The short story Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence depicts the life and destiny of middle-class women and her family. Lawrence underlines that the woman has “no luck” unable to find the right place and occupation for herself. There is evidence of a desire to concentrate on and emphasize the underlying pattern; the result is a symbolism that is constantly expanding into new significances. Thesis The symbol of horse winner symbolizes the “desire” of a family to prosper and flourish, but at the same time, “desire” is a mirage that disappears and leaves nothing to the family.
Lawrence portrays that “desire’ is everything a family has. They dream about prosperity and wealth but do nothing to change their life. Symbolism has become one of the issues in the play. Horse winner serves as a stimulus to find a more sensitive response to the rich potentiality of the image of wealth, and it proves capable of satisfying the need his deficiencies generate. “He knew the horse could take him to where there was luck, if only he forced it. So he would mount again and start on his furious ride, hoping, at last, to get there” (Lawrence 230).
Another feature that can be connected with the symbol of desire is an insight into character. Paul’s desire to win brings him some money, but he is really disappointed when his mother spends this money. Desire o change his life brings disappointment and anxiety to all family members. “Paul’s mother only made several hundred, and she was again dissatisfied. She so wanted to be first in something, and she did not succeed, even in making sketches for drapery advertisements” (Lawrence 236).
Desire becomes a rattrap for the family. Lawrence portrays characters as individuals who demonstrate through action a professed belief in complete freedom of choice. Also, Lawrence underlines that the triumph of the character over circumstances or forces is not thereby assured, for her life appears to be predetermined by back luck. In spite of this, mother and her son Paul refuse to accept the conditions that make their family a subordinate to money, and, Paul openly opposes the forces, the circumstances, or the predetermined plan that prevents him from prosperity
The end of the short story shows that desire is a mirage that never comes true for Paul and his family. “Poor devil, poor devil, he’s best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to find a winner” (Lawrence 243). Lawrence depicts the desire that drives and directs a person leaving no chance to change his life circumstances. In the struggle desires obtain, but there can be no certainty, yet the main characters can find comforting assurance in a rejection of the luck.
Paul can be considered the sole tragic figure, and his destiny is outlined in tragedy. The rocking horse is a symbol of the tragedy of personality, and, while Paul is a significant personality, his mother and sister share with him the same tragic fate.
In sum, using the theme of desire Lawrence portrays the noblest expression of the terror and the glory of life and the inability of a person to change life circumstances and his destiny. The main characters struggle toward the achievement of wealth and freedom and of action against the powers and the forces of a mysterious and confusing world.
Works Cited
The Woman who Rode Away and Other Stories (1928) edited by Dieter Mehl and Christa Jansohn, Cambridge University Press, pp 230-243.