The Rocking – Horse Winner

The Rocking – Horse Winnerby

D.H LawrencePresented by :

• Nurul Fazwani Foizi• Nurul Anis Hassan Nuddin

• Siti ‘Atikah Shukri• Nur Suhaili Shafiei

• Nurul Syazwani Mohd Raduan

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

SUMMARY

THEMES CHARACTERS

MORAL VALUES

Author biography of The Rocking- Horse Winner

• David Herbert Richards Lawrence

• He was born in Nottinghamshire, England

• Born on 11 September 1885 • D.H. Lawrence died at Villa

Robermond, in Vence, France on March 2, 1930.

• He was an English author, poet, playwright, essayist and literary critic.

• Novels• The White Peacock (1911)• The Trespasser (1912)• Sons and Lovers (1913)• The Rainbow (1915)• Women in Love (1920)• The Lost Girl (1920)• Aaron's Rod (1922) • Kangaroo (1923) • The Boy in the Bush (1924)• The Plumed Serpent (1926)• Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)• The Escaped Cock (1929) • The Virgin and the Gypsy (1930)

• Short stories• The Prussian Officer and Other Stories (1914)• England, My England and Other Stories (1922)• The Fox, The Captain's Doll, The Ladybird (1923)• St Mawr and other stories (1925)• The Woman who Rode Away and other stories

(1928) • The Virgin and the Gipsy and Other Stories (1930)• Love Among the Haystacks and other stories

(1930)• The Rocking-Horse Winner (1926)• The Horse Dealer's Daughter (1922)

• Poetry

• Love Poems and others (1913)• Amores (1916)• Look! We have come through! (1917)• New Poems (1918)• Bay: a book of poems (1919)• Tortoises (1921)• Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923)• The Collected Poems of D H Lawrence (1928)• Pansies (1929)• Nettles (1930)• Last Poems (1932)

• Plays• The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd (1914)• "last lesson of the afternoon"• Touch and Go (1920)• David (1926)• The Fight for Barbara (1933)• A Collier's Friday Night (1934)• The Married Man (1940)• The Merry-go-round (1941)• The Complete Plays of D H Lawrence (1965)

• Drama• Look! We Have Come Through!

• Musical Theatre• Scandalous! the musical based on the life of D.

H. Lawrence.

SUMMARY

• D.H. Lawrence's tragic fable The Rocking Horse Winner is faithfully transferred to the screen in this 1950 gem. John Howard Davies, the young star of Oliver Twist (and the future chief film editor at the BBC) plays sensitive lad Paul Grahame, whose selfish, grasping mother (Valerie Hobson) warps his values. When his mom once more whines over her lack of wealth, the boy retreats to his new Christmas present, a hobby horse. Having been taught to ride like a real jockey by kindly handyman Bassett (John Mills), Paul furiously bobs up and down on his horse, hoping to drive his mother's words out of his brain. Instead, Paul suddenly acquires the ability to pick the names of winning race horses. Capitalizing on her son's "gift," Paul's mother becomes fabulously wealthy, only to spend the money as quickly as it comes in. Thinking only of his mother's happiness, Paul continues to ride his magical horse, which results in more lucrative racetrack predictions. Before his mother can come to her senses, the boy takes one "ride" too many, dropping dead from the exhaustion.

PAUL : • Desperate • Over-confident• Unaware • Confuse • Intelligent & sensitive• Like to gambling

HESTER :• Paul’s mother• Obsessed & irresponsible with money• Greedy• Ungrateful woman• Cold & unfeeling• Wasteful • Shallow

BASSETS :• Family gardener• Has good knowledge about “horse racing”• Obedient & honesty• Respectful• Serious • Trustworthy & kind

OSCAR CRESSWELL :• Paul’s uncle & Hester’s • Better financial position• Selfish• Dependent• Take advantages • Shallow & selfish

Themes Of

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Generosity and Greed• Paul generously offers all his winnings to the family, in

order to relieve the family’s dire need for money. • Paul’s unselfish generosity is contrasted starkly with the

mother’s greed and selfishness. • Paul, in his childish innocence, gives and gives to the

family, without any desire for thanks and without any desire to keep any of the money for himself. He ultimately gives the most precious gift of all: his life.

• Hester, Paul’s mother, has no idea where all this money is coming from and does not seem to care.

• Hester has become so obsessed with wealth that her heart turns completely to stone; she cannot even feel sad when her son dies.

Responsibility• The obsession with wealth and material items is pitted

against the responsibilities of parenting in this short story.

• It is the responsibility of the parents to provide every necessity for the children in a family.

• However, in this story, Lawrence turns this on its ear, making the parents complete failures at financial dealings and their son Paul incredibly gifted at making money, by gambling.

• The parents in the story drift from one thing to another, never really finding anything they can do to provide for the family.

• When Paul gives his mother 5,000 pounds from his winnings, rather than paying off debts and saving for the future, she spends all of it on material things, causing an even more urgent need for more money.

Oedipus Complex• Paul’s desire to earn money for the family can be

said to be an unconscious desire to take his father’s place, a concept that psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud termed the “Oedipus complex.”

• Freud suggested that all boys go through a stage where they want to take their father’s place.

• Paul’s desire to take care of the family’s needs is Oedipal.

• Since the main way of earning this money — the rocking horse — is also bound up in sexual imagery, it seems clear that Lawrence intentionally characterizes Paul this way.

Styles of

The Rocking-Horse Winner

• The opening paragraphs of “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are written in a style similar to that of a fairy tale.

• Instead of “once upon a time,” though, Lawrence begins with “There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck.”

• This is a conscious attempt on the part of the author to use the traditional oral storytelling technique.

• This story also combines the supernatural elements of a fable, mainly Paul’s ability to “know” the winners just by riding his rocking horse, with the serious themes of an unhappy marriage and an unhealthy desire for wealth at all costs.

• The story begins with fable-like simplicity but ends with a serious message about wasted lives.

Symbolism

• The rocking horse represents both Paul’s desire to make money for his mother and his own sexuality.

• The rocking horse is his “mount” which is “forced” onwards in a “furious ride” towards “frenzy.” These descriptions are very suggestive of sexual activity.

• The rocking horse can also represent the fact that the overwhelming desire for money is a road that leads to nowhere, since this is a rocking horse that does not actually travel anywhere.

• The desire for wealth can be said to be extremely unhealthy as well, since it results in Hester’s unhappiness and Paul’s death.

LESSONS OF THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER

•Always being thankful to what we have

•THE DESIRE TO BECOME RICHER CAN RUIN A FAMILY

•Being responsible towards family

•give more love towards children