Fantasy Elements in The Rocking Horse Winner - Essay Example

Fantasy Elements in “The Rocking Horse Winner” Lawrence is very subtle with his injections of fantasy in “The Rocking Horse Winner.” The fantasy elements are fairly shocking to the reader because they are so unexpected. In the first few paragraphs the story describes a realistic setting and a household consisting of a mother, her husband, and her three children. But after the mother’s problems are described we learn that there is a whispering voice in the house that the children can hear.

The voice is saying “there must be more money! There must be more money!” (2). This phrase signifies what the mother is thinking about most of the time. Her entire focus is on money and, as a result, her kids are being neglected. Through the house taking on the personality of the mother, Lawrence is able to show the effect it has on the children and how the mother’s mentality influences them. A few sentences later the reader learns that the toys as well as the puppy can hear the voice too.

Lawrence writes that “even the [rocking] horse heard it” and “the big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly” (2). Lawrence likely puts this fantasy element in the story to show how much the mother’s attitude permeates the house and eventually leads to seemingly unnatural occurrences. After his mother tells him that the way to get money is by being lucky, Paul takes her philosophy to heart. He begins to think if he can have luck he can get money and give it to his mother so she can pay off her debts.

He desires this because he thinks that once his mother has money, she will stop neglecting him and give him more attention. Later we learn that the catalyst for Paul’s luck is his rocking horse, hence the title, “The Rocking Horse Winner.” The house and the rocking horse seem to be magically possessed: The house is obsessed with getting more money while the rocking horse is obsessed with choosing a winner. Both have the same goal in mind -- making more money. As the house gets more demanding with getting money, Paul becomes obsessed and thinks that if he can just make more money the voices will stop.

The madness that the house (and his mother) possesses is passed on to Paul and now he is obsessed with getting money. The voices that come from the house are similar to the neglect that Paul feels. The comparison of the two is a good illustration by Lawrence of how the desire for money at the expense of everything else can be a very unholy thing; so unholy, in fact, that it can even be transferred to inanimate objects in addition to taking hold of other people. Later, we discover that Paul has transferred his obsession to his rocking horse as he rides it all night long until he receives a kind of “revelation” about who will win the next horse race.

He seems to be transferring his obsession to his rocking horse as now it has become his catalyst for luck; and he hopes that eventually the rocking horse’s lucky predictions will allow his mother to pay off her debts and then everything will be alright. The touch of fantasy that Lawrence uses in this tragedy is effective because it is taking something like the making money at the expense of spending time with one’s children and turning it into something that is much more powerful than just an individual.

It shows that her mother’s views are so damaging that they can encompass an entire house and the toys and animals within that house in addition to other people. The majority of the story is realistic but the element of the house always demanding more money really drives the point of the story home and shows the power that a person’s actions can have on their children. In this story, fantasy and reality definitely do blend together. This makes the story more interesting and effective. Because the fantasy elements are integrated in a casual manner, the reader almost has to do a double take and confirm what they have just read.

Fantasy is something one doesn’t anticipate after reading the first few paragraphs, but it definitely adds to the overall story.