The Modern Age of British Literature was in some ways a rebellion against the Victorian ideals of extravagancy. a perspective brought on by the rough world of World War I. The scarceness of resources combined with blunt images of the war influenced authors to reprobate the nobility for their inordinate self-indulgence. In DH Lawrence’s “The Rocking Horse Winner” his hate for the English people’s philistinism is conveyed through the decease of an guiltless kid. Without a uncertainty. DH Lawrence positions England as a money-dominated society. In fact Koban provinces. “Lawrence hated money and warping of modern adult male that scrambling for money caused. But he knew that no middle-class matrimony could be successful without it. Money on the other manus must be kept in position and non romanticized into a replacement for love. as it is in ‘The Rocking Horse Winner’” ( 391 ) . The parents’ psychotic belief about the value of money over love finally destroys the household and calls attending to the modern world’s deficiency of values ( Thornton 77 ) .
The house in this narrative symbolizes an compulsion with money. It whispers the household secret. “There must be more money” because the parents are accustomed to holding wealth. yet they are unable to bring forth it. They live beyond their agencies. and the walls of the cryptic house whisper this dark secret. The kids hear it and cognize it. but do non talk of it. The parents experience it and cognize it. but do non talk of it. The house is symbolic of the insatiate lecherousness for more and sets the phase for Paul’s fatal quest toward an unapproachable end. The house serves as a ocular to reflect the philistinism of its dwellers. Hester. Paul’s female parent. is consumed by a desire to hold an unsustainable life style. Lawrence describes her as a adult female “who started with all the advantages. yet she had no fortune. She married for love. and the love turned to dust. ” so the families’ fundss are “not about plenty for the societal place which they had to maintain up” ( 1 ) . The mother’s focal point on money amendss all of her relationships. particularly with her kids.
Though others perceive her as a good female parent. “she herself cognize that at the centre of her bosom was a difficult small topographic point that could non experience love. no. non for anybody” ( Lawrence 1 ) . Her kids are cognizant of it every bit good because. “they read it in each other’s eyes” ( Lawrence 1 ) . Hester realizes her kids are turning up. but their adulthood means that they will go an extra fiscal load because they must go to the “right” schools. When she sees them. Hester hears. “There must be more money. There must be more money” ( 1 ) . She is the most mercenary out of all of Lawrence’s characters. yet she is unable to bring forth any income on her ain. Her attempts are a complete failure. yet she must maintain up visual aspects. She illustrates how personal greed destroys a household. The male characters in this narrative are no better. Lawrence describes the male parent as one. “who was ever really fine-looking and expensive in his tastes” ( 1 ) . Like Hester. he is besides unable to bring forth anything. or do any part to the household.
Koban focuses on the male parent nonsense stating. “The male parent in the narrative has no name. one of many indicants that he is a complete failure as a hubby and a supplier. His inabilities are highlighted by the societal place the household tries unsuccessfully to maintain” ( 382 ) . He is besides seen as greedy. yet he lacks the ability to roll up resources because. “Though he had good chances these chances ne’er materialized. There was ever a grinding sense of the deficit of money” ( Lawrence 1 ) . The affluent uncle. Oscar Cresswell. merely shows involvement in immature Paul when he learns Paul has an involvement in rushing and is often able to pick a victor. He uses Paul as a agency to an terminal. When Paul dies. the uncle’s response to Hester is. “My God. Hester. you’re eighty-odd 1000 to the good. and a hapless Satan of a boy to the bad” ( Lawrence 2 ) . Oscar’s “condolences” exemplify his hungriness for money and deficiency of concern for household. Oscar. Hester. and the hubby are all three really avaricious. insatiate characters that help the reader comprehend the dark side of money. Not all of the characters are evil and greedy.
The supporter of the narrative. Paul. the child who wants to gain his mother’s love and unrelentingly pursues luck for that really ground. The strength of his hunt causes him to go monomaniacal. and Lawrence describes Paul. “Absorbed. taking no attentiveness of other people. he went about with a kind of stealing. seeking inside for fortune. He wanted fortune. he wanted it. he wanted it” ( Lawrence 1 ) . Paul’s compulsion with happening luck mirrors his parents’ compulsion with philistinism. Paul decides that his swaying Equus caballus knows where fortune can be found. and he commands the wooden Equus caballus to take him at that place. a certain mark of his psychological diminution. When the Equus caballus disappoints him. Paul dismounts and beats the wooden Equus caballus with a whip. “He knew the Equus caballus could take him to where was luck. if merely he forced it. So he would mount once more and get down on his ferocious drive. trusting at last to acquire there” ( Lawrence 1 ) .
Though his equitation is obsessional. Paul is non obsessed with holding money like his ma. pa. and uncle. “Paul’s desire for the money has nil to make with greed for him ; he merely has commiseration for others. His last drive is altruistic. and his decease was a heroic act for self forfeit. Paul’s decease impacts the reader to liberate themselves from the ironss of materialism” ( Turner 104 ) . Paul dies seeking to win his mother’s love by being lucky. His death words are. “I ne’er told you female parent. that if I can sit my Equus caballus. and acquire at that place. so I’m perfectly certain – Ohio. perfectly! Mother. did I of all time tell you? I am lucky! ” ( Lawrence 2 ) . He is killed from a physical unwellness caused by psychological harm and societal force per unit area ( Goldberg 534-535 ) . The Equus caballus which propels Paul to his decease is a symbolic reminder of the Trojan Equus caballus. He receives it as a gift and rides it to his decease. “The Equus caballus alludes to the wooden Trojan Equus caballus. a traditional symbol of misrepresentation. Although Paul hopes to utilize his Equus caballus to hedge troubles he is deceived” ( R. Lawrence 324 ) .
Though the Equus caballus gives him the winning names of race Equus caballuss. it can non give him what he truly wants. the love of a female parent. The symbolism in the narrative truly reveals the inexorable worlds of self-indulgence. “The Rocking Horse Winner” shows the effects of philistinism. Hester additions a luck but loses her lone boy. Lawrence writes. “He [ Paul ] neither slept nor regained consciousness. and his eyes were like bluish rocks. His female parent sat. experiencing her bosom had gone. turned really into a stone” ( Lawrence 2 ) . Hester now has all the money she needs to prolong the life style she loves. but it has come at a great monetary value. and for the first clip she seems to be cognizant of its dearness. Snodgrass provinces. “What I would wish to propose is that the narrative can be read as the flood tide in the history of the decease of love in Hester. the decease of the bosom. and that as such it ought to be read chiefly as an fable of the kid in her. the decease of artlessness and love. Mystically and allegorically talking. Paul’s decease is her death” ( 3 ) .
The female parent begins to care about her kids for the first clip of all time. but it is excessively late. The parents’ psychotic belief about the value of money over love finally destroys the household and calls attending to the modern world’s deficiency of values ( Thornton 72-77 ) . No sum of money in the universe can purchase the love and credence Hester’s kids seek from her. “She [ the female parent Hester ] . her hubby. and their boy all deny their emotional demands and withdraw. alternatively perpetrating themselves to external values: fortune and money. Because externals are beyond personal control. prosecuting them leads to devastation ; money becomes a symbolic replacement for love and affection” ( Snodgrass 118 ) . Two characters who appear to larn perfectly nil from Paul’s tragic decease are his ain male parent and Uncle Oscar Cresswell. The deceasing male child lies in bed three yearss with his female parent by his side. yet his male parent ne’er even makes an visual aspect.
Lawrence seems to bespeak that the male parent has no concern for the male child whatsoever. Oscar’s heartache over the loss of the male child is straight connected to the loss of fiscal gross at the race path. While Paul is contending for his life. “In malice of himself. Oscar Cresswell spoke to Bassett. and himself put a 1000 on Malabar: at 14 to one” ( Lawrence 2 ) . Oscar’s concluding remark on the decease of Paul is. “Poor Satan. hapless Satan. he’s best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to happen a winner” ( Lawrence 2 ) . All of these characters show the true side of awful philistinism. Goldberg describes “The Rocking Horse Winner” stating. “Lawrence’s narrative is a societal fabrication that attacks the parental disregard and inhumaneness caused by materialism” ( 525 ) .
Lawrence creates hapless characters that show disregard for one another and utmost lecherousness for more in order to state a narrative that displays his disgust for Britain’s greed. The mother’s attitude towards her kids is inexcusable. and the male parent is fundamentally absent. The distressing household kineticss cause Paul to seek his mother’s blessing by happening fortune which finally consequences in his decease. Oscar Cresswell uses the male child for fiscal addition and has small respect for his decease. In malice of the house’s continuation to whisper its destructive secret. “There must be more money. There must be more money. ” Lawrence is clearly pass oning to his audience that philistinism is a destructive force which can destroy the society of Great Britain and the remainder of the universe.
Plants Cited
Goldberg. Michael. “Lawrence’s ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner” : A Dickensian Fable. ” ModernFiction Studies 15 ( 1969 ) : 525-536.Koban. Charles. “Allegory And The Death Of The Heart In ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ . ”Surveies In Short Fiction 15. 4 ( 1978 ) : 391. Literary Reference Center. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. Lawrence. DH. “The Rocking Horse Winner. ” Dowse Fiction.Fiction Hub. n. d. Web. 24 Oct2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www. dowsing. com/fiction/LawrenceLawrence. Robert G. “Further Notes on D. H. Lawrence’s Rocking Horse. ” College English 24( 1963 ) : 324.Snodgrass. W. D. “A Rocking Horse: The Symbol. the Pattern. the Way to Live. ” In D. H.Lawrence: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Mark Spilka. Englewood Gliffs. N. J. :Prentice-Hall. 1963. Pp. 117-26. 1958Thornton. Weldon. and Harold Bloom. “Weldon Thornton On The Intersection Of “Natural” And “Supernatural. ” Bloom’s Major Short Story Writers: D. H. Lawrence ( 2001 ) : 108-110. Literary Reference Center. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.
Turner. Frederick W. . III. “Prancing in to a Purpose: Myths. Horses. and True Selfhood inLawrence’s ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner. ‘” In D. H. Lawrence: The Rocking-HorseWinner. Ed. Dominick P. Consolo. Columbus. Ohio: Charles E. Merrill. 1969. Pp. 95-106.
