Materialism

            In every piece of fiction there are different elements that build the story. Some of these elements are character, setting, plot, and symbolism. Every story also has a theme. These elements are then used to show a theme through out a piece of fiction. The Rocking Horse Winner, by D. H. Lawrence, has many themes. One recurring theme of materialism is supported by these four elements of fiction, point of view, setting, plot and character. .
             The point of view of a story can affect what is known about the story. The Rocking Horse Winner is told in third person. The story has an omniscient narrator. The narrator allows the mothers need for social climbing. The narrator observes what the mother is doing and what Paul is doing. This point of view allows all aspects of the story bee seen. If it was from the boy's point of view, a lot of activities and thoughts of the mother would not be known. This would take away from the theme of materialism. Knowing the mothers thoughts and actions are very important to this theme and if the story was told from a specific characters point of view with limited narration then a large amount of information would be lost. The point of view of a story can affect the theme.
             The setting of the story plays a large factor in presentation of the theme. The story is set in England in the early nineteen hundreds. The time period of the story shows a time when achieving a higher social class was one of the important activities in life. Paul's mother was achieving a social class at the beginning but could not keep it. When she is given the five thousand pounds she then tries to reclaim the class that she has loss. The social class of this time was extremely important to the people. This caused them to have to put material goods around them to show how rich they were. Paul's mother even started to do work to achieve the extra money so that she could receive her class standing.