The Love of Money

             In the short story "The Rocking-Horse Winner", D. H. Lawrence uses the character of the mother to emphasize what can happen to a family when a family mistakes money for love. The story is based around a small family that is in need of more money, or so they think. The young boy, Paul, is determined to be lucky and to somehow provide enough money so that he and the rest of his family can be happy. Lawrence uses the characters perception of money along with irony in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" to show how misconceptions of luck and money can inevitably cause the destruction of the family.
             The mother "started [life] with all the advantages", but "she had no luck"(373). She was determined that the cause of her unluckiness was her husband. It could not be any fault of her own as to her financial standing. Although both parents had a tendency to live "in style", it was the mother that would tell the children: "[t]hat is why it is better to be born luck than rich. If you're rich, you may loose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money (374)." When Paul tells his mother that he is lucky, she laughs at him. He could not possible be lucky, he did not have any money. In her mind money, luck and love all meant the same thing, and she had none.
             Just as any other young boy would want to do, Paul wanted desperately to please and gain the love of his mother. If he could just show her that he was successful. Surely then, she would love him. Paul had taken her advice and he had made his own luck and turned that into success. Even though Paul was successful at choosing the winners at horse races, he still was unsuccessful at gaining the love of his mother.
             In the end, no one was lucky or successful. Paul paid the ultimate price for his mother's greed. He would no longer be there to be the lucky one. He had given his life in hopes of pleasing his mother....

More Essays:

APA     MLA     Chicago
The Love of Money. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 07:53, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/84096.html