The Pursuit of Luck in D. H. Lawrence’s ‘The Rocking Horse Winner (MA project)

This paper has tried to depict the issues like disintegration of family, absence of suitable environment for growth of children, capitalist ideology of Paul’s parents, price mechanism, and child as a source of income and commodity. These issues have acted as motivators for Paul’s pursuit of Luck more than moral  values. Money has become a catalyst in determining mother-child relationship in the story and as a worshipper of money Hester treats money as luck. According to Paul’s parents to be lucky means to have more money. D.H. Lawrence has depicted a British society where characters give importance on pursuit of luck and they run after money instead of taking care of their children. Paul’s parents conceive completely of opposite ideology of “The American Dream” and their blind chasing after money causes suffering in of Paul. The faulty sense of family values has forced Paul to work and determined his fate. The family in “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, has shown the adverse psychological effects resulted from persuasion of money and capitalist mindsets of the characters. This study also reveals Oedipus-complex along with fixation as a major factor behind Paul’s suffering. This paper has explored the nature of money- oriented society and its psychological effects on Paul which have been resulted from the characters’ persuasion of luck rather than value.

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