Analyzing “the Rocking Horse Winner” free essay sample

â€Å"The Rocking Horse Winner† DH Lawrence’s â€Å"The Rocking Horse Winner† is the perfect example of this materialistic world. The Uncle in the story The Rocking Horse Winner is symbolic of capitalism and the drive to continue to obtain a greater income. The fact that the family is never content with their financial situation, Lawrence is showing the relationship of the family is affected by the amount of money they have. Luck is introduced as a way of achieving wealth instead of working hard for your money. Gambling has ways of tearing families a part and ruining lives. A family can work even if they’re dysfunctional as long as there is love in it. The world has become a materialistic place where enough is never enough. Lawrence’s family in this story is living well beyond their means, which is how many people live their lives. â€Å"The mother had a small income, and the father had a small income, but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up. We will write a custom essay sample on Analyzing â€Å"the Rocking Horse Winner† or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † People spend so much money trying to keep up with the Jones. Debt just piling up, until eventually you lose it all. â€Å"Paul’s mother touched the whole five thousand. Then something very curious happened. The voices in the house suddenly went mad,† Money doesn’t bring happiness; it can’t fix a person’s personal and dysfunctional problems in their life. Paul’s mother believed in fate and luck and that you couldn’t change it. In a passive way of dealing with things, to always blame people or supernatural means for your problems. â€Å" â€Å"And aren’t you lucky either, mother? † â€Å"I can’t be, I married an unlucky husband†. To accept responsibility means you have to acknowledge when you succeed as well as when you fail. His mother told Paul at an early age that it is better to be lucky then rich. â€Å"That’s why it’s better to be born lucky than rich. If you’re rich, you may lose your money. But if you’re lucky, you will always get m ore money. † She has lead her son to believe that luck determines all. When actually he could work hard and learn how to earn his own money and become quite wealthy. Paul already before the age of ten became a gambler. He became obsessive with the need to win as Paul slow starts to lose it. A gambler is an addict and they have an actual problem where they can’t stop, as does Paul in â€Å"The Rocking Horse Winner†. â€Å"I think you care too much about these races. It’s a bad sign. My family has been a gambling family, and you won’t know till you grow up how much damage it has done. † The stress from his gambling was probably one of the major factors that caused his sickness, which he later died from. Most families are not the traditional families you think of with a father, mother and three perfect children. Families aren’t cookie cutter, so they differentiate from one another, but they can survive if the have love, that’s what all successful families have in common. â€Å"She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. † There was a lack of love in Paul’s life that ate at him, and he strives for his mother’s affection. Children can tell when their not loved by their parents as Paul and his sisters knew. â€Å" Everybody else said of her: â€Å"She is such a good mother. She adores her children. † Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each others eye’s. † To know that your not loved by the person who brought you into this world, might make you question your self worth. The lack of love was what initially made Paul go mad and led to his tragic passing. DH Lawrence’s shows the reader an in depth perception of a fictional family, but is based more families then people would think. It’s a tough world when your out on your own, that’s why family support is important to people. As far as luck goes I think Shakespeare summed it up pretty well with this â€Å"some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon em. †