" Rock-horse Winner " is a short story by D. H. Lawrence. It was first published in July 1926, at Harper's Bazaar and later appeared in the first volume of the collected Lawrence short stories. It was made into a full-length movie directed by Anthony Pelissier and starring John Howard Davies, Valerie Hobson and John Mills; the film was released in the UK in 1949 and in 1950 in the United States.
Video The Rocking-Horse Winner
Ringkasan plot
The story depicts an unfortunate English middle-class lady. Though outside succeeds, it is haunted by a feeling of failure; Her husband is not good and his job as a commercial artist does not produce as much as he wants. The family lifestyle exceeds the unspoken income and anxiety about money seeping into the household. His sons, Paul's son and his two sisters, feel this anxiety; In addition, the children even claimed they could hear the house whispering, "There must be more money."
Paul tells his uncle Oscar Cresswell about betting on a horse race with Bassett, the gardener. He has placed a bet using his allowance and has won and saved three hundred and twenty pounds. Sometimes he says he's "sure" as the winner for the upcoming race, and the horses he named actually win, sometimes with tremendous odds. Uncle Oscar and Bassett put a big bet on the horses of Paul's names.
After winning further, Paul and Oscar arranged to give the mother a gift of five thousand pounds, but the prize only allowed her to spend more. Disappointed, Paul tried harder than ever to be "lucky". As Derby approached, Paul was determined to learn the winner. Concerned about his health, his mother rushed home from a party and found his secret. He had spent hours riding his horse, sometimes all night, until he "got there," into a seer's condition where he could be sure of the winner's name.
Paul stayed sick all day Derby. Informed by Cresswell, Bassett has placed Paul's bet on Malabar, at fourteen into one. When he was told by Bassett that he now has 80,000 pounds, Paul said to his mother:
"I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure - oh of course! Mom, did I ever tell you? I'm lucky!"
"No, you never did," said his mother.
But the boy died at night.
And even when she lay dead, her mother heard her sister say to her, "Oh my God, Hester, you're eighty thousand for good, and a poor devil from a child to a bad one, but poor devil, poor devil, best out of life where he rode his rocking horse to find the winner. "
Maps The Rocking-Horse Winner
Character
Paul : A boy who notices that his mother does not love him and his sisters, even though he "admire" them. When he received a rocking horse for Christmas, he often rode horses and came to discover that he could predict which horse would win the next big horse race.
Hester : Paul's mother. She becomes "dissatisfied with her marriage" when she finds out that her husband is unlucky and does not make enough money.
Bassett : Family gardener and friend. It was the man who made Paul into a horse race, and then became a "bet partner".
Oscar Creswell : Paul's uncle and his mother's brother. Gave the money Paul used to make his first win at the racetrack. Signed lawyers' letters to have Paul's mother receive "a thousand pounds at a time, on her mother's birthday, for the next five years". Oscar became a partner with Paul and Bassett.
Themes
D.H. Lawrence states through his story that materialism and love can not coexist. Hester presses Paul to satisfy his own materialistic desires. By showing a lack of love in materialism, Lawrence points out that external sources such as money and luck can not bring happiness; on the contrary, happiness must come from within. The juxtaposition of Hester with Paul's generosity highlights the dichotomy between materialism and love.
Standard edition
- Horse and Other Stories (1928) edited by Dieter Mehl and Christa Jansohn, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp 230-243, ISBNÃ, 0-521-22270- 2
References
- Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor
- "Rock-Horse Winner." Magill Book Reviews (1990): Premier Academic Search. EBSCO. Web. Oct. 24th. 2011
External links
- Analysis of "The Rocking-Horse Winner" in Lit React
- The full text of "The Rocking-Horse Winner" in The Short Story Project
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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