The Rocking Horse Winner Materialism

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" Money often costs too much" is a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and is also exactly what the story "The Rocking Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence wanted to convey. In the story a boy name Paul gain ability to foreseen the winners at horse races by yearning for the kind of "luck" his mother mentioned to him so very often. But after he traded his young life to fulfill his mother's endless desire for money and "luck", he still failed to satisfy his mother regardless of his ultimate sacrifice. The fairly-tale like style of the story and the tragic ending adds to the satirical tone of the story, since all fairy tale seemed to end with a happy-ever-after. During the time when the story was written, England was going through a difficult time after WWI disrupted England's trade market. Nobody was spare from the impact of the war. Lawrence expresses his dissatisfaction with the current society through the theme surrounding materialism and WWI, abusive relationships centering Paul, and fairytale writing style. The rise of materialism is a direct reaction to the massive impact WWI had on England's economy. As one author …show more content…
One negative impact of the war on the society reflected on the rising trend of materialism, which Lawrence despise whole heartedly. He urged about the destruction of such trend on humanity, and he did so by creating stories as his way of protesting. "The Rocking Horse Winner" is one among many of his protest art works, and it also included other issues that Lawrence was concerned. The demonstration of the damage of materialism on everyday people was shown through the chaos in the household and the death of Paul, the abusive relationship Paul had with the adults around him exhibited Lawrence's concern with human relationships, and he topped his critics of the culture with a ironic twist on the fairy tale writing
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