What is the main conflict in the rocking horse winner?


What is the main conflict in the rocking horse winner?

The main conflict in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" relates to the fact that the family does not have enough money for their wants and desires. This desire for more money lies at the heart of all of the conflict that occurs in the story itself.

What is the irony in the rocking horse winner?

The irony is that, in a sense, Paul's mother has been gambling too, without knowing that she is, and that the resultant damage takes Paul's life before he can grow up.

What is the symbolism of the Rocking Horse Winner?

Lawrence uses the rocking horse to symbolize the dangers of chasing wealth and his disdain for conspicuous consumption.

What killed Paul in the rocking horse winner?

So, he collapsed, probably from exhaustion and fever, born from his obsessive hunt for "luck." Throughout the story, he is so obsessed with making money that he stays up late in the night riding his horse, hoping for a revelation that will win his mother some more money.

What is so special about Paul's rocking horse?

Paul starts to spend a lot of time riding his rocking horse. He believes that if he rides the horse long enough, it will tell him where he can find luck. Paul's sister, Joan and his nanny are annoyed by his rocking horse habit. One day, Paul's mother and Uncle Oscar watch as he rides on his rocking horse.

What happens at the end of the rocking horse winner?

The ending is just stone cold. Literally. Hester has never been very affectionate toward Paul, but by the time of his illness, she seems to become even colder and, as Lawrence describes, her heart "turned actually into a stone."

Why did Paul so desperately want to be lucky?

There are two reasons why Paul thinks he can be lucky on his own in D. H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner." First, he feels desperate to help his mother. Since his father cannot provide the life his mother wants, Paul is determined to help his mother himself. His determination makes him think optimistically.

Who is Bassett Why does he keep Paul's secret?

He keeps Paul's secret because of the relationship of mutual respect which he has developed with the boy, and also because of his keen awareness of his place as a servant in Paul's family. Bassett is the only adult in the story who treats Paul with respect.

What does Paul do to try to find luck?

Paul attempts to change his family's luck by riding the rocking horse so that he can make them wealthy.

How does Paul pick winning horses?

He got his job through Uncle Oscar, who he served under during the war. Bassett is a working class man with naively religious views—he thinks Paul's talent for picking winning racehorses is a gift from heaven.

Why does Paul confide in Uncle Oscar?

Paul keeps his secret of secrets from Bassett and Uncle Oscar because the boy realizes he is doing something that borders on black magic--witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy.

Who is Uncle Oscar?

Oscar is Paul's wealthy, greedy uncle. He likes horse races and uses Paul's tips to make bets himself. He also encourages Paul to give Hester some of his winnings.

Why does Paul ride the rocking horse?

Paul's secret of secrets was his wooden horse, that which had no name. Paul, Oscar, and Bassett use this "lucky" skill of Paul's to win money by betting on horse races. Paul rides the rocking horse to make money in order to help make his mom less depressed by their financial situation.

Does Paul solve his mother's problem?

No, Paul does not solve his mother's problem in "The Rocking-Horse Winner." This is because she has a fundamental character flaw: greed. Even after obtaining a large sum of money through Paul's efforts, his mother remains unhappy.

Why does Paul avoid telling the secret of his rocking horse?

Why does Paul avoid telling the secret of his rocking horse? He fears that the horse will lose its magic.

Why is it odd that Mrs Drover sees a letter in her house?

Mrs. Drover's house appears strange to her because the scene that greets her inside is incongruous with what she sees outside. Essentially, the German bombing campaigns have failed to destroy evidence of previous human activity in the house. ... Inside the house, evidence of previous human activity has been preserved.

Why does the narrator want to go to Araby?

Why does the narrator want to go to the bazaar? To give Mangan's sister a gift of "Araby", when speaking to the sister, she asks him if he was going because she could not since she had to go to a retreat. ... The narrator expected Araby to be filled with enchantment and beauty.

What does the boy realize at the end of Araby?

The epiphany in "Araby" occurs in the last sentence, in which the boy narrator has a realization: Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.

What is the message of Araby?

Arguably the central theme throughout the story is loss of innocence, both in the narrator's belief in religion and his understanding of romance.

What does Mangan's sister represent to the narrator?

To the narrator of "Araby," Mangan's sister represents romance and beauty. ... Joyce, in sharp contrast, depicts young, foolish love like the narrator's as the purest of all.

Why is Mangan's sister not given a name?

The reason for all this anonymity, the reason why Mangan's sister isn't given a name, can be contributed to two reasons. Firstly, Mangan's sister's name simply isn't very important; her name does not change the narrator's “confused adoration” (Joyce 2) for her, and therefore her name is not needed to advance the plot.

What is Mangans sisters name?

However, she remains only a minor character, and Joyce does not even reveal her name. In many ways, Joyce's decision to refer to the girl that the narrator is infatuated with as simply "Mangan's sister" reflects her actual influence on that narrator's life after he experiences his epiphany.

How is Mangan's sister described?

Mangan's sister is a character who the narrator never really knows, and she is described in ways that objectify her as the repository of all of the narrator's fevered adolescent dreams of love and romance rather than being allowed to be presented to us as a fully developed character.

What does the word tedious most likely mean as used in paragraph 12?

tedious. boring, especially due to the amount of something that must be endured.

What do you think is the conflict of the story Araby?

The central conflict in "Araby" concerns the struggle between the narrator's imagination and the bleak reality of his interaction with Mangan's sister. In the story, the narrator is infatuated with Mangan's sister and daydreams about winning her heart.

Why is getting the girl a gift so important to the narrator What does he think giving her a gift will accomplish?

Getting a gift for Mangan's sister is very important for the narrator considering the fact that this is the only time he is having a verbal conversation with her. Hence, it is certain that he intends to use the gift to please the girl which may probably lead to romantic relationship between the two.

Why is the narrator so distracted in school?

The narrator is so distracted in school in “Araby” because he is thinking about going to the bazaar and buying a gift for Mangan's sister. He has romantic feelings for her that he hopes to express through a gift.

What realization did the narrator have at the end of the story?

The story's narrator deludes himself into believing he is experiencing true love, but by the end of the story he realizes that his interest in Mangan's sister has been only a physical attraction.

What does the bazaar represent in the story?

In the story, the bazaar symbolizes everything that is new and exotic, and an opportunity for the character to escape his dull life. Joyce develops this meaning by associating the bazaar with the sister, and contrasting it with dull images of Dublin.

What is the symbolic meaning of light and dark in Araby?

The symbolic meaning of the relationship between light and darkness in "Araby" is that dark represents the realities of the boy's life in Dublin while light represents his illusions and fantasies.