Rocking Horse Winner

Affects of the Materialistic Pursuit

All the major characters in D. H. Lawrence’s, “The Rocking Horse Winner” revolve around the pursuit of materialistic abundance. In the story a boy, Paul, seems possessed to ride a rocking horse to supernaturally find a winning horse to an actual horse race, until he eventually dies because of it. The definition of materialistic in the American Heritage Dictionary, “The theory or attitude that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life” , can be useful to more clearly explain what is affecting the characters, especially Paul, in the story and to point out the irony of his pursuit.

With Paul, the pursuit of money is an obsession. He feverishly wants to show his mother that he can get what she wants- money. When persistently questioned by Paul about her luckiness, Paul’s mother gives up and says “Perhaps I’m not really [lucky]”, but Paul “saw by the lines of her mouth, that she was only trying to hide something from him.” - her belief in her ability to make money. Paul said, ”I’m a lucky person”, but “The boy saw that she did not believe him” and “this angered him somewhat, and made him want to compel her at

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

“There was a grinding sense of the shortage of money, though the style was kept up. Hester’s tastes were “just as expensive” as the father’s. For these characters the highest value in life was not life itself, but was the physical possessions that they pursued- even if it meant death. He is of a higher social class and lets it be known to the ones in the lower class. When Paul asks Oscar to keep his tip a secret because he promised Bassett, Oscar says, “Bassett be damned, old man! What’s he got to do with it?” Clearly showing a lack of respect and a no notion for loyalty to a person of his class. “Paul’s mother had her birthday coming up in November. When Paul asked why they were the poor members of the family “she said slowly and bitterly, “it’s because your father has no luck. As when talking to Paul about how much Basset was going to bet, he laughed at the idea of Basset having any money to bet with.

Paul’s mother, Hester, throughout the story shows her bitter feelings and resentment towards her situation without enough money. You’ve made over seventy thousand pounds, you have. Quite ironically, Lawrence shows the materialism of Hester’s ways in the end when she walks in on Paul riding the rocking horse for the last time:

“Then suddenly she switched on the light, and saw her son in his green pajamas, madly surging on the rocking horse. The stress that materialistic pursuits cause can destroy a family and person. “And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money!” The house is a metaphor for the underlying desires of the parents. As Paul shouted his last prediction, Oscar and Basset cashed in on it, even with Paul unconscious and near death.

Approximate Word count = 1480
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.