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Box # 108
Sandra Cash
Professor Bouchard
ENG 132
Paper 2 # “The Rocking-Horse Winner”
January 24, 2012
Insights on “The Rocking-Horse Winner”
Throughout this story, one of the conflicts is the “need” to have more money, instead of the father
and mother trying to live with what money they do have. This has a huge effect on Paul: it is the reason
he starts gambling on horses. D. H. Lawrence has put irony in this story. For instance, Paul gives his
mother money, but the whispering becomes worse than it was in the beginning. This story is written in a
fairy tale style, and resembling a fable. This is shown in the beginning and the ending.
The main conflict of this story is that Paul’s family “needs” money to keep up their social
position. This is shown when the house whispers, “There must be more money! There must be more
money!” (Lawrence). Since the family “needs” more money to keep their social position, the mother
tries to do something that would help this problem. This is especially true since her kids are growing up,
which means they will need to obtain a good education - one more thing she will have to pay for. Even
though they do not have enough money, both parents will not give up their expensive taste. The following
shows this:
“The father, who was always very handsome and expensive in his tastes …And the mother… and
her tastes were just as expensive. And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase:
There must be more money! There must be more money!” (Lawrense)

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Since the house whispers, “There must be more money! There must be more money!”, Paul strives his
best to figure out a way in order to earn money for his mother. This then leads him to gambling on horses
in order to earn money for his mother.
D. H. Lawrence incorporates irony in this short story. The irony is in the fact that when Paul has
money, it is never enough for his mother. Once, when Paul gives his mother five-thousand pounds for her
birthday, the house whispers become worse; the house starts screaming “There must be more money! Oh-
h-h; there must be more money. Oh, now, now-w! Now-w-w—the must be more money! -- more than
ever! More than ever!” (Lawrence) Paul had hoped to help his mother by giving her money, but it only
made this problem worse, this is ironic.
This story is written in a fairy tale style. The beginning of the story, in which it says, “There was
a beautiful woman…”echoes a fairy tale-like phrase. This is the same kind of beginning one would hear
in a fairy tale; except instead of “once upon a time,” it is “There was a beautiful woman… (Lawrence).” It
also resembles a fable in the fact that it hints that greed is a horrible obsession that ruins a person’s life.
Paul’s mother is greedy; she wants more and more money to spend. Paul sees that she “needs” money,
due to this he begins gambling on horses to earn money to make his mother happy. This gambling
becomes an obsession, which later ends his life, because he has to know what horse will win the Derby.
` This was a good short story that I did enjoy even though it was sad. The main conflict that I saw
was the “need” to have more money, instead of trying to live within their means. Due to this Paul starts
to gamble on horses. In this D.H. Lawrence uses as irony, since Paul is trying to help by giving his
mother money, but really this only makes the problem worse. This story is written in a fairy tale by the
beginning “There was a woman,” which is a lot like “Once upon a time.” Although it has a fairy tale
beginning it does not end in a typical fairy tale story, instead the ending is more like a fable. The ending is
more like a fable in the way the ending shows how greed is a horrible obsession that ruins a person’s life.

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Works Cited
Lawrense, D. H. "The Rocking-Horse Winner." DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fiction,
Poetry, and Drama. Madison: McGraw Hill, 2008. 100-110.