The rocking horse winner lesson

D. H. LAWRENCE

THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER

Introduction

• First published in 1926 in Harper’s Bazaar magazine

• Short story that incorporates elements of the fable, fantasy,

and the fairytale

• Like a fable, it presents a moral

• Like a fantasy, it presents supernatural events

• Like a fairytale, it sets the scene with simple words

• “There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the

advantages, yet she had no luck…”

Setting and Point of View

• Place: England

• Time: 1920s, just after the First World War

• Point of View: omniscient third-person

• The author is able to reveal the thoughts of all of the

characters

Three Types of Irony

• Verbal- the use of language to express the opposite

sentiment than what is expected

• Sarcasm- the speaker says the opposite of what they mean,

often for comedic effect

• Situational- when the exact opposite of what you expect to

happen, happens

• Dramatic- when a playwright or novelist creates an ironic

situation that only the viewer or reader knows about

• The reader knows something the characters do not

Irony

• Ironic situations can surprise, enlighten, amuse or sadden readers

• Remember the irony in The Lamb to the Slaughter?

• The policeman says “It’s probably right under our noses” and it really was!

• The irony in that story made you laugh

• Was that verbal, situational, or dramatic irony?

• Answer: dramatic irony

• We, the readers, knew that the murder weapon really was right under their noses

Theme

• A story’s theme is the central message or perception

about life it reveals

• As you read, think about what the theme of this story

might be

Conflict

• A story must contain conflict, or a struggle between

two characters, two forces, or a character and a

force

• If a main character struggles against some element

within himself or herself, it is called an internal conflict

• As you read, think about what each character

struggles with

• What conflicts do the characters face?

READ PAGES 1 AND 2 OF THE STORY NOW. THEN ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.

• What imagery is associated with the mother in the first

paragraph?

• How does she view her family life?

• How does she view her relationship with her children?

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS

• What is the cause of anxiety in the home?

• Where do you think the whispering is coming from?

• When Paul asks his mother what is luck, what is her

answer? Do you agree?

• According to the mother, why does she think she is

unlucky? Do you think she is unlucky? Why?


• How does the conversation about luck affect Paul?

• Why is Paul so furiously determined to find luck? Consider

what message his motivation points toward.

• How does Oscar’s attitude contrast with Paul’s? What

does this suggest about how important the races – and

luck – are to each character?


• Why do you think Oscar not only allows Paul to

continue gambling but also becomes a partner in

the venture, even though it makes him “nervous”?

What does this decision reveal about his

character?


• Why do you think Paul wants to give the money to his

mother?

• Why does he not want his mother to know about it?• Paul’s mother wants to have all of the money at once. What does that tell

you about her character?

• What is her obsession?

• Why do you think the voices get louder after Paul’s mother receives the

5,000 pounds? What point might the author be making?

READ THE LAST TWO PAGES OF THE STORY. THEN ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.

• The narrator does not tell us about the mystery of the rocking horse until the end of the story. What effect does that have on the reader?

• What is the irony in the boy’s last speech?

• In what way is the boy's furious riding on the rocking horse an appropriate symbol for materialistic pursuits?

• How are the people in the story affected by materialism? For each character, is luck a positive, a negative, or neutral force?

• Consider what happens in the story because of the adults’ desire for money. What theme about materialism is the author communicating to the reader?

Reread the passage from the story Answer the questions

There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the

advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the

love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had

been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. They looked at

her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly she

felt she must cover up some fault in herself. Yet what it was that

she must cover up she never knew. Nevertheless, when her

children were present, she always felt the center of her heart go

hard. This troubled her, and in her manner she was all the more

gentle and anxious for her children, as if she loved them very

much. Only she herself knew that at the center of her heart was a

hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody.

Everybody else said of her: "She is such a good mother. She

adores her children." Only she herself, and her children

themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other's eyes.

• What is the

mother’s

view of her

family life

and how

does she

view her

relationship

with her

children?


"Is luck money, mother?" he asked, rather

timidly.

"No, Paul. Not quite. It's what causes you to

have money."

• Do you agree or disagree

with mother?


"I shouldn't like mother to know I was lucky," said

the boy.

"Why not, son?"

"She'd stop me."

"I don't think she would."

"Oh!" - and the boy writhed in an odd way - "I don't

want her to know, uncle."

"All right, son! We'll manage it without her

knowing."

• How does Paul find

luck?

• Why do you think Paul

wants to give the

money to his mother,

and why does he not

want his mother to

know about it?


Paul, at the other's suggestion, handed over five thousand

pounds to his uncle, who deposited it with the family

lawyer, who was then to inform Paul's mother that a

relative had put five thousand pounds into his hands,

which sum was to be paid out a thousand pounds at a

time, on the mother's birthday, for the next five years.

"So she'll have a birthday present of a thousand pounds for

five successive years," said Uncle Oscar. "I hope it won't

make it all the harder for her later."

But in the afternoon Uncle Oscar appeared. He said Paul's

mother had had a long interview with the lawyer, asking if

the whole five thousand could not be advanced at once,

as she was in debt.

• Paul's mother

wants to have

all of the

money at

once. What

does that tell

you about her

character?

What is her

obsession?


So Uncle Oscar signed the agreement, and Paul's

mother touched the whole five thousand. Then

something very curious happened. The voices in the

house suddenly went mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring evening. There were certain new furnishings, and

Paul had a tutor. He was really going to Eton, his father's

school, in the following autumn. There were flowers in

the winter, and a blossoming of the luxury Paul's mother

had been used to. And yet the voices in the house,

behind the sprays of mimosa and almond-blossom, and

from under the piles of iridescent cushions, simply trilled

and screamed in a sort of ecstasy: "There must be more

money! Oh-h-h; there must be more money. Oh, now,

now-w! Now-w-w - there must be more money! - more

than ever! More than ever!"

• Once the mother

gets the money you

would expect the

voices in the house

to stop, but instead

they “suddenly went

mad, like a chorus of

frogs on a spring

evening.” Why do

you think the voices

did not stop?


"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!"

"No, you never did," said his mother.

But the boy died in the night.

And even as he lay dead, his mother heard

her brother's voice saying to her, "My God,

Hester, you're eighty-odd thousand to the

good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad.

But, poor devil, poor devil, he's best gone

out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse

to find a winner."

• The narrator does not tell us

about the mystery of the

rocking-horse until the end

of the story. What effect

does that have on the

reader?

• What is the irony in the

boy's last speech?

• What is the story saying

about materialism?

• How are the people in the

story affected by

materialism?

What is the theme of the story?

What does each character struggle with? What is the outcome of each character’s struggle?

Character Struggles with Outcome of Struggle

Uncle

Paul

Mother

Internal vs External Conflict

• Is the principal source of conflict in the story internal

or external?

• Ask yourself:

• Do these characters face struggles against other

characters, forces or do these characters struggle

against some element within themselves?

• How do the outcomes of conflict clarify the theme?

The rocking horse winner lesson

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