Have you ever thought of yourself as lucky? Maybe you have stumbled across a five-dollar bill in the middle of the road or gotten an A on a paper you felt was less than satisfactory. No matter what the circumstances are, it seems like a lucky person is always characterized with winning money. But what if you had to pay the ultimate price, your life or the life of a loved one, in order to win. Would you still "play the game" if you knew a life was at stake? "The Rocking Horse Winner", by D.H. Lawrence, is an informative story about luck and one's own fortune. In this story, Lawrence attempts to illustrate how one can guide one's own fate, instead of allowing it to just happen. We are the only people that are able to affect what happens to us. By his use of characterization and irony Lawrence attempts to convey to the reader that success and luck are not something that one simply waits for to arrive, but something that we must achieve.
Lawrence uses two contrasting characters to help convey his point, Paul and his mother, Hester. Paul, according to the story, is lucky, whereas his mother is not. The characters did have a hand in the way their life would end up. Everyone enjoys being loved and cared for. In some relationships, like those of a child and his or her parent, love is considered a necessity. Our parents, especially at a young age, are the most influential people in our lives, so in order to understand Paul, one must look at his mother and father. The story actually begins with a discussion of his mother. .
There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. (Lawrence 793).
Though she had three wonderful children, she could not love them, and yet she did nothing to change the way she thought but wait for the difference that never came.
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