D.H Lawrence's the Rocking Horse Winner

Searching for luck

Mario Andretti once said “Desire is the key to motivation, but it is determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of a goal that will enable you”. Desire initiates a motivational aspect in ones life, despite that, it is the extent the individual is willing to go that will enable the pursuit of the end goal. Therefore, in D.H Lawrence's “The Rocking Horse Winner” it is evident that an individual will often be motivated to help a loved one finacially to prove they are worth the affection they are lacking from that person; however, some individuals can often exert themselves which can lead to the destruction of the him. This idea is developed through Paul's motivation from the house and lack of money, his push to try to find the love from his mother and his overall commitment to prove that he is lucky.

Money is what causes the overall drive in Paul. Money and luck. The house the family lives in was said to be “ haunted” by whispers that were derived from the connotation that they family did not have enough money and ‘there must be more”, because in Paul's mothers views there was never enough money. They lived in an upscale part of town and had “discreet servants” even both the father and mother had “small incomes. The family was not making much money and the whisperings came because of this along with the fact that they spent money on things they did not need with the money they did not have. This is what first motivated Paul, he heard the whispers and from there on, he was on a constant journey to find more money. Paul asks his mother is “luck” was the same thing as money, he was curious about the difference between “lucre” and luck, his mother tells him “ if your lucky you will have money”. Money is what drives his mother and he knows money is something that may bring affection into his mother's eyes. To emphasize that, Paul receives the information that “luck… is what causes you to have money” he becomes obsessed with the idea. Obsessed with the idea that if he is lucky he will have money, obsessed with this mother's love for money, and obsessed with the idea that he can get more money for his mother. Paul suddenly becomes consumed with the idea of of goodluck and feels it is the only way to gain is mothers affection because luck equals money and money is what she loves. Pauls mothers desire for money and materialistic objects overruled more valuable things such as love and affection.

Money. It is an important thing in Paul's family. Believing that love comes from money and paul is in battle to find the affection from his mother; he knows the only way to do this is to be “lucky”. The only one thing his mother truly loves and cares for is money. His motivation begins here. The need and push for money became endless. When Paul told his mother that he indeed was a “lucky person” she did not think twice about it and carried on with what she was doing. “She paid no attention to his assertions” and this is what flipped the switch on in Pauls brain. This is where Paul was ‘angered’ and he knew that now he wanted to “compel her attention” even more. He was going to prove he her, that he was lucky and he was deserving of her love and affection. Searching for luck Paul believed he found it within the rocking horse he got for Christmas. Paul was sure that if he rode the horse strongly enough, it would take him to “where there luck is”. Once again, he knew that if luck was present so was money and then the chances of Paul receiving affection from his mother was greater than before. Paul would ride and ride that rocking horse until he was for sure the name of the winning horse came to him, so he could go bet his own money, to give it to his mother. Paul became so exclusive to the idea of proving of his mother he was worthy of her love, that the bidding and rocking horse rocking became an obsessive issue. When asked what Paul was to do with all the money, he replied with that is was “for Mother” because she had no luck. Paul is winning thousands of dollars just to have the chance