Preview

“Teenage Wasteland” & “the Lottery”

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
344 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
“Teenage Wasteland” & “the Lottery”
Irony revealed “The Rocking Horse Winner”
Numerous themes and types of irony are presented in “The Rocking Horse Winner.” One of the main themes is the want for more; more material possessions and of course more money. Another is the search for luck. Paul’s journey for this is what ultimately led to his demise and death at the end of the story. Themes are intertwined and related throughout “The Rocking Horse Winner.” D.H. Lawrence uses irony to portray a clear vision of the themes throughout the work. Irony is used to show how both Paul and his mother search for luck. Paul’s mother believes at one time she had luck. Currently she thinks luck is absent from her due to the fact she married Paul’s father who is considered unlucky by her standards. Paul also is assumed to be unlucky early in the work due to his relation to his father. Paul brings it upon himself to find luck when Paul sees his mother’s view of luck and how it affects his family. In many instances throughout the story Paul is seeking luck with a sense of passion demonstrated by him riding his rocking horse with a fierce glow in his eyes. Paul finds luck briefly through betting on horses with his mother’s gardener Bassett and his Uncle Oscar. Paul believes if he can gain the status of being lucky then he can free his mother from debt, which takes her attention away from him; once free she will be able to turn her attention to Paul and give him the greatest prize of all love. Contrary to his belief his winnings led to his mother foolish spending of his winnings and drive her further into debt. Also Paul hopes the house will stop saying, “There must be more money” when he gives his winnings derived from his so-called luck, but differing from that hope when Paul gives her more money the statement just gets more pronounced due to her undying greed. Intern Paul’s winnings just fuel the fire of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Rocking Horse Winner

    • 1292 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the short story, “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” D. H. Lawrence portrays the main character, Paul, as someone who adopts an abnormal behavioral quirk and takes it to the ultimate extreme. He is the young son of a poor family in England whose members equate luck with money and money with love, consequently Paul has a distorted perception of what is required to be considered successful and also how to find affection. Much of Paul’s perception and consequent behavior can be attributed to his mother, who is a self absorbed spendthrift. Her general coldness and lack of interest imparts in Paul a desperation to find a way to provide her with the money she so obviously desires. He exhibits a great mount of luck in naming winning horses, which he attributes to his superstitious behavior. This abnormal behavior so consumes Paul that it leads to the end of his life in a failed attempt to gain his mother’s love. Paul’s determination to win, his hunger for his mother’s love and the abnormal, self-destructiveness behavior he exhibits are a direct result of his mother’s lack of emotion.…

    • 1292 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When considering the settings of “The Lottery” and “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” taking into consideration where and when these stories took place is critical. “The Lottery,” took place on a clear and sunny summers morning, at about 10o’clock on the 27th of June, with the flowers blooming profusely and the grass a richly green. The villagers were gathering on the square, between the Post office and the bank.…

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In my opinion, I felt the essay “The Lottery” by Chris Abani was written incredibly well because it contained exceptionally descriptive and graphic information all the way through the entire article which made me want to read more. I believe the contents included an awfully emotional incident that might perhaps be very personal to the writer and one that will definitely never be forgotten in sight, smell, sound and/or in mind. In addition, I think the article was very well written as throughout the story, the writer is especially illustrative on the surroundings and uses the senses in his writing. Also, the author grabs the attention of a reader by displaying characters feeling towards the issue at hand and demonstrates his points of view…

    • 187 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    To convey the themes of “The Lottery” and “The Rocking-Horse Winner” the authors use symbolism.…

    • 1610 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Fiction Essay

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In this essay, “The Rocking Horse Winner” and “The Lottery” are compared and contrasted. Their different themes and different characters have some similarities. The things the characters do and want ultimately brings them to their very own downfall. Throughout this essay, I talk about how these characters are just like every ordinary person and how our society is well represented by the different themes in each of these stories. One character is cruel and self-centered and all of that leads to her own death while the other is “unlucky” and her greed and want for wealth leads to her very own son’s death.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gambling, whether for life or money, is risky and success is not guaranteed, even if you ‘win’. Two different tales both involving risk. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by DH Lawrence a little boy named Paul is a very interesting, unique character. He is a passionate, exuberant little boy. Along with Bassett, the family gardener and his uncle Oscar, Paul gambles at the horse races. He is trying to make money for his family who is very poor. Paul has a way with ‘knowing’ which horse will win; he rides his childhood rocking-horse and while riding he gets a feeling about a certain horse and that horse is the one he gambles on. Paul doesn’t always get an answer but when he does, it is always right on. While in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the main character we focus on is Tessie, while she, like Paul, is gambling, she isn’t gambling by choice and definitely not for profit. Along with the rest of the village she lives in, Tessie is gambling for her life. Tessie is excited about the lottery each year, every year but this one, when her family is drawn, she protests that the lottery is unfair. She then proceeds to reluctantly draw a slip of paper and of…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Similarly, the two short stories share irony. In The Yellow Wallpaper, irony exists as the narrator is supposedly in a place of rest, but her illness only worsens. In The Rocking-Horse Winner, irony is found notably at the end, when despite winning the bet on Malabar, Paul dies of what can be inferred as, an anxiety attack or psychosis. Additionally, the stories share the same thrill of an ending. Both conclude with the main characters in a frantic state.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The introduction of “The Rocking-Horse Winner” almost foreshadows and sets the tone of the whole story. “There was a woman who was beautiful…” (Lawrence) is a sentence that is almost fairytale-like. It gives the hint that the story might have a melodramatic aspect, one with a magical horse that gives prophetic visions to a little boy. The introduction also hints of a depressing, yet hopeful view of the relationship between the mother and her children. It describes how the mother’s heart would always turn cold every time she was around her kids, but she would always pretend to have affection towards them. The introduction does not state why she feels that way, so it leaves the reader with an inquisitive view as to what will come of the plot. The tone all throughout the story is also tense because Paul is engaging in something that he should not be doing. Unfortunately the story ends with his death; consequently, it leaves the reader with a profound sense of affliction because, after all, Paul was only trying to help his mother.…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Rocking Horse Winner” introduction almost foreshadows and sets the tone of the whole story. Both stories are similar in the ironic them of traditional and generational aspects. This story is based on tradition of family inheritance and is a generational curse, which is made to seem good but it is not. The irony of it is that Paul states that God told him that he was lucky, but in reality his means of getting money is done through sin. He is gambling to receive the money from betting in horse races. In this story personification was described by the author (the whispering house) throughout the story. It gives off a perceptive that it is a magical horse that tells the future to a child. The introduction is also viewed as depressing because of the relationship a mother has with her children. It's as if her spirit lingers throughout the house because of the way she view herself within.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Rocking Horse Winner

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages

    3. Paul is the kind of child who is innocent that also craves love from his parents, especially from his mom. His motivation is to guess the winning horses so his family can be filthy lucky.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thesis statement: “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson and “The Rocking-Horse winner”, written by D.H. Lawrence both use the stories settings in contradicting ways in order to present the seriousness of the stories. Shirley Jackson used the setting as a way to sidetrack the readers while D.H. Lawrence used the setting to construct the story.…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Rocking-Horse Winner” is the story of a boy’ s gift for picking the winners of horse races. The boy, Paul, comes from a family that is always short of money. His mother seems to be more obsessed with the status that material things can provide than the environment of a loving home. Paul sees his mother’s desire for money, so he decides to take action.(Wilson) The symbolism in this story is very sexually oriented. Paul’s visciuos riding of the rocking horse expresses his desire to make money for his mother and his own sexuality. The rocking horse is his “mount” which is “forced” onwards in a “furious ride” towards “frenzy.” These descriptions are very suggestive of sexual activity. However, this is disturbing because Paul is very young yet he is participating in such acts. (Wilson)…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Paul from the “Rocking Horse Winner” feels pressured to quiet the voices that are heard through out his house. The house constantly whispers, “There must be more money, there must be more money!” (805.) In order to hush the whispers he becomes obsessed with winning money. By providing more money the boy believes the house will be satisfied and stop the bothersome whispering. Once he sees his mother spending money on more things, he hears the whispers become louder “…Oh-h-h; There must be more more money. Oh now, now-w! Now-w-w- There must be more money”(812.) Paul is astonished at the results of bringing in…

    • 1744 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her short story, “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson, an American writer, tells a story of people gathering in a small town for an annual lottery, where children are playing with stones and adults are sharing stories about farming. Yet, the sunny and happy opening scene has a twisted shocking ending, as the lottery in the story does not involve winning a prize, but losing a life. Irony is an underlying theme that is used throughout the story. Irony is referring to a person, situation, or circumstance that is different than it would actually seem.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    materialistic ends will lead to happiness. In "The Rocking Horse Winner," Paul's mother, in a search for happiness, equates having "stuff" with her social status, which the author illustrates with the statement that "...[ they ] felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighborhood" (Lawrence 302). This woman wants her notoriety. "The mother had a small income, the father had a small income, but not nearly enough for the social position..." (Lawrence 302). To achieve this she needs money. To her, this equation is the solution to her happiness.…

    • 892 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics