Rocking Horse Winner

Conflict is a disagreement between opposing forces whether it's between themselves or an outside force. In D.H Lawrence's short story, "The Rocking Horse Winner", external and internal conflict is demonstrated. The conflict represented is within the son paul due to his families money issues. External conflict is defined as a disagreement between a person and a force outside of them.The external conflict presented in this story was the family's financial state, "There must be more money", and the son paul intended to help to give his mother what she wanted and to stop the whispers of the house. Paul's uncle introduced him to race horses and he began betting on the horses to earn money. Paul earned just enough money to send anonymously to his...show more content...

The son went knew that money would get his mother's attention. His way of getting money was horse race's but he struggled to get the names of all the winning horses. He eventually stressed himself out causing him to get ill and his mother still paid no attention to him. Another example of internal conflict is paul's struggle to prove he is lucky, "He knew the horse could take him where the luck was", and he rode his rocking horse to find his luck. Paul's luck was the rocking horse because when he rode it he was able to find the names of winning horses for horse races. His luck did cause him to lose money betting on the horses for a while. These conflicts were never truly resolved because even with paul's luck his mother still paid him no attention. He proved that he was lucky with the grand prize from the horse races that would keep his family out of debt, but with this luck came a horrible situation. Paul had put so much stress on himself that his illness quickly became death which isn't at all

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The Rocking Horse Winner

When a person is lucky, it does not have to mean that they are fortunate with money. Luck is the chance for things to go the way you want them to go with out having any control over the situation. In The Rocking Horse Winner, Hester, the mother seems to believe thatluck is strictly having money, and when there is no money, there is no luck. Hester's idea of luck meaning money brings forth the two ideas of greed and death throughout the story. Money plays a huge part in this story. Hester, the mother, is obsessed with having more and more money. She lives the life of a woman with money, never allowing anyone to see past the family's small income, "The mother had a small income, and the father had a ...show more content...

When he realized just how much money he had made, he took 5,000 pounds of it to the family lawyer to be given a thousand pounds to his mother, annually. But Paul didn't end here. He continued to bet and make more and more money. When Paul's mother received the letter from the lawyer, she got even more greedy. She went to the lawyer and asked if she could have all the money at once. Paul agreed that this would be okay. But the house just whispered louder, with more greed. Paul's mother had used the money foolishly again, instead of using it wisely to pay off her debt. "The voices in the house suddenly went mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring evening. There were certain new furnishings and Paul had a new tutor…there were flowers in the winter, and a blossoming of the luxury that Paul's mother had been used to" (442). Paul's mother and Paul's greed amplified: Paul continued to bet to make more money for his mother, and his mother kept spending money that she didn't have. Eventually the luck, or in this case, the unluck, had to run out, and it did. Paul's continual confusion leads him to find his "luck" of know the winning horses. Paul is successful at reaching this goal and fulfilling his mother's definition of luck. The whole belief of his mother's was the basis for Paul's confusion. Good luck for Paul would be to see his mother happy. He knew that money was what made her happy. According to