Comparing The Monkey's Paw And The Rocking Horse Winner

W.W. Jacobs author or “The Monkey’s Paw” and D.H. Lawrence author of “The Rocking Horse Winner” associate desire for wealth with tragedy in their stories in many different ways. In each story the desire for wealth leads to the death of a loved one and a son. In “The Monkey’s Paw” the son encourages the parents to wish for money to help the family out without believing that anything bad will happen. The son dies in an accident at work is how they finally get the money. So while they now have money they no longer have a son. This leaves them heartbroken. The mother then uses the monkey’s paw to wish for her son back. The father is scared of what exactly will come back so we can only guess that he wished his son peace out of fear of what would actually return to them. In this story everyone desired wealth which led to the death of the son. In “The Rocking Horse Winner” it is the mother who desires wealth that leads to the death of her son without her ever knowing what is really going on until the end of the story. The son is using his rocking horse to get the answer to what horse will win the race at the derbies. Her uncle and the garden are also …show more content…
Lawrence “The Rocking Horse Winner” would be able to live with herself if she had been the mother in the “The Monkey’s Paw” and she would have probable wished for even more money because she just seemed greedy. There are many things that people value as wealth the mother in “The Rocking Horse Winner” seen money and material things as wealth while the mother in “The Monkey’s Paw” seen money as wealth along with having loved ones. The mother in “The Rocking Horse Winner” was portrayed as a mother who did not connect with her children or really care for them much. Maybe at the end of the story she seemed concerned about her son, but I think it was a new loss and probable if you read the story more it would show her spending all the money and wishing that he was alive just to get even more