The Rocking-Horse Winner (1923)

By D. H. Lawrence

Presentation:Dr Jason M. Ward

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A 325 word Summary 1/4 • Set in a house said to be haunted by the

unspoken phrase ‘There must be more money!’, the plot of ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ centres on Paul, a young boy who discovers that he can predict the winners of horse races by riding his toy horse until he intuits their names. With the money that he gains from betting on winning horses, Paul tries to silence the haunted house and buy the affection of his profligate and neglectful mother.

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A 325-word Summary 2/4

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•The father is absent for most of the story and his paternal role is divided between Hester’s handsome wealthy brother, Oscar, and the loyal gardener, Bassett, both of whom facilitate Paul’s gambling habit. Oscar unwittingly provides his nephew with his first winning gambling stake and helps Paul to give his winnings anonymously to Hester.

A 325-word Summary 3/4

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• This extra income, however, just causes Paul’s mother to spend more and the young boy’s exertions on the rocking horse to predict more winners begin to negatively affect his health. As Paul recklessly rides his rocking horse to predict the Derby winner, his mother is shocked to discover him in action. After shouting out ‘Malabar’, Paul falls unconscious from the horse and remains critically ill for three days with what is described as a ‘brain fever’. Oscar and Bassett bet on Malabar to win as the boy lies on his sickbed with his mother anxiously watching over him.

A 325-word Summary 4/4

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• Later, Bassett visits Paul to report that Malabar has won and the boy has now amassed over eighty thousand pounds from the win. After his mother learns where her money came from, the boy claims to be lucky, but then dies soon afterwards. In the perplexing final lines of the story, Oscar tells his sister: ‘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’.

1. What is your opinion of the character of Oscar?

• He is the most likable because he is charismatic, witty, wealthy, handsome, laughs a lot, pays the most attention to Paul and tries to help him to please his mother. However, he is also a gambler and at the end of the tale he profits from Paul’s betting tip even though the boy is dying. Oscar’s final lines seem rather hypocritical since he became an accessory to Paul’s gambling, insensitive because Hester has just lost her young child, and egotistical because he is still trying to be witty even over his nephew’s death.

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2. Do you think that The Rocking-Horse Winner is a supernatural story? Why / why not?•Although the house is haunted by voices, only Paul hears them. Although Paul magically predicts winning horses, he also choses losing horses too. Although he dies mysteriously of a brain fever, this could also have been a stroke or an asthma attack from stress and over-exertion. There is some suggestion that the boy might be psychologically ill. The story can be read in many ways which is why it remains so popular and has been adapted to film at least seven times! 7/18

3. How might ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ be compared to myths such as Oedipus or Faust?

• In Sophocles’ tragedy (429 BC), Oedipus accidentally killed his father and slept with his mother. In DHL’s story, Paul replaces his father as the income earner and tries please his mother to gain her love.

• In the German legend Faust, a scholar makes a deal with the devil to receive knowledge and power but as a result he is taken to hell by the devil. Paul gains an unnatural power to see the future but pays for this gift with his life.

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4. What do you think is the moral of this tale?

• The story could be read as a warning against child neglect, an indictment of consumerism, a stand against industrialism, or even a cautionary tale about gambling. However, the arch tone of the narrative, its fairy tale framing, and Oscar’s puzzling conclusion, disrupt such over-simplistic readings of the story. It is too ambivalent to be moralistic and too ambiguous to be read in any particular way, which might explain why all seven film adaptations of the story seem to convey a different message.

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MCQ 1

How does this story suggest a fairy tale? A. The opening linesB. The appearance of fairiesC. A princess is locked in a tower

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MCQ 1

How does this story suggest a fairy tale? A. The opening linesB. The appearance of fairiesC. A princess is locked in a tower

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MCQ 2

What does Oscar do when he finds out that Paul is gambling?

A. Tells him to stop because he is underage and it is a dangerous for a childB. Asks the boy for betting tips when he discovers Paul is good at finding winnersC. Tells Paul’s mother immediately so that she can decide what is best for her son

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MCQ 2

What does Oscar do when he finds out that Paul is gambling?

A. Tells him to stop because he is underage and it is a dangerous for a childB. Asks the boy for betting tips when he discovers Paul is good at finding winnersC. Tells Paul’s mother immediately so that she can decide what is best for her son

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MCQ 3

What is Bassett’s job in the tale?

A. He is Paul’s Latin tutorB. He is Oscar’s lawyerC. He is the family’s gardener

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MCQ 3

What is Bassett’s job in the tale?

A. He is Paul’s Latin tutorB. He is Oscar’s lawyerC. He is the family’s gardener

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MCQ 4

What is filthy lucre?

A. MoneyB. LuckC. A horse

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MCQ 4

What is filthy lucre?

A. MoneyB. LuckC. A horse

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Thank you!

• Any Questions?

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