“The Rocking-Horse Winner”

D. H. Lawrence's “The Rocking-Horse Winner” is about a family who lives in style but lacks in money, and their son’s answer to the solution through the rocking horse.

Level 1 – What could the mother and children read in each other’s eyes that no one else knew?
Level 2 – Why does the house whisper?
Level 3 – Why are eyes referenced throughout the story? Is this important?

I found D. H. Lawrence's “The Rocking-Horse Winner” to be slightly confusing at first, but had a great flow throughout the story. Paul wants to help his ill-fortuned parents make money. He is pressured through the house whispers to him, “There must be more money! There must be more money!” Paul soon learns about the relationship between luck and wealth, and wants to fix his mother’s problems.

What confused me was why Paul wanted to help his mom, Hester, when she did not love him. He knew this and set that factor aside to try and fix the problems. Hester was unable to love her children and was constantly thinking about the need for more money.

What also befuddled me was why during a conversation between Paul and his mother about luck that he told her he had luck when there was none to be found until after the magic of the rocking horse was found. The order seems backwards; I felt he should have known the rocking horses powers before he said anything to his mom. It seemed kind of strange that the rocking horse spoke to Paul and that, through placing bets on the horses his rocking horse gives him, the rocking horse was the answer to fixing his troubles.

However, when Paul drove himself to his death the cliché part ended. I thought that was a great twist to the story and made me realize the theme to the story more clearly – which was that money can not fix a person’s problems. His mother was never going to be satisfied and the house continued to whisper about getting more. This ultimately ended his life.