Rocking Horse

“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a short story about a young boy, Paul, who lives in an “unlucky” family that is overly concerned about the need to have more money, and because of this Paul, wants to be “lucky” so he starts gambling on horse races to make money.


Level One Question:
What does the house “whisper” to Paul?

Level Two Question:
What is the significance of the rocking horse?

Level Three Question:
Do you think money brings happiness?


The theme of this story is that money does not always bring happiness and luck does not necessarily mean one will be wealthy. People who are overly materialistic often are unhappy as they find little meaning in life other than the need to obtain more tangible possessions. This was the case with the mother in D.H. Lawrence’s short story. Paul’s mother was unhappy and dissatisfied, yet she never knew what her fault was. She never spent quality time with her family and was not able to love as the center of her heart was “hard.” She found fault in everything and believed that neither she nor her husband were successful as there was never enough money to satisfy her. Instead of applying herself and being content with what she had, she always wanted more. She wanted more money to buy possessions, which she thought would buy her happiness. Since this did not happen, she blamed everything on having “no luck”. This became such an obsession and an excuse for everything that even her children and the house were “haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money!”

This obsession of blaming everything on no luck and needing more money also haunted her son, Paul. It caused him to go crazy since he wanted to find a way to have luck. He would ride his rocking-horse furiously in search of luck, and on this horse he would try to figure out who would win the next derby race. When he started to become lucky with predicting the winner of the races, he could not stop thinking about the upcoming races and how much money he should bet. Paul wanted to be lucky and make money so he could give it to his mother to make her happy. The pressure of riding the rocking-horse to predict the winner of the races drove him mad. The final time he was on his rocking horse, he figured out who was going to win the next big race and he was saying the horse’s name, Malabar. He then passed out and later died, but he was right about the winner of the race. Although it brought his mother about eighty thousand pounds, it made her feel like her heart had “turned actually into a stone.”

I think it is sad how Paul’s mom negatively impacted Paul. She caused him to be worried about money all the time and made him go searching for “luck” which ended up killing him. Although he did get lucky and made great sums at horse races, it did not make his mom happy. It left her cold, callous, and incomplete.