British Liturature ( THE ROCKING HORSE THE HAPPY PRINCE MR KNOW ALL)

THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER
I.
1.

SUMMARY

"The Rocking-Horse Winner" introduces us to Hester, a woman who dreams of living a
luxurious lifestyle she cannot afford. She lives in a modest house with her husband and her
three children, two girls and a boy. Although she and her husband never mention their
financial woes, the children sense that their house and everything inside of it whisper
about the need for more money. Kind of creepy, huh? Hester attempts to make money at
various jobs, but she is not very successful at any of them.
One day Hester's son Paul asks her what makes some people lucky. She tells him that
people with luck are the ones who make lots of money; Paul's father is unlucky because no
matter how hard he tries, he can not make enough money. This makes Paul determined to
prove that he is lucky to his mother.
Paul discovers that when he rides his rocking horse long enough, he is somehow able to
"know" what the winning racehorse will be. Using this knowledge, he asks Bassett, the
family gardener, to help him place bets and hold onto his winnings. Eventually, Uncle
Oscar discovers Paul's gambling scheme and joins in as a partner too. Paul arranges to
have a lawyer send his mother five thousand pounds with the money he's won, which she
promptly spends on all kinds of luxuries.
Meanwhile, unaware of her son's gambling habit, Hester grows concerned about Paul's
health. She plans to send Paul to the seaside to recover, but Paul convinces her to let him
stay until after the Derby Stakes race. One evening while out at a party, Hester is
overcome with anxiety over Paul. When she returns home, she discovers that he is still
riding his rocking horse. Paul collapses with a brain fever, but not before he utters the
name of the Derby Stakes winner. Now that's what we call a dramatic finish.
With this information, Uncle Oscar and Bassett go ahead and place their bets and make off
with a hefty winning when the Derby Stakes winner is announced. On hearing this news,
Paul dies later that night.

2. Timeline’s summary
• As the story begins, we are introduced to Hester, a woman who lives with her husband,
two daughters, and a son in a nice neighborhood.
• Hester is dissatisfied with motherhood and feels that she needs more money in order to
maintain a more luxurious standard of living.


• The children also sense their mother's desire for more wealth. They can hear the house
whispering about money.
• One day, the son, Paul, asks his mother why they don't have a car of their own like their
uncle Oscar.
• The mother explains that Paul's father has no luck, and is unable to make as much money.
• Paul declares that he has luck.
• Paul starts to spend a lot of time riding his rocking horse. He believes that if he rides the
horse long enough, it will tell him where he can find luck.
• Paul's sister, Joan and his nanny are annoyed by his rocking horse habit.
• One day, Paul's mother and Uncle Oscar watch as he rides on his rocking horse.
• Paul's mother comments that he is too old to be riding a rocking horse, but Uncle Oscar is
amused that Paul names his horse after winning racehorses.
• Uncle Oscar asks Bassett, the family's gardener, whether he's been talking about
horseracing with Paul, and whether he puts any money on horses for Paul. Bassett
hesitates.
• Uncle Oscar then asks Paul whether he puts money on the horses.
• Paul tells his Uncle Oscar that he has been winning a lot of money betting on horses—
getting his start with a ten-shilling note that was a gift from Uncle Oscar. He always
keeps twenty pounds in reserve, and has plans to bet three hundred pounds on a horse
named Daffodil at the next race.
• Uncle Oscar humors Paul, and offers to put five pounds on a horse for him. Paul asks the
money be put on Daffodil.
• Daffodil wins.

• Uncle Oscar still doesn't believe Paul when Paul says that he now has fifteen hundred
pounds, with twenty in reserve and twenty more won using Uncle Oscar's five pounds.
• Uncle Oscar confronts Bassett about the money.
• Bassett reveals he and Paul have been partners. Bassett has been holding Paul's money for
him.
• Paul explains that when he's absolutely sure about a horse, it's a sure win. If he feels even
a little uncertain about a horse, they usually lose.
• Uncle Oscar decides to be a partner as well.
• For the next big race, Paul predicts that a horse named Lively Spark is going to win. Paul
places a thousand pounds on the horse, Bassett places five hundred, and Uncle Oscar two
hundred.
• Lively Spark wins at 10-1 odds, meaning that Paul wins ten thousand pounds, Bassett wins
five thousand pounds, and Uncle Oscar two thousand pounds.
• Paul wants to give the money to his mother, but doesn't want his mother to know that it's
from him or how he's made the money.
• Uncle Oscar arranges for a lawyer to send a letter to his mother, informing her that a
relative has left her five thousand pounds to be distributed over five years, that is, one
thousand pounds per year on her birthday.


• When his mother's birthday approaches, it seems that the house has been whispering more
about money than usual. Paul now has meals with his parents; he is too old for a nanny.
• When his mother receives the letter about the thousand pounds, she visits the lawyer and
asks for five thousand pounds all at once. Paul agrees, and Uncle Oscar arranges to have
the whole five thousand pounds given to Paul's mother.
• Paul's mother spends the five thousand pounds on home décor and an expensive new tutor
for Paul. But with all the money, the house begins to whisper even louder that there must
be more money.
• Paul is desperate to win, but he isn't absolutely sure about the Grand National, where he
loses a hundred pounds. He's also unsure about the Lincoln, where he loses fifty pounds.

• Paul's mother worries that Paul seems headed toward a mental breakdown, and she
suggests that he takes a break at the seaside.
• Paul wants to bet on the Derby race, and convinces his mother not to send him away until
after the Derby.
• By this time, Paul has had the rocking horse moved from the nursery into his room.
• Two days before the Derby, Paul's parents are at a big party in town. Hester suddenly
becomes worried about Paul and calls the governess, who reassures her everything is
alright.
• Paul's parents return home after midnight. Paul's mother discovers that Paul is still riding
his rocking horse in his room.
• Paul collapses with a brain fever, screaming, "Malabar!"
• For three days, Paul lies ill and unconscious in his room with his mother at his bedside.
Meanwhile, Oscar and Bassett have put their money on Malabar.
• On the third day, Bassett visits Paul, and informs Paul that Malabar has won. Paul has
made over seventy thousand pounds on the race, with his total race winnings at eighty
thousand pounds.
• Paul is overjoyed, but the excitement is too much for him and he dies that night. Oscar
comforts Paul's mother.

THEMES
Family:

II.

1.
You know what's scary? Your mom.
No, seriously—mother-son relationships have proved to be a rich source of horror over
the years (Sophocles, Hamlet, Freud's Oedipal complex, Psycho—do we really need to go
on?)
The mother-son relationship in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is a mess of unfulfilled

desire, anxiety, hostility, and terror. Paul's father is virtually absent from the story—we
never learn his name—while his mother frantically tries to make up for all the luxuries her
husband can't provide by trying to taken on the role of breadwinner, a role traditionally


reserved for the husband (Note: We at Shmoop do not condone strict adherence to
traditional gender norms, so go Hester). The only thing is, Hester's own sense of
insufficiency spills over onto Paul, who is driven mad by his ever more desperate attempts
to please her and earn her love.
Questions About Family
How does Hester feel about her children? Do you think she loves them? Why or why not?
How do the children feel about Hester? What kind of relationship does Paul have with his
mother—do they seem close?
What role do male figures such as the father, Uncle Oscar, and Bassett play in the story?
Who do you think has the most influence on Paul, and why?
Quote #1
Everybody else said of her: "She is such a good mother. She adores her children." Only
she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. (1)
=>Hester publically overcompensates for her indifference to her children, which is
obvious to the children, but not to anybody outside the family. Sounds like Hester's a
tough nut to crack.
Quote #2
The children could hear it all the time, though nobody ever said it aloud. (5)
=>The children can sense their parents' constant anxiety over money, even though the
adults try to cover it up with expensive toys. Too bad the house is such a blabber,
whispering to the kids and all.

Quote #3
The boy saw she did not believe him: or rather, that she paid no attention to his assertion.
This angered him somewhere, and made him want to compel her attention. (40)

=>For Paul, his mother's attention is simply an acknowledgment that he exists. He needs
her attention; otherwise, he feels invisible.
Quote #4
"I started it for mother. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if
I was lucky, it might stop whispering." (149)
=>This is the smoking gun: Paul begins to bet on horses for his mother. It's all an effort to
win his mother's love.


Quote #5
When there were no visitors, Paul now took his meals with his parents, as he was beyond
the nursery control. (170)
=>The family dynamic shifts here when Paul finally grows out of the nursery. He's taking
a seat at the table, next to his mother and father, suggesting he hold a more equal status in
their eyes. Technically, he's pulling in a lot of money and supporting them, although they
don't know it yet.
Quote #6
"[…] My family has been a gambling family, and you won't know till you grow up how
much damage it has done. But it has done damage […]" (189)
=>Isn't it ironic? Hester still doesn't know about Paul's gambling or what it's doing to his
wellbeing.
Quote #7
His mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him. Sometimes, for half an
hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him, that was almost anguish. (209)
=>Hester almost starts to worry and actually care about her son—or does she sense that
her wealth is somehow tied to her son? Is her anxiety really spurred by her subconscious
fear of losing her money?
Quote #8
Then he fell with a crash to the ground, and she, all her tormented motherhood flooding
upon her, rushed to gather him up. (226)

=>Paul finally gets the motherly love he has so desperately desired—but only when he
collapses from a brain fever.
Quote #9
"What does he mean by Malabar?" asked the heart-frozen mother.
"I don't know," said the father, stonily. (230-1)
=>These are the only words spoken by his father, and the word "stonily" suggests that he
is not in touch with his human emotions. Is he even human, or is he denser?
Quote #10


He neither slept nor regained consciousness, and his eyes were like blue stones. His
mother sat, feeling her heart had gone, turned actually into a stone. (235)
=>Like the father, both Paul and Hester are compared to stones, suggesting that while Paul
has literally died, his parents have figuratively died. They are dead to the real, human
emotions that a mother and a father ought to feel toward their dying son.
2.

Wealth:

At its core, "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is a story about the psychological trauma
inflicted by the desperate attempt to keep-up-with-the-Joneses. The mother and father in the
story are not wealthy, yet they aspire to a social standing and an elegant lifestyle that they
can't afford. Money becomes the quantitative value for everything in their lives. Dad can't
bring home the bacon? He's useless. Mom can't succeed in any of the different jobs she tries
out? Better send her back as defective. Are the children a financial burden? Then it's
probably better if they go unloved, maybe that'll save a few bucks. Everything from selfworth to love is measured by money in this family, and the resulting emotional
impoverishment has devastating effects on the children.
Questions About Wealth
Who are the wealthy characters in the story? Who are the not-so-wealthy characters? How
does having or lacking money affect their personalities?

What is the relationship between luck and money? What about love and money? Do you
think the characters would rather have love or money? Why or why not?
At the beginning of the story, it seems that not having money makes the family unhappy,
but when Paul starts raking in the big bucks through gambling, the family is still unhappy.
Why?
Quote #1
“The mother had a small income, and the father had a small income, but not nearly enough
for the social position which they had to keep up”. (3)
=>Oh, the horror! This bit tells us that the Cresswell family likes to spend more than they
earn, and hints at the unhappiness that comes from this sort of discrepancy.
Quote #2
“And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase, There must be more
money! There must be more money!” (5)
=>Everything in the house whispers this phrase, suggesting that no amount of money is
enough; money only inspires the desire for more money.
Quote #3
"Oh!" said Paul vaguely. I thought when Uncle Oscar said filthy lucker it meant money."
"Filthy lucre does mean money," said the mother. "But it's lucre, not luck" (15-6)


=>The pun on luck/lucre here suggests that luck is equated with wealth.
Quote #4
"If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more
money." (18)
The whole story tests this notion of this sentiment; is Paul really lucky when he dies in the
end?
Quote #5
"Bassett is lucky, and you must be lucky, because it was your ten shillings I started
winning with…" (113)
=>Paul takes his mother's words on luck quite literally, and Uncle Oscar is onto his

scheme.

Quote #6
"And then the house whispers like people laughing at you behind your back. It's awful,
that is! I thought if I was lucky –" (157)
=>It's almost as if his parents' anxieties about money become intensified into fullblown obsessions when transferred to their son.
Quote #7
“As his mother read it, her face hardened and became more expressionless. Then a cold,
determined look came on her mouth.” (171)
=>Money is dehumanizing, as this reference to Hester's stone-like quality emphasizes
(compare with Quote #10 under "Family").
Quote #8
Then something very curious happened. The voices in the house suddenly went mad, like a
chorus of frogs on a spring evening. There were certain new furnishings, and Paul had a
tutor. (181)
=>Poor Paul. His earnings haven't helped the money situation at home at all; it's only
spurred more expensive tastes and made the voices louder.


Quote #9
He studied away at his Latin and Greek, with his tutor. But his intense hours were spent
with Bassett. (182)
=>Paul is studying to attend Eton, an elite school, in order to become a gentleman like his
father. Ironically, it's gambling with the working-class Bassett that helps him maintain that
lifestyle for himself and his family.
Quote #10
And in spite of himself, Oscar Cresswell spoke to Bassett, and himself put a thousand on
Malabar, at fourteen to one. (234)
=>Money is too powerful to resist for Oscar, who bets on his nephew's dying words.

3. Life consciousness and existence; luck:
In Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," everyone and everything seems to exist in
an entirely different psychic wavelength. People can read each other's minds, toys and
houses whisper incessantly, and a boy can predict horse-race winners by riding on his
rocking horse. We're never quite sure if this magical world is real or not, and even the
characters themselves don't seem too sure. God may be absent from the picture here, but
some characters suspect that other supernatural forces are at work in the boy's luck, forces
that may not be all that benevolent.
Questions about Life, Consciousness, and Existence; Luck
What are the supernatural or magical elements of the story? Do you think these
elements are real? For example, does the boy really have a magicalgift—or is it just a
symbolic one?
Do you think the boy's gift for identifying winning racehorses is a blessing or a curse?
Explain.
Take a look at the instances where the characters experience extreme mental states:
Depression, anxiety, madness, even euphoria. What drives them into these extreme states
of mind? What are the effects of these psychological states on their perception of reality—
for example, when Paul goes mad, is he able to keep his grip on reality, or does he lose his
mind?
Quote #1
They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly, she felt
she must cover up some fault in herself. Yet what it was that she must cover up, she never
knew. (1)


=>The family often communicates with each other in unspoken ways—and it can get
downright creepy. We're talking telekinesis a la Carrie here, people.
Quote #2
The whisper was everywhere, and therefore no-one spoke it. Just as no-one ever says: "We
are breathing!", in spite of the fact that breath is coming and going all the time. (7)

=>The whisper seems to have supernatural qualities; it's in everyone's minds but never
spoken aloud.
Quote #3
"Don't they? Nobody at all? Does nobody know?"
"Perhaps God! But he never tells." (24-5)
=>"God" is used ironically here, as Hester clearly values luck and greed over moral
integrity.
Quote #4
"It's as if he had it from heaven, Sir!" Bassett reiterated. (141)
=>In contrast with the mother's cynicism, Bassett truly believes that the boy has a divine
gift.
Quote #5
"Look here, Son," he said. "This sort of thing makes me nervous." (146)
=>In contrast with Bassett, Uncle Oscar finds something sinister in Paul's abilities—but he
exploits Paul for gambling tips anyway. Surely there can be no harm in encouraging his
young nephew to gamble.
Quote #6
"I've got to know for the Derby! I've got to know for the Derby!" the child re-iterated, his
big blue eyes blazing with a sort of madness. (184)
=>Paul has many of the qualities of an ancient seer (think Cassandra in Agamemnon or
Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings) with his lunacy and mysterious remarks.


Quote #7
"But you know you needn't worry, Mother, don't you?" the boy repeated.
"I should be awfully glad to know it," she said wearily. (199-200)
=> "Know" is another ironic term in the text, as it refers only to that which the characters
are already conscious of. The stuff they really need to know to help solve their problems is
all the unconscious stuff: Paul's madness, the desire for money, the weird mother-son
dynamic.

Quote #8
Paul's secret of secrets was his wooden horse, that which had no name. (203)
=>Paul's rocking horse is another object in the house that has magical properties to it. We
wonder what kind of magic…
Quote #9
“What in God's name was it? She ought to know. She felt that she knew the noise. She
knew what it was.
Yet she could not place it. She couldn't say what it was. And on and on it went, like a
madness”. (219-20)
=>Here's another part where a character isn't in tune with the unconscious truth. It's
another instance where "God" is referenced ironically.
Quote #10
"I never told you, Mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely
sure – Oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!" (241)
=>Paul is so distraught that he's forgotten that he has told his mother that he's lucky.


Quote #11
"My God, Hester, you're eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the
bad […]" (244)
=>Words such as "God," "good," "devil," and "bad" sound strange on Oscar's lips, since
his values are so immoral. His actions over the course of the story have demonstrated how
much he values money over his nephew's well-being. (Hint: The money always wins.)

4.

Gender

The protagonist of "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is a boy who is barely on the cusp of

manhood. Over the course of the story, he transitions from being under a nanny's care to
studying Greek and Latin with a tutor and dining with his parents.
It's a pretty confusing period for any boy to begin with, but it doesn't help any that Paul's
parents give him such conflicting messages about what manhood is. His father isn't exactly
a role model, and his mother seems to take on many traditional male roles, such as making
sure the family has enough money to spend. In fact, it's his mother who constantly prods
him to grow up, to leave off his childish attachment to his toys, including the rocking
horse, and to start getting ready to go to Eton so he can be more like his father.
Yet, in the end, Paul is perhaps most like his mother, inheriting her insatiable intensity and
her belief in luck.
Questions about Gender
Does Hester fit into traditional roles for women? How does her status as a wife and mother
affect her ability to be professionally successful orfinancially independent?
Compare the men in the novel: the unnamed father, Bassett, and Uncle Oscar. How does
each character represent some aspect of manhood or masculinity? How does each
character measure up to certain qualities associated with manhood, such as wealth,
physical strength, or professional success,?
In what ways are the children—Paul and his sisters—preparing to assume the gender roles
they'll be expected to assume as adults? Which adult characters do you think Paul is most
similar to?
As the story goes on, Paul transitions from a child in the care of a female nanny to an older
boy tutored by a male tutor to go to his father's elite school. Do you think Paul "grows up"


over the course of the story? Or do you think he's too stuck in childhood, as his mother
complains?
Quote #1
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 (1).

=>Hester is described as a woman who is dissatisfied with all the traditional feminine
roles.

Quote #2
“She racked her brains, and tried this thing and the other, but could not find anything
successful. The failure made deep lines come into her face.”(4)
=>Frustrated with her husband's inability to provide for her luxurious tastes, Hester tries to
take over and earn some money too—but she isn't very successful at trying to fill her
husband's shoes.
Quote #3
"[…] And aren't you lucky, Mother?"
"I can't be, if I married an unlucky husband." (26-7)
=>Hester defines herself in relation to her husband. As a married woman and a mother,
she has few options.
Quote #4
When the two girls were playing dolls, he would sit on his big rocking horse, charging
madly into space, with a frenzy that made the little girls peer at him uneasily. (41)
=>The children are already being prepared for their adult gender roles: The girls for
motherhood and the boy for manly ventures.
Quote #5


"Aren't you growing too big for a rocking horse? You're not a very little boy any longer,
you know." (50)
=>Hester seems anxious to get Paul to grow up already.
Quote #6
She so wanted to be first in something, and she did not succeed, even in making sketches
for drapery advertisements. (170)
=>Hester is again unable to succeed at a career.

Quote #7
There were certain new furnishings, and Paul had a tutor. He was really going to Eton, his
father's school, in the following autumn. (181)
=>Paul is being prepared for manhood, following in his father's gentlemanly footsteps.
Quote #8
Since he was emancipated from a nurse and a nursery governess, he had had his rocking
horse removed to his own bedroom at the top of the house. (203)
=>Paul refuses to grow up, and secretly holds on to his rocking horse.
Quote #9
"Surely, you're too big for a rocking horse!" his mother had remonstrated.
"Well, you see, Mother, till I can have a real horse, I like to have some sort of animal
about." (204-5)
=>Paul deflects his mother's concerns by making the rocking horse appear as a substitute
for the real horse that he will have as an adult.
Quote #10
"[…] Poor devil, poor devil, he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse
to find a winner." (234)


=>Uncle Oscar seems to believe that Paul is better off dead, as if the rocking horse
symbolized the kind of soul-deadening life Paul would have had as a working adult.

III.

CHARACTER:
1. Paul:

Paul is introduced as a small boy with some big emotions. He's short enough to receive a
rocking horse for a Christmas present, but the intensity of his emotions is way too big for
him to handle. When his feelings are hurt, he is very hurt. When he is anxious, he is very

anxious. When he is focused on a goal, such as "knowing" the winning horse, he is very,
very focused. Maybe we can learn something from him. Or maybe not…
With so much emotion bubbling inside him, you have to wonder how long Paul's young
mind can take it all. Not very long, as it turns out.
Why is Paul so intense? In contrast to the rest of the characters, from his mother down to
humble old Bassett, Paul is the only one in the story who seems to feel anything at all. It's
as if he has to generate all this emotion to make up for the fact that there is so little
genuine feeling in his life.
This need to compensate is a critical feature of his relationship with his mother. Learning
that his mother isn't satisfied with his father since he has none of this mysterious thing
called "luck," Paul is eager to step in and fill his father's shoes.
But Paul is just a boy, and boys aren't emotionally equipped to replace a father in a
mother's affections nor are they prepared to take on the responsibilities of supporting a
household. Tragically, Paul's young mind can't contain his outsized emotions, leading to
his untimely death.
PAUL TIMELINE AND SUMMARY
o Paul receives a rocking horse for Christmas.
o Paul talks to his mother about luck.
o Paul is caught riding on his rocking horse by Uncle Oscar and his mother.
o Paul reveals his and Bassett's gambling to Uncle Oscar, who joins in their scheme.
o Uncle Oscar helps Paul get a lawyer to send five thousand pounds to his mother for her
birthday in November, with a thousand to be doled out each birthday over five years.
o When Paul is told that his mother wants the whole five thousand at once, he agrees.
o Paul wants to win money even more urgently now. He has his rocking horse moved to his
room, although he now takes meals with his parents, and not in the nursery with his
nanny. You know things are getting serious now.


o After losing some money, Paul is desperate to win at the Derby Stakes. His anxiety begins
to take a toll on his health. Who would have known horses could be so stressful?

o Paul promises Hester that he will take a breather at the seaside after the Derby Stakes.
o While his parents are away at a party, he rides his rocking horse furiously. Hey, we all
have our secrets. At least he didn't drink milk straight out of the carton.
o When his mother catches him riding his rocking horse, he collapses in a brain fever, but
only after announcing that Malabar will win the Derby Stakes.
o Three days later, Bassett informs Paul that Malabar has indeed won. That night, Paul dies.
2.

Hester:

For much of the story, we only know Hester as a "woman" or "mother," which is quite
fitting for a character that spends much of the story struggling to find an identity distinct
from traditional female roles.
Unhappy with her husband, who can't provide the luxurious life she desires, Hester tries
out various occupations, including a job as an illustrator. The thing is, she isn't very
successful at any of them. Hester may appear to be a devoted mother, but her children
know how she chafes at her responsibilities. Hester senses that her children see her as a
"lack," someone who is constantly defining herself by the way others perceive her, and
Hester seems to internalize her children's judgment on her.
What are the consequences of this "lack"? On the one hand, it would be easy to judge
Hester as a superficial and indifferent mother—how could she be so cold toward her own
children? We see the effects of her indifference on Paul, who craves her attention.
Why can't Hester be satisfied with what she has? Let's not forget, she lives a pretty
comfortable life—she's not exactly wallowing in poverty. On the other hand, Hester might
be viewed more sympathetically as an ordinary woman caught in a time when it was
difficult for women to break free of traditional roles, particularly if they were married and
had children.
By the end of the story, it seems that Hester is warming to her son—she begins to
genuinely care for him and is troubled by his illness and death. Or is she really? There are
enough ambiguities in the text for us to wonder whether Hester actually experiences any

kind of transformation over the course of the story, or whether she's doomed to be defined
by her lack…and her greed.
HESTER TIMELINE AND SUMMARY


o Hester tries to make more money to support the lavish lifestyle she desires, but she can't
seem to succeed at anything.
o Hester has a conversation with Paul about luck.
o Hester and Uncle Oscar catch Paul riding on his rocking horse.
o Hester tries her hand as a drapery illustrator, but she still isn't making enough money.
o On her birthday, Hester receives a letter from a lawyer notifying her that she inherited five
thousand pounds, which is to be doled out in one-thousand-pound sums over the course of
five years.
o Hester visits the lawyer and asks to be given all of the money at once. She gets her wish,
and spends the money on home décor and a tutor for Paul.
o Hester grows concerned over Paul's deteriorating health, and wants to send him to the
seaside for some rest. Paul convinces Hester to let him stay until after the Derby Stakes.
o At a party, Hester is suddenly overcome with anxiety about Paul. She calls the governess,
who wasn't very good at her job, and reassures her that Paul is okay.
o When Hester returns late that night, she goes up to Paul's room and discovers that he is
riding his rocking horse.
o Hester tends to Paul while he suffers from his brain fever.
o Hester is comforted by Uncle Oscar once Paul passes away.
3.

Oscar Cresswell

Paul's Uncle Oscar is a somewhat sinister figure in the story, just not on the surface. He
initially appears to be a wealthy gentleman who is open-minded enough to humor Paul's
gambling, and decent enough to sense that maybe Paul's gambling isn't such a good idea—

but he is not the surrogate father figure that Paul needs. With his wealth, Uncle Oscar
represents the luxurious lifestyle that Hester aspires to, but this same desire is what creates
so much misery in her family.
Uncle Oscar also doesn't seem to have Paul's best interests at heart. Even though he's
aware that gambling may not be very healthy for Paul and his family, Uncle Oscar
continues to let Paul have his way. He even banks on a tip that Paul gave with his dying
breath. That's cold, right? It's not like he needed the money.
4.

Basset

Bassett is the family's humble gardener. He got his job through Uncle Oscar, who he
served under during the war. Bassett is a working class man with naively religious views
—he thinks Paul's talent for picking winning racehorses is a gift from heaven. It seems
like Paul is Bassett's master in the story, even though Paul is just a boy. This is partly by
virtue of his class—Paul is the boss' son, after all—but it also suggests that Bassett is
easily led.


5.

Paul’ father:

So…Paul's father. Where is he? We don't even get a name for him; he's just a figure we
catch a glimpse of here and there.
We know that he has expensive tastes and that he hasn't had much luck making money.
He's not involved in his children's lives at all, and the story doesn't say anything about his
interactions with his wife, except at the very end when she asks him about Malabar.
The virtual absence of Paul's father in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" leaves a gap in the
family that Hester tries to fill with her attempts at making money and by guiding Paul's

education, while Paul tries to fill the gap by gambling at the racetrack.
IV.
1.

ANALYSIS:
Symbolism, imagery, allegory:
a. The rocking horse:

Let's tackle the elephant…er, rocking horse…in the room. The "shiny modern rocking
horse" makes its entrance at Christmas, yet another expensive toy the family buys but can't
afford. Lawrence's use of the words "shiny" and "modern" to describe the rocking horse
hints that there is something unnatural and sinister about it. As the story goes on, we realize
that other objects that are described as shiny and modern (like the luxurious furnishings
Hester is so fond of) are actually quite harmful and lead people to an unnatural attachment
to material goods. In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the rocking horse is the agent of Paul's
own death.
We could also see the rocking horse as a symbol of Paul's anxieties over his budding
sexuality and approaching manhood. His mother believes that he's too old for the rocking
horse, and we have to agree. Even for a kid, Paul seems excessively fond of his horse. As he
grows older, he squirrels it away in his room; it is his "secret of secrets," "that which had no
name" (203). Now what, for a boy entering adolescence, could possibly be a nameless
secret that he has to hide in his bedroom, something that he would be too ashamed to talk to
his mom about? Hmmm…

b.

Love, luck and lucre:

At one point in the story, Paul mistakenly hears his Uncle Oscar say "filthy lucker,"
instead of the idiomatic expression, "filthy lucre," which refers to money gained in a

dishonorable way. (15-6)
Even though Paul misheard his uncle, his mistake seems to be a confusion that all the adult
characters share. Everyone in the story, from wealthy Uncle Oscar to the humble gardener


Bassett, associates luck with money and wealth. Starved for his mother's attention, Paul gets
roped into this delusion too, and starts to associate money with earning his mother's love.
Of course, nobody seems to associate hard work and money, since both Paul's father and
Bassett work but neither are wealthy. Paul makes a lot of money gambling, but at the cost of
his physical and mental well-being. In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," money is the complete
opposite of all that is human, including family affection and meaningful work.
c.

Christian allegory:
Like many of D. H. Lawrence's works, Christian motifs appear throughout "The RockingHorse Winner." Bassett, the half-comical figure and most religious of the characters, seems
to view Paul as a messenger from God, perhaps a reference to St. Paul.
Paul receives his fateful rocking horse on Christmas Day, and, like Judas, Uncle Oscar
seems willing to sacrifice Paul for money.
In an ironic twist, Paul becomes a Christ-like figure who does not rise from the dead after
three days, but rather, dies after three days of being sick. While Christ's death and
resurrection signify moral redemption for Christians, Paul's death doesn't offer any kind of
redemption. Just money.
2. Setting:
An affluent neighborhood in 1920s England
While the year is never specified, references to World War I and actual racing horses of
the time tell us that the story takes place in 1920s England.
Like a classic ghost story, most of the action in the story takes place in a spooky house:
The home where Hester lives with her husband and children. It's located in a nice-ish
neighborhood, but it's got a major inferiority complex about not being in an even nicer one.
Instead of being a domestic space where the family is sheltered from the rest of the world,

the house is infiltrated with the shallow, material values of society. The walls literally
whisper, "There must be more money, there must be more money."
The home is also a carefully ordered space where the children spend their time in the
nursery with the governess, and Hester and her husband eat their meals and conduct their
adult lives separately, in a different part of the house. When Hester finally goes up the stairs
to her son's room, way up at the top of the house, the tone is so suspenseful that we'd think
she was breaking a major taboo, or something. Not just climbing the stairs in her house.
3.

Narrator point of view:

Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or
him?
Third Person/Omniscient
The story sounds mythical and fable-like with its use of the third person/omniscient. Even
the opening of the story sounds like a fairy tale: "There was a woman who was beautiful,


who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck" (1). You almost expect the story
to go on to tell you about Cinderella or Snow White or any of the other unlucky, beautiful
princesses that litter folklore. This narrative technique is fitting for a story that walks the
line between social realism and the supernatural.
4.

Genre:

Modernism, Family Drama, Horror or Gothic Fiction
D. H. Lawrence is considered one of the big Modernists of his era.
Like many Modernists, he was heavily influenced by Freud's writings on human sexuality.
"The Rocking-Horse Winner" reveals this Freudian influence in the love triangle

Lawrence creates between Hester, Paul, and the unnamed father, where Paul ends up
taking his father's place as the breadwinner of the family and tries to take on qualities that
Hester wished her husband had.
This family drama is central to the general creepiness of the story. Like classic Gothic
fiction, the house is a reflection of the characters' twisted and tormented minds. Death and
evil lurk right around the corner, with Paul's perhaps diabolical gift for naming winning
racehorses leading so quickly to his instant, tragic death.
5.

Tone:
Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Ironic, Sympathetic
We get the sense that whoever is narrating "The Rocking-Horse Winner" has it out for the
adults, but remains sympathetic toward the boy. The general tone is pretty ironic—
statements about Hester's beauty can never be taken at face value when everything else in
the story tells us that Hester has no inner beauty, and maybe Uncle Oscar's wealth comes
only from his ability to exploit others, not from luck.
This irony takes a back seat when we get to scenes with Paul. Since the narrative of the
story tracks Paul's gradual deterioration, we feel bad for Paul and his tragic death. The other
characters? Not so much.
6. Writing style:
Allegorical
"The Rocking-Horse Winner" reads like a parable, or a folktale. The language is simple
and unadorned—it relates crucial dialogue and actions, but leaves out the prose and lengthy
descriptions we associate with classic realist novels.
Like parables or folktales, the story keeps an air of mystery to it, hinting at a multitude of
possible interpretations just waiting to be untapped. For example, like other mythical
objects such as the Holy Grail, we sense that the rocking horse symbolizes something, but

we're never quite sure whether it's a symbol of good, evil, or perhaps something else
entirely.
7. What’s up with the tittle:
The title might sound a little "off" to you, as if the story is about someone who wins a
rocking horse (the "winner" of a "rocking horse"), which probably wouldn't be very
interesting at all.
As we get deeper into the story, we realize that the situation is reversed. It is not Paul who
wins the rocking horse, but rather the rocking horse that "wins" (or possesses) Paul.
Since the rocking horse symbolizes materialism, greed, and sexual danger (see our
"Symbols, Imagery, Allegory" section), the title is an ironic commentary on the forces that
lead Paul to his death.
8.

What’s up with the ending:

The ending is just stone cold. Literally. Hester has never been very affectionate toward
Paul, but by the time of his illness, she seems to become even colder and, as Lawrence
describes, her heart "turned actually into a stone."
After we witness Paul's sickness and death, we patiently wait for Hester to finally express
some grief or motherly emotion. We want Hester to give Paul what he so desperately
craved in life: Her motherly love.
Instead, shrewd old Uncle Oscar gets the last word: At least she's eighty thousand pounds
richer, he says. Oh, and while we're at it, he was probably better off dead anyway.
What. Even.
The fact that Uncle Oscar—the wealthy, successful uncle that Paul's parents so envied, the
uncle who exploited Paul's fragile mental state to make a few bucks at the race track—gets
the last say underscores the tragedy of Paul's death. The desire for wealth tainted Paul's
relationship with his mother all his life, and it's this same desire that leads to his untimely
death.

THE HAPPY PRINCE
I.
SUMMARY
The story is an allegory. It brings out the importance of charity. We learn that love and
sacrifice can endear us to God. The prince in the story is no living prince. He is the statue of
a dead prince decorated with gold leaves and precious stones. He is known as the Happy
Prince because there is a smile on his lips. But the smile gradually gives way to tears. The
Happy Prince cannot help crying over the scenes of misery in the houses of the poor. He
decides to help them with his gold leaves and costly stones. The little swallow acts as his
messenger, and he gives away all his wealth. The Swallow was on his way back to his
homeland when the prince had detained him to help the poor. He still wished to go back but
now it was too late. The intense cold killed him. Thus the little swallow lost his life in


helping the poor. His death broke the prince’s heart. So the swallow and the prince perished
for a noble cause. But their death was not the end. It made them immortal. That is why the
angel selected the dead swallow and the lifeless heart of the prince as the noblest things on
earth. The story teaches a very useful and very true lesson. We learn that God loves those
who love their fellow human beings.
The story of “The Happy Prince” has three major themes,
firstly it shows that apparent beauty is nothing and the real
beauty is to bestow love and sacrifice. Secondly, it discusses
that love and sacrifice are two saving forces. Thirdly, it
shows that there is a large gap between rich and poor people
the rulers and the masses. When the happy prince is alive he
lives a happy life without sorrows, he is living a care free life
but after his death he sees through a tall Colum that life has
another view except happiness and that is helplessness
poverty, hypocrisy and corruption of elite and ruling class.
When a bird swallow comes and stays under the feet of

prince he begs for his helps match girl, poor writer. He is
apparently happy but is weeping bitterly after seeing all the
down trodden people. At the end, the swallow dies frost once;
the mayor passes through that way and sees prince in ugly plight.
They are perplexed to see that the prince has not all
the precious stuff on his body now they pulled it down and
decide to mark another statue. The statue does not soften in
the furnace and workers threw it on the dust heap, the dead
body of swallow was also there. An angle comes towards
God and takes both precious things which are now of no use
for the worldly people but has great importance in eternal life
in paradise .

II.
1.

THEMES
Love and humanity:
The Happy Prince is a story that pictures the deeds of two understanding and loving
beings, though they are not human; the Happy Prince and the little Swallow. They develop
a very enduring strong bond of love, so that they are not separated even after their demise.
Their love for each other develop on a very strong basics as they loved the poor; they loved
the unloved. The beauty of the story increases with the irony that these non – human entities
are the ones who radiate humanity most intensely.
Ironically when the Happy Prince was a human, he failed to understand humanity, he
failed to understand suffering. As he explains his reason for crying, being “The Happy
Prince” to swallow he says,


“ When I was alive and had a human heart….. I did not know what tears were.”

He could not feel for others when he had a human heart but when was placed on a high
pedestal he could see all the misery of his people and he ‘can not choose but weep.’ This
blindness of the affluent towards the difficult lives of the poor is not uncommon. Not only
the prince but also most of the elite have the same mind set. The lady who order the
dressmaker to embroider passion flowers on her dress does not understand the silent
suffering the seamstress undergoes. They have over worked and they have their children ill
but the lady thinks the ‘seamstresses are so lazy.’ The Happy Prince’s weeping shows how
grave is the suffering of the poor. Despite the fact he is ‘The Happy Prince’ and a statue, he
weeps. The suffering of the city is strong enough to move a statue in tears. But the
prevailing pathetic situation is not relieved by the relevant authorities. Not only the rulers
but also religion stays ‘marble’ to the suffered. It is shown effectively as the little Swallow
passes ‘by the cathedral tower, where the white marble angle sculptured.”
Having seen all and understood all the statue Happy Prince wants strongly to help his
people and he starts his humanitarian work with the help of the little Swallow.
The Happy Prince’s love for his subjects grows to the point where he becomes self
sacrificing. He begins giving away with more outward things like the ruby on the sward hilt
and continuous to give away to sacrificing his own eyesight. As eye is the most precious
thing to a man it shows how unfathomable is his love for his people. He chooses to become
blind to give happiness, health and wealth and other necessities to the others. Like peeling
off his own skin, he gives his ‘thin leaves of fine gold’ for the sake of poor. This is done
with pure love and humanity, giving away without expecting anything in return not even
others gratitude or understanding. Through his sacrifices ‘the children’s faces grew rosier’
while he becomes not so beautiful outwardly. His looks made the callous mayor say,
“Dear me! how shabby the Happy Prince looks!”
“Little better than a bagger.”
While showing the greatness of love and humanity Oscar Wilde shows the meanness of
careless human beings and unfeeling institutions. The mayor and town councillors who bear
the responsibility of making the town a better place for people, to improve the condition are
careless to the point where they see their own importance only. They pull down the really
great Happy Prince who is not attractive outwardly but truly beautiful inwardly to make

their own statues there. The humanity of the statue Happy Prince is greatly manifested
when it is shown in contrast with the
“The rich making merry in their houses while the bagger sitting at their gates.”
The Happy Prince’s humanity and heart touching love make the Swallow understand the
value of being kind. He too is taken into these beautiful acts of kindness and he fans the
feverish boy with his own freely generated loving kindness, (not asked by Happy Prince).
His kindness was so warm that he does not feel cold. He exclaims that to the Happy Prince,


“but I feel quite warm now although it is cold now.”
“That is because you have done a good action”
The Swallow wants strongly o go away as it is so difficult to him to survive the winter.
But he loves the Happy Prince greatly now and he feels he can not leave the blind Happy
Prince as the Happy Prince sacrifices everything for the sake of the poor. The little Swallow
sacrifices his own life to give the Happy Prince a company throughout the winter. He stays
with him and tells him the stories about marvellous things first and about the city second.
Love between the Happy Prince and the Swallow can be seen in contrast with the love
between little Swallow and the Reed. The relationship between Reed and the Swallow is
based on superficial beauty. They do not match well, their ideas differ. Reed loves rain
where the Swallow does not like it. A bond between two based only on outer beauty tends
to fall apart when they faced hardships. The little Swallow is left alone by the relatives and
he begins to feel bored with his lady love. The reed too attracted to the wind. One love
travelling where the other is bound to home. So the relationship fails. It is a falls love.
Happy Prince and the Swallow’s love is not a love at first sight. They work for a common
course which is very noble and they understand each other well. They both work with true
love for other beings. They love each other to the point that they cannot be separated.
That love and their humanity is admired and praised by God. The angle chooses the
broken heart of the Happy Prince and the carcass of the little Swallow as the most precious
things in the world. They are the symbols of the love and humanity. Oscar Wilde here
shows even though the great love is not understood by the shallow minded human the God

sees it and they are rewarded finally. Unrecognised love and humanity are thrown away by
human beings but chosen by angles. The irony here emphasizes the quality of love. Thus
in the story “Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde, love and humanity rise up brightly.

2.

The selflessness of mercy:

In one sense, Wilde’s tale is an elucidation of Christ’s most frequent comment to the
Pharisees: “Go learn the meaning of the words — What I want is mercy, not sacrifice“; and
the similarities between the Happy Prince and Christ, we shall see, are abundant and
specific.
Wilde’s theme of “mercy, not sacrifice” appears at several levels in the story and we can
see it best if we divide the characters into three groups:
• The townspeople from the opening of the tale to its conclusion remain unchanged and
reveal the shortcomings of the idea of sacrifice.
Sacrifice, as Bettelheim noted, is the pragmatic conclusion of common sense. It has two
fundamental elements: repression (of impulsive desires for immediate pleasure) and
compensation (the reward promised for this kind of behavior). These two elements are most
clearly associated with the townspeople throughout the story. In many ways the poignant


symbolism of “The Happy Prince” escapes them, and they stare as dumbly at the statue in
the end of the tale as they did at its beginning.
As the tale opens the statue of the Happy Prince is for the Town’s adults, most clearly a
symbol of repression. When he sees the statue, the Town Councilor, for example,
experiences a delight which he feels is immoderate for a man like himself who must be
concerned with the pragmatic, and so represses that delight rather than appear unpractical to
others. A mother whose child is crying uses the statue for a remonstration since “The Happy
Prince never dreams of crying for anything.” And for the disappointed man the statue is an

occasion for speech full of the secret misery and falseness that comes from repression and
envy: “I am glad there is someone in the world who is quite happy.”
Only for the Charity Children is the statue a symbol, not of eliminative repression, but of
inclusive identification: it reminds them of the angels they have seen in their dreams. Their
visionary innocence is far different from the stern repression required of them by the
Mathematical Master who, like Blake’s Beadle in Songs of Experience, has charge over
them.
This difference in vision at the tale’s opening is not unlike that at its close where the
question is not one of repression but compensation. After the Happy Prince has given away
all his gold leaf and jewels and the Swallow’s corpse lies at the statue’s feet consumed by
their tireless exercises in mercy, the statue itself is naked and shabby. “In fact,” the
townspeople observe, “he is little better than a beggar.”
The compensation the Happy Prince and the Swallow deserve is far different from what
they receive at the hands of the townspeople. The Art Professor, by a pragmatic aesthetic,
concludes: “As he is no longer beautiful, he is no longer useful.” The Town Corporation,
agreeing, discusses new uses for the metal. The townspeople are blind to the lesson of
selflessness and instead argue selfishly about which of them will be portrayed in the next
statue.
The true compensation that the Prince and the Swallow deserve is seen by God and his
angels, who see as clearly as the Charity Children. This compensation, however, is not a
reward that has been planned for by the Prince and the Swallow as if all their actions had an
eye on the future and were pragmatic sacrifices; instead, the recognition by God and the
Angels seems gratuitous (since unasked for), the gift of divine mercy.
In fact, the idea that selfishness is attached to sacrifice and selflessness to mercy is
illustrated throughout the tale in the lives of the townspeople. The small sacrifices of the
palace girl who waits for the seamstress to finish her dress for the ball show a girl who
thinks of the world in terms of utility, and her impatience is shown to be selfishness. On the
other hand, the seamstress’ care for her sick son at her own expense is a commendable act
of mercy. The Professor of Ornithology who pompously writes what is accessible only to a
few can be compared with the playwright who writes for all but without the deserts of

compensation that the Professor undeservingly receives. The abstemiousness of old Jews
who count their coins in the Ghetto shows selfish repression by way of a Semitic stereotype
that is far different from the selfless actions of the matchgirl who earns money for her
tyrannical father.


Above all, it is through the unmerciful righteousness of the good burghers and
townspeople that Wilde spells out quite clearly his rejection of sacrifice and his
endorsement of mercy. Their righteousness is the vain result of lives where pragmatic
sacrifices have played a great part both by ways of self-repression and by way of
undeserved compensation that has been confused with moral worth. The result is that the
rich make merry at the expense of the beggars and the Watchman scolds the two hungry
boys of the tale as if poverty and reprobation were the same.
• The Swallow occupies the center of attention of the story and his metamorphosis seems to
represent most clearly the transition from sacrifice to mercy that Wilde advocates.
This same note of righteousness and practicality is found in the Swallow at the beginning
of the tale, but it modulates as the Swallow undergoes a metamorphosis through the lessons
of mercy he receives from the Happy Prince. His attachment to the Reed, for example, was
selfishly imperious: “Shall I love you?” he has asked her. His friends have counseled that
love for a Reed would be impractical, since he loves to travel, and the Swallow agrees,
somewhat proud of his ability to sacrifice her, never thinking of sacrificing his desire for
travel. His criticisms of the town (“I hope [it] has made preparations” for my stay) and the
statue of the Happy Prince (“What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off?”)
repeat the selfish pragmatic considerations shown in the townspeople.
The minor sacrifices the Swallow has to make in the “dreadful” Northern European clime
of the town, however, will be abundantly repaid in the fantastical compensations he expects
to find in Egypt. Europe and Egypt are wholly different places: one the land of dreary
Puritanical sacrifices and repression of immediate pleasures and the other a fairy tale realm
of jewels, lotuses, mythical kings, scented heavens — in short, the compensatory world of
unalloyed pleasure so often insinuated and promised, as Bettelheim has observed, in

children’s literature.
Each time the Happy Prince asks the Swallow to delay his migratory trip just a day
longer to perform some small task, the Swallow must choose between the fabulous Egypt of
compensation or another day of sacrifice in the repressive clime of Europe. Each time he
reluctantly concedes one more day: to take the ruby from the Statue’s sword to the
seamstress with the sick son, to take one of the sapphire eyes to the starving playwright, and
finally to take the last sapphire to the matchgirl who has lost her matches.
The beginning of the Swallow’s metamorphosis can be marked after this series of trials
from his decision to stay with the Happy Prince now that he is blind. Perched on the statue’s
shoulder he tries to console the Happy Prince with tales of fabled Egypt as if it were a
heavenly compensation the Prince could expect for his actions. The Prince listens politely to
the stories of the Nile, red ibises and golden fish, the Sphinx, camels and merchants with
amber beads, the ebony King of the Mountain of the moon who worships crystal, pygmies
who war with butterflies, and more before he objects: “Dear little swallow, you tell me of
marvelous things, but more marvelous than anything is the suffering of men and of women.
There is no mystery as great as Misery.” This substitution of the mystery of misery for the