly on explorations of the peculiarities of human nature. This story is about a young boy named Paul who earns money for his family by predicting the winner of the horse race. He belonged to a poor family where he was brought up amidst tribulations as his parents were seriously irresponsible to him.

Paul’s mother believes that luck is the factor of being rich and its absence made them poor. The little Paul is inspired to experiment his luck in gambling because of his mother’s opinion that “if you’re rich, you may lose your money. But if you’re lucky, you will always get more money”. Once, during the conversation between Paul and his uncle, he speaks about horse races and gambling explicitly and reveals that the gardener is his partner. When the uncle comes to know it instead of correcting Paul, he too becomes a partner.

The central point of the story is a wooden horse which Paul believes has some magical effects to make him a winner. Paul gives five thousand pounds of his winnings to his uncle in order to arrange a birthday gift for his mother who always used to blame her misfortune. The story ends with the tragic death of the poor boy that always had a strong affection to his parents. When the uncle asks Paul what he would do with the winning money, he says that he needs to change his mother’s bad luck.

This short story best illustrates, how or to what extent family environment affects a kid’s mind. He always hears the desperate words of his mother that can only imbue him with deceptive ideologies. The young boy was disturbed by the incessant whispering he heard even from vacuum; “there must be more money! There must be more money!” Even though he doesn’t know how to make money, this strong desire to acquire money is deep-rooted in his inner soul. This is the situation when the boy comes to know about horse gambling which gradually perverts him the whole way to the tragic end.

The character of Paul’s mother also conveys a great message to the readers of this beautiful story. She is the image of people who always blame others or fate for their failure. They often think that money is the sole factor that brings happiness; and it usually comes due to one’s luck. She expresses this notion openly when Paul asks why they didn’t have a car. Her answer has an adverse effect on Paul as he begins to think that only money can make him and his mother happy.

This cloudy atmosphere exerts heavy pressure on young Paul that makes him a gambler. However, the contradiction lies where his mother goes extraordinarily greedy and tries to hide the gift from Paul. This is something that a young boy can little comprehend. No wonder why Paul chooses the Gardner as his partner because he was comparatively compassionate to Paul. The gardener gave him company better than any other family members could ever do. Paul’s obsession to horse race is attributed to his situational constraints and ignorant parents.

Having seen the changes in his child, she tries to care him more, but it was late. There are few stories as good as The Rocking –Horse Winner that throws light into the adolescent psychology. Works CitedLawrence, David Herbert. The Rocking-horse winner. Creative short stories series. Creative Education Inc, 1982. ISBN-087 1918935.