DH Lawrence D.H. Lawrence\'s Short

DH Lawrence

D.H. Lawrence's short story "The Rocking Horse Winner" is permeated with symbolism. The titular rocking horse itself represents a treadmill effect: riding and riding without actually going anywhere. Paul symbolizes the mindless chasing after easy money, which points to some of the underlying social commentary embedded in Lawrence's short story. However, Paul's obsessive riding also represents the desire to please his mother. Paul's mother and Basset both exploit Paul's gift by holding out a symbolic carrot: love and approval. They display love and approval when Paul has money, which motivates Paul to chase after the winning horses. Through the symbolism of the rocking horse, Paul's obsession with it, and the concept of luck itself, DH Lawrence offers powerful social commentary condemning materialism.

Paul's mother is a complex character who represents the dichotomies of living in a materialistic society. She is, on the surface, a loving mother. Yet the narrator notes, "Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other's eyes." The mother symbolizes the fact that materialism is a shallow pursuit. She is obsessed with money, as if money is the key to happiness. Lawrence shows that possessions are superficial emblems of achievement and happiness, whereas true success rests in familial love and joy. Because Paul's mother is only on the surface a good mother who adores her children, she comes to symbolize everything that is wrong with the shallow materialistic society in which we live.

Paul learns that one of the main ways to please his mother is by being lucky -- which for her is a euphemism for being rich. Rather than be happy with what she does have, such as her family, Paul's mother is wrapped up with what she does not. When young Paul realizes that wealth makes his mother happy, he becomes determined to achieve wealth at whatever cost. First, Paul learns that his mother equates luck with wealth as well as love. Next, Paul's mother directly challenges him by criticizing his assertion that he is lucky. Her reaction "angered him somewhere, and made him want to compel her attention." While Paul's mother did not kill her son directly, her complicity in his obsessive behavior and her lack of genuine love and affection ultimately led to her own son's demise. Basset enables Paul, too, but because Basset is not a family member he is less responsible for Paul's fate.