The story follows a boy named Paul who becomes obsessed with the idea of luck and gambling after a conversation with his mother. Paul believes he can predict the winners of horse races by riding his rocking horse. His uncle enables his gambling in secret. When Paul wins money, he gives it to his mother, though she wants it all at once. As she spends it, the voices in the house demanding more money grow louder. Paul dies riding his rocking horse, suggesting materialism's harm. The theme is the destructive power of obsession with money and lack of love in the family.

1. D. H. LAWRENCE
THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER

2. Introduction
• First published in 1926 in Harper’s Bazaar magazine
• Short story that incorporates elements of the fable, fantasy,
and the fairytale
• Like a fable, it presents a moral
• Like a fantasy, it presents supernatural events
• Like a fairytale, it sets the scene with simple words
• “There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the
advantages, yet she had no luck…”

3. Setting and Point of View
• Place: England
• Time: 1920s, just after the First World War
• Point of View: omniscient third-person
• The author is able to reveal the thoughts of all of the
characters

4. Three Types of Irony
• Verbal- the use of language to express the opposite
sentiment than what is expected
• Sarcasm- the speaker says the opposite of what they mean,
often for comedic effect
• Situational- when the exact opposite of what you expect to
happen, happens
• Dramatic- when a playwright or novelist creates an ironic
situation that only the viewer or reader knows about
• The reader knows something the characters do not

5. Irony
• Ironic situations can surprise, enlighten, amuse or sadden
readers
• Remember the irony in The Lamb to the Slaughter?
• The policeman says “It’s probably right under our noses” and it
really was!
• The irony in that story made you laugh
• Was that verbal, situational, or dramatic irony?
• Answer: dramatic irony
• We, the readers, knew that the murder weapon really was right
under their noses

6. Theme
• A story’s theme is the central message or perception
about life it reveals
• As you read, think about what the theme of this story
might be

7. Conflict
• A story must contain conflict, or a struggle between
two characters, two forces, or a character and a
force
• If a main character struggles against some element
within himself or herself, it is called an internal conflict
• As you read, think about what each character
struggles with
• What conflicts do the characters face?

8. READ PAGES 1 AND 2 OF THE STORY NOW. THEN
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
• What imagery is associated with the mother in the first
paragraph?
• How does she view her family life?
• How does she view her relationship with her children?

9. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
• What is the cause of anxiety in the home?
• Where do you think the whispering is coming from?
• When Paul asks his mother what is luck, what is her
answer? Do you agree?
• According to the mother, why does she think she is
unlucky? Do you think she is unlucky? Why?

10. READ PAGES 3 AND 4 OF THE STORY NOW. THEN
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
• How does the conversation about luck affect Paul?
• Why is Paul so furiously determined to find luck? Consider
what message his motivation points toward.
• How does Oscar’s attitude contrast with Paul’s? What
does this suggest about how important the races – and
luck – are to each character?

11. READ PAGES 5 AND 6 OF THE STORY NOW. THEN
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
• Why do you think Oscar not only allows Paul to
continue gambling but also becomes a partner in
the venture, even though it makes him “nervous”?
What does this decision reveal about his
character?

12. READ PAGES 7 AND 8 OF THE STORY NOW. THEN
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
• Why do you think Paul wants to give the money to his
mother?
• Why does he not want his mother to know about it?
• Paul’s mother wants to have all of the money at once. What does that tell
you about her character?
• What is her obsession?
• Why do you think the voices get louder after Paul’s mother receives the
5,000 pounds? What point might the author be making?

13. READ THE LAST TWO PAGES OF THE STORY. THEN
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
• The narrator does not tell us about the mystery of the rocking
horse until the end of the story. What effect does that have on
the reader?
• What is the irony in the boy’s last speech?
• In what way is the boy's furious riding on the rocking horse an
appropriate symbol for materialistic pursuits?
• How are the people in the story affected by materialism? For
each character, is luck a positive, a negative, or neutral force?
• Consider what happens in the story because of the adults’ desire
for money. What theme about materialism is the author
communicating to the reader?

14. Reread the passage from the story Answer the questions
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. 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. Nevertheless, when her
children were present, she always felt the center of her heart go
hard. This troubled her, and in her manner she was all the more
gentle and anxious for her children, as if she loved them very
much. Only she herself knew that at the center of her heart was a
hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody.
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. They read it in each other's eyes.
• What is the
mother’s
view of her
family life
and how
does she
view her
relationship
with her
children?

15. Reread the passage from the story Answer the questions
"Is luck money, mother?" he asked, rather
timidly.
"No, Paul. Not quite. It's what causes you to
have money."
• Do you agree or disagree
with mother?

16. Reread the passage from the story Answer the questions
"I shouldn't like mother to know I was lucky," said
the boy.
"Why not, son?"
"She'd stop me."
"I don't think she would."
"Oh!" - and the boy writhed in an odd way - "I don't
want her to know, uncle."
"All right, son! We'll manage it without her
knowing."
• How does Paul find
luck?
• Why do you think Paul
wants to give the
money to his mother,
and why does he not
want his mother to
know about it?

17. Reread the passage from the story Answer the questions
Paul, at the other's suggestion, handed over five thousand
pounds to his uncle, who deposited it with the family
lawyer, who was then to inform Paul's mother that a
relative had put five thousand pounds into his hands,
which sum was to be paid out a thousand pounds at a
time, on the mother's birthday, for the next five years.
"So she'll have a birthday present of a thousand pounds for
five successive years," said Uncle Oscar. "I hope it won't
make it all the harder for her later."
But in the afternoon Uncle Oscar appeared. He said Paul's
mother had had a long interview with the lawyer, asking if
the whole five thousand could not be advanced at once,
as she was in debt.
• Paul's mother
wants to have
all of the
money at
once. What
does that tell
you about her
character?
What is her
obsession?

18. Reread the passage from the story Answer the questions
So Uncle Oscar signed the agreement, and Paul's
mother touched the whole five thousand. 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. He was really going to Eton, his father's
school, in the following autumn. There were flowers in
the winter, and a blossoming of the luxury Paul's mother
had been used to. And yet the voices in the house,
behind the sprays of mimosa and almond-blossom, and
from under the piles of iridescent cushions, simply trilled
and screamed in a sort of ecstasy: "There must be more
money! Oh-h-h; there must be more money. Oh, now,
now-w! Now-w-w - there must be more money! - more
than ever! More than ever!"
• Once the mother
gets the money you
would expect the
voices in the house
to stop, but instead
they “suddenly went
mad, like a chorus of
frogs on a spring
evening.” Why do
you think the voices
did not stop?

19. Reread the passage from the story Answer the questions
"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!"
"No, you never did," said his mother.
But the boy died in the night.
And even as he lay dead, his mother heard
her brother's voice saying to her, "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."
• The narrator does not tell us
about the mystery of the
rocking-horse until the end
of the story. What effect
does that have on the
reader?
• What is the irony in the
boy's last speech?
• What is the story saying
about materialism?
• How are the people in the
story affected by
materialism?

20. What is the theme of the story?

21. What does each character struggle with? What is the
outcome of each character’s struggle?
Character Struggles with Outcome of Struggle
Uncle
Paul
Mother

22. Internal vs External Conflict
• Is the principal source of conflict in the story internal
or external?
• Ask yourself:
• Do these characters face struggles against other
characters, forces or do these characters struggle
against some element within themselves?
• How do the outcomes of conflict clarify the theme?