Extended analysis paper on The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence Essay

Extended analysis paper on The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence - Essay Example Early in the story the boy Paul has a talk with his mother about money. But the talk is not the usual mother-son conversation that promotes hard work and ingenuity. The mother advocates the avenue of easy money by the use of luck. She carries the definition a step farther as she blurs the line between money and luck. "Filthy lucre does mean money," said the mother. "But its lucre, not luck" (Lawrence). The use of the words filthy lucre interjects an almost obscene sense of money and wealth. The mother continues her idolization of the character trait of being lucky. She insults Pauls father and says "...its better to be born lucky than rich" (Lawrence). She then tells Paul that his own father is "very unlucky" marking him as a failure as a father and a husband. These images are burned into the mind of Paul at this young age and tempers his value system throughout the rest of his short life. The mother has almost no connection with her husband or family. She occupies the house in body but not in spirit. The household had healthy children and a modest income, yet it was squandered by the mothers view of it. Lawrence describes it as "at the centre of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody". It was love that Paul craved and needed, and it was his mothers love that he would spend the story in search of. Because she was distant and disconnected, she would be easily satisfied with material goods, money, and a lust for it. Paul could sense the emptiness in his mother and her need for a husband, luck, and money. Pauls early attempt at fulfilling his mothers needs, and thus replacing the father, is seen in his early experience on the rocking horse. Lawrence describes Pauls quest to satisfy his mothers need for money, luck, and sexual satisfaction. There is a scene where he is furiously riding his rocking horse striking it with a whip that he had gotten