Many people assume that our world is full of enigmas or supernatural things which cannot be measured or tested, they are far from human’s understanding. The standard way of thinking about the following concept opens up with the idea that human’s thoughts are controlled by some negative strengths, which have a huge impact on individual’s perception and actions. Many prominent authors of past times had tried to depict and revel the supernatural issues to their readers but the most brilliant among them was considered to be David Herbert Lawrence and his amazing piece of art, the short story called The Rocking Horse Winner. The author’s pursue of harmony was transformed to his main character, the boy who wanted to save oneself by escaping from daily life and the surrounding environment into the world of fantasy. The world, where he would finally find of desirable tranquility and peace.
First and foremost, the combination of mystery and supernatural things can be discovered by readers from the first pages of the book. The story is about a poor family, who did not have enough money but there was a contradiction in the story, claiming that “There was always the grinding sense of the shortage of money, though the style was always kept up” (Lawrence,1). Parents pursued materiality, they always wanted to have more money and wished to put their feet up, do less and have the necessary amount of money they wanted to. Due to the shortage of money in the family, the feeling of anxiety was flying all over the house and such a sensitive child as Paul have always heard unobtrusive whispers: "There must be more money! There must be more money!" (Lawrence, 2). In fact, it turned out that a young boy have had a supernatural power, he was able to predict the name of the winner in the horse race, by riding his rocking horse. The more he rode it, the luckier he would be. The boy claimed that “He knew the horse could take him to where there was luck, if only he forced it” (Lawrence, 4). The paranormal activity as well as constant stressful atmosphere in family resulted on child’s mentality. He thought that the more he rocked on the horse, the more money he would win in order to satisfy his mother’s needs and exactly this thing would eventually made his mother love him more and pay more attention to him. To a great disappointment, it did not matter how much money the boy would win, as mother’s greediness did not know any limits (Hyde, 23).
The main argument in support of Paul’s actions was that the “wandering” on the horse was a ritual for him and he tried to hide his secret assiduously from others. He knew that this secret must be only between him and a horse, or else this supernatural thing might effect on their status in the city. Moreover, he clearly admitted it, when he grew up and took the rocking horse upstairs, reporting that until he did not have a real horse he would not throw it away (Lawrence, 13). The horse served as a barrier between the real world and the unreal, mystical, puzzling and supernatural world. By riding the wooden horse, the boy’s body physically stayed with his parents in his house, but his soul was far away from it, the soul was travelling through the mystical world of human’s consciousness. The rocking horse was everything for him and here we can clearly see how this supernatural phenomenon had affected the boy. The magical horse and those whispers in a so called hunted house served as comfort for him. The boy was described as paranoiac by author, because he was in a constant fear, the fear of finding out about his secret, that he was lucky or even the luckiest in family. He even has stated that: “"I shouldn't like mother to know I was lucky"(Lawrence, 10). The wooden horse has brought a lot of money but it had also taken lots of things, for example, the boy’s soul and later on his life.
What was more important, the boy’s life was supposed to be very terrible due to his constant riding the horse in order to find out the names and win some money. His death had brought a lot of money into their house while his life was considered to be vain by his relatives. The author emphasizes the boy’s death with the following words: “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" (Lawrence, 14). Although, the writer did not say so directly, he apparently assumed that the usage of supernatural horse and the ability which had been given to the boy by riding it, highlighted real relationship which was between the boy and the horse. The author had used this mystery in order to reflect one’s life in this story, which was also lonesome due to his talent, he served his genius, his talent ( Hyde, 352).
All things considered, Lawrence’s short story is a brilliant example of life’s value. The little boy could not make his family treasure every good moment in his family but he has shown us the typical mistakes which we make in our life nowadays.
Works cited
Hyde, V.C. The Risen Adam: D.H. Lawrence‘s Revisionist Typology . The Pennsylvania
Lawrence D. H. Collected Stories. D. Campbell Publishers Ltd., 1994. Print.
Lawrence D. H. The Rocking Horse Winner. Creative Educ., 2010. Web. 6 June 2016.
