MARXISM
MARXIST LITERARY THEORY
~ A form of critique or discourse for interrogating all societies and their texts in terms of specific issues - including the race, class, and the attitudes shared within the given culture.
THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER - D.H Lawrence
The story describes a young middle-class Englishwoman who "had no luck." Though outwardly successful, she is haunted by a sense of failure; her husband is a ne'er-do-well and her work as a commercial artist doesn't earn as much as she'd like. The family's lifestyle exceeds its income and unspoken anxiety about money permeates the household. Her children, a son Paul and his two sisters, sense this anxiety, and Paul even claims he can hear the house "whispering" There must be more money.
Paul tells his Uncle Oscar Cresswell about betting on horse races with Bassett, the gardener. He's been placing bets using his pocket money and has won and saved three hundred twenty pounds. Sometimes he says he is "sure" of a winner for an upcoming race, and the horses he names do in fact win, sometimes at remarkable odds. Uncle Oscar and Bassett both place large bets on the horses Paul names.
After further winning, Paul and Oscar arrange to give the mother a gift of five thousand pounds, but the gift only lets her spend more. Disappointed, Paul tries harder than ever to be "lucky". As the Derby approaches, Paul is determined to learn the winner. Concerned about his health, his mother rushes home from a party and discovers his secret. He has been spending hours riding his rocking horse, sometimes all night long, until he "gets there", into a clairvoyant state where he can be sure of the winner's name.
Paul remains ill through the day of the Derby. Informed by Cresswell, Bassett has placed Paul's bet on Malabar, at fourteen to one. When he is informed by Bassett that he now has 80,000 pounds, Paul says to his mother:
MARXIST LITERARY THEORY
~ A form of critique or discourse for interrogating all societies and their texts in terms of specific issues - including the race, class, and the attitudes shared within the given culture.
THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER - D.H Lawrence
The story describes a young middle-class Englishwoman who "had no luck." Though outwardly successful, she is haunted by a sense of failure; her husband is a ne'er-do-well and her work as a commercial artist doesn't earn as much as she'd like. The family's lifestyle exceeds its income and unspoken anxiety about money permeates the household. Her children, a son Paul and his two sisters, sense this anxiety, and Paul even claims he can hear the house "whispering" There must be more money.
Paul tells his Uncle Oscar Cresswell about betting on horse races with Bassett, the gardener. He's been placing bets using his pocket money and has won and saved three hundred twenty pounds. Sometimes he says he is "sure" of a winner for an upcoming race, and the horses he names do in fact win, sometimes at remarkable odds. Uncle Oscar and Bassett both place large bets on the horses Paul names.
After further winning, Paul and Oscar arrange to give the mother a gift of five thousand pounds, but the gift only lets her spend more. Disappointed, Paul tries harder than ever to be "lucky". As the Derby approaches, Paul is determined to learn the winner. Concerned about his health, his mother rushes home from a party and discovers his secret. He has been spending hours riding his rocking horse, sometimes all night long, until he "gets there", into a clairvoyant state where he can be sure of the winner's name.
Paul remains ill through the day of the Derby. Informed by Cresswell, Bassett has placed Paul's bet on Malabar, at fourteen to one. When he is informed by Bassett that he now has 80,000 pounds, Paul says to his mother:
"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.
The boy dies in the night and his mother hears her brother
say, “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.”
CRITICISM As I can picture out in the story, the The Rocking Horse Winner pictures out, as I can say, the state-of-life of the characters which belong to the middle level class family. Hester in the story is the mother of Paul who became very disappointed in the life she had after she had married her husband. Paul, her son, after receiving a rocking horse as a Christmas present to him felt that he can tell what racing horse could win and that he decided in betting horses in the race. And whatever horses he names were the horses that actually win.
Why did Paul decided on betting horses? that is because her mother, Hester, though her desired lifestyle exceeds their family income, still decide that she gets what she wanted, so just as to satisfy her mother, Paul think of anyways how to fulfill her mother's desire.
So here in the story, the main character Paul, and his mother Hester belong to a middle level class family. Hester here decided to fulfill her desired lifestyle though the family income doesn't meet this. She became disappointed to whatever her life become. The short story obviously revealed the attitude of Hester on how she worked with her life being a poor woman. While Paul her son, acted accordingly on how to make money for her mother to become satisfied until he gets sick.
So therefore I conclude that Hester came from a rich family, so when she married and discover that her husband cannot make enough money for her to get her desired lifeless became disappointed. That I think is the culture Hester used to be that is why she acted like the story.
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