The Rocking Horse Winner

The Rocking-Horse Winner

The Rocking-Horse Winner is a complex story that is best understood if one examines it through the 5 Elements of Fiction: setting, character, plot, point of view and theme. This story is about a little boy named Paul who is trying to gain love and affection from his greedy mother. One day he told his mother that he had luck and he knew his mother did not believe him. This compelled him to go out and find luck on his own. He set off on his rocking horse on a journey to find luck. When Paul would come back from his journeys the horse would tell him who the winners of the horse races would be. By this he won money and thought if he gave a large amount to his mother that she could finally be happy and would love him. Until one day he went crazy on his rocking horse, screaming “Malabar!” He had fallen off, hitting his head and was knocked unconscious. Later in the night he had died, never meeting his needs for love from his mother. Through the 5 elements of Fiction the reader is able to better understand the story The Rocking-Horse Winner.

There are 5 Elements of Fiction in The Rocking-Horse Winner. The setting starts off with the mother, who is described as beautiful but shown as having no luck. She has a very handsome husband and 3 beautiful children, a boy and 2 girls. They live in a pleasant home, with a garden and discreet servants. They live in style with little income and felt superior to anyone in their neighborhood. They never had enough money and knew their children were growing up; they would have to go to school.

The main character in this story is a little boy named Paul. Paul is a bonny child with dark hair and big close-set blue eyes. Through out the story Paul seeks for love and affection from his greedy mother but never truly finds it. He bends over backwards to find luck just to please his unhappy mother. Paul loves to ride on his rocking horse and go off on adventures. His rocking horse would tell him the winner of the horse races and Paul would win