The Rocking Horse Winner

DH Lawrence

Questions

• Why was the mother dissatisfied?• How did Paul get obsessed about having luck?• Why were Paul's sisters uneasy in his presence?• Describe the boy’s behaviour at the Lincoln races

where his uncle took him?• Who was bassett?• Why was the boy so particular about his mother not

knowing about his luck?

• What birthday present did the mother get? what was her response?

• Why was Paul so frantic about the Derby?• What was Paul’s secret of secrets?• What was the last prediction the boy made?• What was the attitude of Paul’s mother to her

children? How did the children and the people feel about it?

• What does the voice in Paul’s house signify?

• What was the unspoken phrase that haunted the house?

• Why was Paul’s family full of anxiety?• Why did Paul’s mother consider herself unlucky?• What is the ironical ending of the story?• What is the message of the story?• How does Bassett try to save the boy’s life?• What is the theme of the story?

Characters

• Paul: A young boy who notices that his mother doesn’t love him and his sisters, even though she “adores” them.

• When he receives a rocking horse for Christmas, he rides it often and comes to find that he can predict what horse is going to win the next big horse race.

• Hester: • Paul's mother. • She becomes “dissatisfied with her marriage”

when she finds that her husband is not lucky and doesn't make enough money.

• Bassett: • The family gardener and friend. • He gets Paul into horse racing, and later

becomes “betting partners”.

• Oscar Creswell: • Paul's uncle and his mother's brother.• Provided the money that Paul used to make his

first win at the horse race. • Signed the lawyer papers in order for Paul's

mother to receive “one thousand pounds at a time, on the mother's birthday, for the next five years”.

• Oscar becomes partners with Paul and Bassett.

• Paul’s Father: Man who works in town and has promising prospects that never seem to materialize because, as his wife says, he is unlucky

• Miss Wilmot: • The family nurse• Paul’s Siblings: • Two younger sisters, one named Joan and the other

unidentified by name.• Chief Artist: • Woman who sketches drawings for newspaper

advertisements placed by drapers. • Hester works for her to make extra money.•

• Paul lives in a family that is poor. • The mother is always complaining about money. • Paul loves to ride his rocking horse and fantasizes

about the horse races. • Later his Uncle Oscar takes him to the races. • Paul tells him what horses to bet on.• He tells his Uncle that he and his friend Bassett bet all

the time and have lots of money. • Uncle Oscar doesn’t believe him (because he is just a

young kid).

• Then they go to the races and Paul picks the winners and he, Bassett and his uncle become rich.

• Paul wants to give the money to his mom, but doesn’t want her to know that it is from him.

• So Uncle Oscar deposits it into the family bank account as a birthday gift and says it is from a distant relative.

• Uncle Oscar set it up so she would receive 1000 pounds ($2,000 roughly) every year for 5 years.

• But when Paul’s mom finds out about it, she asks for it all because she is in debt.

• Throughout this whole thing Paul hears voices coming from the house.

• The voices yell about how the family needs more money (the kid is a little psycho).

• Paul goes to boarding school and in the summer he returns.

• Then he goes a bit nuts. • His mom wants to send him to the beach, but Paul

doesn’t want to go to the beach until after the Derby (big horse race).

• Paul still rides his rocking horse (even though he’s a bit too old for it).

• He has to ride it to pick a winner in the Derby.

• Then Paul gets sick (mentally and physically). Paul’s mom worries about him.

• One day at a party she feels like something is wrong back home (motherly instinct).

• She goes home and catches Paul riding the rocking horse in the dark.

• Then he shouts out the name of the horse he will bet on (Malabar).

• He, Bassett and Uncle Oscar put tons of money on Malabar.

• Malabar wins the race and Paul is a rich dude.• He then goes absolutely nuts and starts yelling

about how he needed his rocking horse to pick the winner.

• He also babbles on about luck and money.• Unfortunately, he dies in the end.

Themes

• Neglect• In her preoccupation with material things,

Hester neglects to provide Paul the love he needs to develop into a normal, mentally stable child

• Obsession• Lust for material objects, stylish living, and money so

obsesses Paul's mother • Paul then "inherits" her obsession. But he wants to

win money for his mother, not for himself, in order to prove that he has the luck that his father lacks. When he discovers that the five thousand pounds he sets aside for her is not enough to achieve his goals, he becomes obsessed with winning more.

• Opportunism• Oscar Creswell acknowledges that Paul's

wagering makes him nervous. • But rather than take steps to stop Paul, he

encourages him and asks for tips on winning horses.

• When Paul lies deathly ill muttering the name of his pick for the Derby, Oscar runs off and places a bet on the horse

• Deceit• In the first paragraph of the story, the

narrator says Hester does not love her children

• Yet, outwardly she pretends to love them, and people say, "She is a good mother. She adores her children."