Paul, a young boy in “The Rocking Horse Winner” a short story by J.D. Lawrence, is constantly creating ways to satisfy his mother’s never-ending need for materialistic objects. Paul is coming from a well off family, where Hester, Paul’s mother describes their living situation as “poor”, she has an ideology of herself where she must present herself as a wealthy member of society. The family always lives in fear of running out of money due to Hester’s way of living expectations. She blams the lifestyle she lives on her husband's unluckiness, but in reality no amount of money would ever satisfy her taste. His mother desires materialistic goods; a never-ending cycle of wanting that continues to grow. In order for Paul to satisfy his mother, he
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Paul is heavily attracted to this wooden horse that he has possessed since a small child, “madly surging on the rocking horse”(445), according to Sigmund Freud a psychologist in the early nineteen-hundreds he would describe this behavior as a type of masterbation. His reasoning for this would be that Paul growthing up lacked affection, in Paul’s mind by sexual intercourse he would be receiving what he has lacked; love and affection. Taking in account that Paul is only a young boy in the story the rocking horse can be seen as the devil. What Paul does on his rocking horse is a sin one would think no boy should imagine. The rocking horse would take him on a journey every time he rode it, to the future. The only possible explanation as to how Paul can know the correct prediction of the upcoming derby race winner. Paul makes a deal with the devil, he would ride his horse immensely hard, and he would take him to the future. Ordinarily, due to Paul being eager to prove to his mother that he is lucky, he is willing to take any sacrifice needed to get …show more content…
In this case, Hester, Paul’s mother attitude towards life detrimentally messes with Paul’s life. She wants to be known as the victim rather than the culprit. The reason they constantly worry about money is due to Hester’s way of spending money. Rather than Paul being hypnotized by the idea of money, he becomes hypnotized by the idea of possessing luck. People that can no longer differentiate between wrong and right can be described as having a mental illness, preventing their brain the function properly to see the naturalist materials they actually
Paul is heavily attracted to this wooden horse that he has possessed since a small child, “madly surging on the rocking horse”(445), according to Sigmund Freud a psychologist in the early nineteen-hundreds he would describe this behavior as a type of masterbation. His reasoning for this would be that Paul growthing up lacked affection, in Paul’s mind by sexual intercourse he would be receiving what he has lacked; love and affection. Taking in account that Paul is only a young boy in the story the rocking horse can be seen as the devil. What Paul does on his rocking horse is a sin one would think no boy should imagine. The rocking horse would take him on a journey every time he rode it, to the future. The only possible explanation as to how Paul can know the correct prediction of the upcoming derby race winner. Paul makes a deal with the devil, he would ride his horse immensely hard, and he would take him to the future. Ordinarily, due to Paul being eager to prove to his mother that he is lucky, he is willing to take any sacrifice needed to get …show more content…
In this case, Hester, Paul’s mother attitude towards life detrimentally messes with Paul’s life. She wants to be known as the victim rather than the culprit. The reason they constantly worry about money is due to Hester’s way of spending money. Rather than Paul being hypnotized by the idea of money, he becomes hypnotized by the idea of possessing luck. People that can no longer differentiate between wrong and right can be described as having a mental illness, preventing their brain the function properly to see the naturalist materials they actually