Summary
This whole story is
about, being lucky. A boy
named Paul who asked
her mother why they are
not rich. His mother
said this is because your
father has no luck.
However, Paul was
convinced that he could
find his own luck. His
drive to find luck was
fueled by the whispers
that he heard throughout
the house there must be
more money.
He thought that if he found luck he
would be able to make the whispers
stop. Therefore, Paul would ride like
crazy on an old rocking horse he had
in his bedroom. He thought that if he
rode long enough he would eventually
find luck. Then he developed a habit
of betting on horse
races with his partner,
Bassett.
Paul said that all he did was ride his
rocking horse until something in his
head told him who the winner would be;
therefore, his uncle got closer to him.
When the biggest race of the year
came around he rode his horse all
night like a madman, for that is what
he had become. He eventually knew
who would win but ended up dying
during the night without having been
able to enjoy the eight thousand
pounds that he had won for
being lucky.
Characters
• Paul: the main character in the story. He
believes that he is a lucky person and with
the gift when riding his rocking horse, he
can know the winner of horse races. In
order to prove her mother that he can find
luck ;however, he does not realize there
would be a terrible price to pay.
• Hester: Paul’s mother. She is kind of
material woman and does not feel content
what she has. She thinks herself having
no luck, because her husband is an
unlucky person.
• The father: Paul’s father. A middle-aged
dejection man has no luck.
• Oscar Cresswell: Paul’s uncle. When
noticing that Paul is very lucky at
choosing whom the winner would be, he
approaches Paul about his lucky. After,
he becomes a partner with Paul.
• Bassett: He is a gardener and a partner
with Paul.
• Joan: Paul’ elder sister.
Theme—Self-Knowledge
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is about a
family whose parents are so confused
about their own values, about the relative
importance of love and money. They have
committed their lives to the external world
and money.
For example, Hester, the mother, is
pathetically superficial. She thinks that she
is unable to love her children. (paragraph
I—only she herself knew that at the
centre…) However, in the end of the story,
we could tell that she loves Paul as other
mothers love their children. (the last page)
According to Lawrence’s definition, the way
to live is according to what you are, not what
you think you should be made over into;
knowing yourself, not external standards.
The mother, refusing to clarify what her
emotions really are (dare not to admit her
love to the children), hopes to control herself
and her world by acting “gentle and anxious
for her children.” She tries to act what she
thinks she should be, not taking adequate
notice of what she is and needs. Till the end,
Paul collapses. Some deep source of her
affection has been released.
Similarly, Paul has a need for affection
which he cannot understand and manage.
Thus, he attempts to cover this lack of
self-knowledge with knowledge about the
external world (horse racing→making
money→pleases his mother) which he
hopes will bring him the love he needs.
Lawrence says: “The real way of living is
to answer to one’s wants.” Nevertheless,
both Paul and his mother ignore their true
feelings and become the slaves of the
external standards. They bring
themselves miserable ending.
Love=Luck=Lucre=Sperm ??
As we know, Lawrence mentions sex in most of
his works. There is no exception in “The
Rocking-Horse Winner.” From the first
paragraph (she had bonny children,…) , the
rhyming verb thrust has suggested us that
Hester’s dissatisfaction is, in large part, sexual.
In the story, the money is a symbolic substitute
for love and affection, and ultimately for sperm
(精液). To Paul, showing his mother that he has
luck which his father doesn’t have is the only
way to win his mother’s affection and release the
whispering around the house. He must have the
lucre which comes of luck.
When he sends his mother the birthday present of
five thousand pounds hoping to alleviate her
problems, his present only makes her colder and
more luxurious. At the same time, the house is
throughout the voice of his mother’s ideal sexual
craving: “There must be more money…” (p. 315).
This passage is a mimetic representation of a
woman in the throes (掙扎) of sexual climax.
However, it is a climax which only titillates (使興奮)
without fulfilling. His mother’s lust for lucre is
greedy; for fulfilling her appetite, Paul has to drive
his luck harder and die exhaustedly after all.
Riding Horse=Masturbating?
• The act of riding a horse is an obvious symbol for
the sex movement. And riding the rocking-horse is
the imitation of the sex act for a child. Lawrence
says “Sex must go somewhere, especially in young
people. So, in our glorious civilization, it goes in
masturbation. And the mass of our popular
literature, the bulk of our popular amusements just
exists to provoke masturbation.” To Lawrence,
masturbation is chiefly as a substitute for some sort
of intercourse. As a result, we can be easily
convinced that Paul’s mysterious ecstasy might be
onanism. That is Paul’s “secret of secrets—the
wooden horse” (p. 317). We probably can get some
clues by the conversation between Paul and his
mother. (pp. 310, 317)
• Later on, Paul draws back from his family gradually. He
takes the rocking-horse to the top of the house and is
isolated from his sisters and parents. Lawrence believes
that man’s isolation is an unavoidable part of his
definition as a human being. He says in “Pornography
and Obscenity”—And this is masturbation’s result.
Enclosed within the vicious circle of the self, with no vital
contacts outside, the self becomes emptier and emptier,
till it is almost a nothingness….The great danger of
masturbation lies in its merely exhaustive nature. In
sexual intercourse, there is a give and take. A new
stimulus enters as the native stimulus departs….And this
is so in all sexual intercourse where two creatures are
concerned.... There is no reciprocity (相互性). There is
merely the spending away of a certain force, and no
return. The body remains, in a sense, a corpse, after the
act of self-abuse.
A corpse—that is what Paul becomes after the last
riding of the rocking-horse.
Money and Capitalism
“The Rocking Horse Winner” is a story about the
devastating effects that money can have on a
family, and further that Lawrence’s specific
objections in the story are not to money abstractly
conceived, but to money as it is understood and
valued by capitalist culture. The story is a mordant
commentary on the distorted and self-destructive
values of the upper middle-class and of many of us
living in a capitalist, money dominated society.
Money
The house is haunted by the ghost of
money, whispering repeatedly the terrible
command, “There must be more money!”
Money is the symbolic substitutes for love
and affection. To Paul, money isn’t a
good in itself—it is only a way to win his
mother’s affection.
“The boy saw him did not believe him…
and made him want to compel her
affection.”
Paul is driven to his death by the
inflexible money mindedness of his
parents. The Love of money somehow
interferes with the life process.
Capitalism
• Capitalist: Paul, as a handicapper, he invests
money, betting on a profitable return on his
investment, and In this sense, he is a capitalist.
Indeed, his betting is the sign of the economic
relations controlling the world of the story. But
at the same time, for what he is investing, in real
terms is himself, selling his skills to generate
wealth that he is not free to possess.
• Laborer: Young Paul exemplified
vividly the sort of work that arises
under capital. Simply put, he is a
laborer of hid mother.
• Exploitation: Exploitation is the necessary
element under the capitalistic society. “The
essential meaning of exploitation is that a surplus
is seized from the working population for the
benefit of a superior class. Paul is exploited by
the capitalistic society and the economic pressure
that is passed down by his mother.
• Alienation: In capitalistic and money- dominated
society, people are aloof and isolated from one
another. Alienation is one of the
component of Capitalism.
Paul is isolated from his parents,
his sisters and even the world.
Religion
• The presence of Christianity in the story
is set forth most readily, of course, in the
depiction of the young Paul as a Christ
figure: not only is he referred to
repeatedly as “son”, but he also
possesses a seemingly magical power
that comes form heaven.
• The most telling example is Paul himself,
who willingly sacrifices himself to save
the world into which he was born. His
death gives his family the financial
independence possible, even while it
appears holy and pure, is in fact devilish.
Family Relationship
Husband
Wife
The relationship between husband and wife is obviously
cold and boring. They married for love, but when the
passion of love passed away, their postnuptial life
become tedious. Besides, the husband doesn’t have a
good social position and miss the promotion in his job.
Therefore, the wife begins to complain about the
husband’s unlucky and pursues material needs. However,
they still keep the superficial harmony of the family.
“There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with
all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for
love but the love had turned to dust.” (p 307 L. 1-3)
“Although they lived in style, they felt always an
anxiety in the house. There was never enough
money. The mother had a small income, and
the father had a small income, but not nearly
enough for the social position which they had to
keep up. The father went into town to some
office. But though he had good prospects, these
prospects never materialized. There was always
the grinding sense of the shortage of money,
though the style was always kept up. ”
Family Relationship
Parents
Children
The relationship between parents and children
is quite indifferent. The parents are too busy in
keeping their fame, profits, and social position to
take care of their children. Nevertheless, children,
especially at the age of Paul, need the love and care
from parents. Thus, Paul, in order to attract his
mother’s attention and piece together the whole
family, gambles the horse-racing and gives the
money reward to his mother. However, his mother is
not satisfied with the money, she wants more and
more and finally causes the death of Paul.
Family Relationship
(Oedipus Complex)
Paul
Romance -- Reality
(Rockinghorse) (Love)
Mother
Materialism
(Marriage)
(Money, Social
position.)
Luck
Father
Family and Society
Family = Society
Mother = Materialism
Paul = sacrifice
= civilized men
= spiritual life
Whispering = Desire