The Rocking-Horse Winner

By D. H. Lawrence

Presentation:Dr Jason M. Ward

ACWR101

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A 300-word Summary 1/4 • Set in a house said to be haunted by the

unspoken phrase ‘There must be more money!’, the plot of ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ centres on Paul, a young boy who discovers that he can predict the winners of horse races by riding his toy horse until he intuits their names. With his winnings, he tries to silence the haunted house and buy the affection of his profligate and neglectful mother.

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A 300-word Summary 2/4

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•The father is absent for most of the story and his paternal role is divided between Hester’s brother, Oscar, and the gardener, Bassett, both of whom facilitate his gambling. Oscar unwittingly provides his nephew with his first winning gambling stake and helps Paul to give his winnings anonymously to Hester.

A 300-word Summary 3/4

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• This extra income, however, just causes her to spend more and Paul’s exertions on the rocking horse to predict more winners begin to negatively affect his health. As the boy recklessly rides his rocking horse to predict the Derby winner, his mother discovers him in action. After shouting out ‘Malabar’, Paul falls unconscious from the horse and remains critically ill for three days with a ‘brain fever’. Oscar and Bassett bet on Malabar to win as the boy lies on his sickbed with his mother watching over him.

A 300-word Summary 4/4

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• Later, Bassett visits Paul to report that Malabar has won and the boy has now amassed over eighty thousand pounds. After his mother learns where her money came from, the boy claims to be lucky, but then dies soon afterwards. In the perplexing final lines of the story, Oscar tells his sister: ‘My God, Hester, you’re eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he’s best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to find a winner’.

1. What is your opinion of the character of Oscar?

• He is the most likable because he is charismatic, witty, wealthy, handsome, laughs a lot, pays the most attention to Paul and tries to help him to please his mother. However, he is also a gambler and at the end of the tale he profits from Paul’s betting tip even though the boy is dying. Oscar’s final lines seem rather hypocritical since he became an accessory to Paul’s gambling, insensitive because Hester has just lost her young child, and egotistical because he is still trying to be witty even over his nephew’s death.

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2. Do you think that The Rocking-Horse Winner is a supernatural story? Why / why not?•Although the house is haunted by voices, only Paul hears them. Although Paul magically predicts winning horses, he also choses losing horses too. Although he dies mysteriously of a brain fever, this could also have been a stroke or an asthma attack from stress and over-exertion. There is some suggestion that the boy might be psychologically ill. The story can be read in many ways which is why it remains so popular and has been adapted to film at least seven times! 7/19

3. How might ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ be compared to myths such as Oedipus or Faust?

• In Sophocles’ tragedy (429 BC), Oedipus accidentally killed his father and slept with his mother. In DHL’s story, Paul replaces his father as the income earner and tries please his mother to gain her love.

• In the German legend Faust, a scholar makes a deal with the devil to receive knowledge and power but as a result he is taken to hell by the devil. Paul gains an unnatural power to see the future but pays for this gift with his life.

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MCQ 1

How does this story suggest a fairy tale? A. The opening linesB. The appearance of fairiesC. A princess is locked in a tower

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MCQ 1

How does this story suggest a fairy tale? A. The opening linesB. The appearance of fairiesC. A princess is locked in a tower

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MCQ 2

What does Oscar do when he finds out that Paul is gambling?

A. Tells him to stop because he is underage and it is a dangerous for a childB. Asks the boy for betting tips when he discovers Paul is good at finding winnersC. Tells Paul’s mother immediately so that she can decide what is best for her son

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MCQ 2

What does Oscar do when he finds out that Paul is gambling?

A. Tells him to stop because he is underage and it is a dangerous for a childB. Asks the boy for betting tips when he discovers Paul is good at finding winnersC. Tells Paul’s mother immediately so that she can decide what is best for her son

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MCQ 3

What is Bassett’s job in the tale?

A. He is Paul’s Latin tutorB. He is Oscar’s lawyerC. He is the family’s gardener

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MCQ 3

What is Bassett’s job in the tale?

A. He is Paul’s Latin tutorB. He is Oscar’s lawyerC. He is the family’s gardener

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Glossary• Include THREE NEW VOCABULARY

WORDS. You must include:–THE SENTENCE AND PAGE NUMBER WHERE

YOU FOUND THE WORD –A SENTENCE OF YOUR OWN, which must not

be plagiarized –A DICTIONARY DEFINITION of the above use of

the word

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Smirking

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Smirking• In the story: “The big doll, sitting so pink and

smirking in a new pram” (69).• My sentence: The villain smirked at Bond in the

water before he pushed the button that released the sharks.

• Dictionary definition: “Smile in an irritatingly smug, conceited, or silly way.”

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Anxious

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Anxious

•In the story: “He was very anxious to see the effect of the birthday letter, telling his mother about the thousand pounds” (77).

•My sentence: I was very anxious before my test.•Dictionary definition: “Feeling or showing worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.”

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Uncanny

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Uncanny• In the story: “He hardly heard what was spoken

to him, he was very frail, and his eyes were really uncanny” (80).

• My sentence: The pale stranger had an uncanny similarity to man who died the day before.

• Dictionary definition: “Strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way.”

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Thank you!

• Any Questions?

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