Greed In Guy De Maupassant's The Rocking-Horse Winner

Greed is a powerful trait that humans have passed down throughout history. From biblical days, until today, greed has destroyed people’s lives. Guy de Maupassant and D. H. Lawrence wrote about how powerful greed is. Maupassant wrote “The Necklace,” which is about a young lady who wanted more than what she already had in her life and Lawrence wrote “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” which describes the life of a young boy trying to please his greedy mother. In both Maupassant’s “The Necklace” and Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” greed is the driving force behind the events in the stories.
The “American Dream” is to become rich and live life lavishly. In today’s times, the more money a person has, the more comfortably he or she …show more content…
They do have different backgrounds, but they are almost identical. Loisel was a beautiful, charming woman and so was the mother from “The Rocking-Horse Winner”. The only difference between them is the fact that the mother was born into wealth and Mathilde Loisel was not. Loisel always wanted more material possessions and the mother always wanted more money. They both failed to realize how much they had in front of them. In the case of Mathilde Loisel the lust for material possessions such as jewels, clothes, and social class. The more that she wanted the less that her husband could provide for her. For example, in “The Necklace,” Maupassant writes, “She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that; she felt made for that. She would so have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after”(). This shows how much she desired to be rich. The mother in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” had an expensive taste, but she thirsted for money more than jewelry and clothes. She always felt as if she needed more money. She was so consumed with her need for money, that she could not even love her children completely. It did not matter how much they loved her, she always felt as if she could not love them. This consumable want for money started to control her. She became bitter and crazy. She began to hear the house talking. Her entire family began to hear the house talking. It …show more content…
He only wanted to see his mother happy, and he demonstrated that by riding his rocking horse. Paul had a gift and that gift was that if he rode the horse and could envision the horse crossing the finish life then that horse would win. He could have used his gift and became rich for himself, but he was selfless and saw how unhappy his mother was with their current situation. Daniel P. Watkins writes that, the more money that Paul gives, the more his mother needs, and this is exhibited throughout the entire story. Paul could see himself riding the winning horse and he decided to start making money off of it. He began gambling with his gift just so his mother could be happy. Lawrence displayed this with this dialogue, “But what are you going to do with your money?” asked the uncle. ‘Of course,’ said the boy. ‘I started it for Mother. She said she had no luck…”(Lawrence 381). He became so engrossed with making money for his mother, that it eventually took his life. His body could not handle the rigors of riding the rocking horse and it killed him. “Paul’s death of course makes the story a tragic one; but just as tragic is the death of innocence and love, symbolized by Paul in his unfortunate mother”(Koban 396). Paul’s death exhibited how much he loved his mother. He loved his mother enough to where he sacrificed his innocence to make