The Rocking-horse Winner
by D.H. Lawrence
Rapid Learn 2-Minute Revision
Perfect for last-minute revision
2-Minute Revision Video
Video coming soon
A beautiful woman married for love but feels no love for her children, and her house is haunted by an unspoken whisper, 'There must be more money!' Her young son Paul, sensing his mother's dissatisfaction and belief that his father is 'unlucky', becomes obsessed with luck. Riding his rocking-horse into a mysterious frenzy, he discovers he can 'know' the winners of real horse races. With the gardener Bassett and his Uncle Oscar as partners, Paul wins thousands of pounds and secretly arranges a birthday gift of money for his mother. But instead of quieting the house, the money makes the whispering voices scream louder. Driven to know the winner of the Derby, Paul rides his rocking-horse in a final delirious frenzy, names the winner 'Malabar', which wins him over eighty thousand pounds, and collapses, dying of brain-fever that very night. The story is a chilling parable about greed, the corrupting hunger for money and the emotional emptiness of a materialistic home.
Detailed Summary
Detailed Summary Video
Video coming soon
Lawrence's story is a symbolic tale about greed and the destructive power of money-hunger in a loveless, materialistic household. The rocking-horse becomes a symbol of Paul's desperate, doomed effort to win his cold mother's love by becoming 'lucky'.
The whispering house
A mother who married for love finds that love has 'turned to dust' and that at the centre of her heart is a hard place that cannot feel love for her children. The family lives beyond its means, and the house is haunted by an unspoken phrase the children can always hear: 'There must be more money!' It whispers behind the expensive toys, even from the rocking-horse.
Luck and the rocking-horse
The boy Paul learns from his mother that they are poor because his father has 'no luck', and that luck is 'what causes you to have money'. Determined to be lucky, Paul rides his rocking-horse into a wild frenzy until he 'gets there', a mysterious state in which he 'knows' the name of the winning horse. With Bassett the young gardener he begins to bet, and his uncle Oscar Cresswell joins as a partner.
The secret gift and the louder whisper
Paul wins large sums. To stop the house whispering, he secretly arranges through his uncle and the family lawyer for his mother to receive a thousand pounds on each of five birthdays. But she has the whole sum advanced at once and spends it on luxuries, and the voices in the house, instead of quieting, 'went mad', screaming 'There must be more money!' louder than ever.
The fatal ride
Frantic to 'know' the winner of the Derby, Paul rides his rocking-horse in his bedroom one night in a delirious frenzy. His mother finds him surging madly on the horse; he screams 'It's Malabar!' and crashes to the floor unconscious with brain-fever. Malabar wins the Derby, making Paul over eighty thousand pounds, but the boy dies in the night. Uncle Oscar's closing words condemn a world in which a child rides his rocking-horse to death 'to find a winner'.