Instead of giving Hester money directly, Paul gives five thousand pounds to Uncle Oscar, who takes the money to the bank and arranges for one thousand pounds to be sent to Paul’s mother each year on her birthday.
Joan, one of Paul’s sisters, tells Uncle Oscar that Paul talks about horse racing with Bassett, the family’s gardener. Uncle Oscar interprets Paul’s comments about “getting where he wanted to go” and the horse’s changing name as the result of a lively imagination—he doesn’t take them seriously.
When Paul tells his uncle that he is doing all this for his mother, to give her money achieved through his luck, he insists that she should not be told, that she would stop him. Oscar doesn't think so, but Paul, writhing "in an odd way," just says that he doesn't want her to know.
He also encourages Paul to give Hester some of his winnings. When Paul dies, Oscar suggests that Hester is better off having the money Paul made instead of having a strange son—or at least that Paul is better off dead than living in such a state.
In what way does 3rd person point of view …show more content… What does uncle Oscar say at the end of the story, and is he speaking for the author, why or why not? "My God, Hester, you're eighty-thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad.
His uncle brought him his twenty dollars in winnings. The boy wanted to add it to the fifteen hundred he likely had now with Bassett. His uncle was tired of him talking this way, so he decided he needed to speak to Bassett himself.
What happens after Paul's mother receives the gift? She does not seem happy at all, voices in the house go mad.
Paul decides to give his mother, Hester, 5,000 pounds of his winnings, which is to be paid out one thousand pounds at a time on her birthday for the next five years. While Paul was trying to figure out the winner of the Derby, his mother went to check on him because she had heard a strange noise coming from his room.
This statement occurs after Paul makes a shocking ten thousand on Lively Spark in the Leger race. When Paul tells Uncle Oscar that he made this money to give to his mother, he makes his Uncle Oscar promise that he will not let his mother know it was he who is providing her with this money.
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 does Mother say was her biggest mistake? Getting married.
Paul decided that to please his mother he would prove to her that he was indeed lucky. So he went and searched for the "luck" inside himself. He would get on his rocking-horse and ride it wildly while his two sisters would play with dolls in the nursery.
What is the effect of the imagery used in describing Paul's mother when she receives her birthday gift? Greed. The imagery shows that his mother cannot be pleased, especially with material things such as money.
What was Paul's secret of secrets? Ans: Paul's secret of secrets was his unnamed wooden horse. He had his horse taken from his own bedroom and placed at the top of the house when he was freed from his duties as a nurse and nursery governess.
Log in here. Paul's mother says she is "very unlucky" because she "married an unlucky husband". This indicates that she does not take responsiblity upon herself, but instead blames others for her lack of happiness.
Paul's Rocking-Horse (Symbol) Also, rather than racing forwards like a real horse, the rocking-horse can only rock back and forth in place. In that sense, it is perhaps more a symbol for race gambling rather than horse-riding itself.
He urges Oscar Bassett once again not to speak to others about Paul’s announcement of plans for their partnerships by promising them not to reveal any more details. As a result of giving him his first successful wager note at ten shillings, Paul only helps Uncle Oscar with his wagers.
It’s not only Paul who goes, “Get there.”. It is either by choice that he evades the question or says that luck will guide him. His dreams of winning money from the races to buy his mother’s affections come true as he takes a chance on winning.
In addition to Uncle Oscar finding Paul’s gambling scam, he becomes a partner in it too. After winning five thousand pounds, Paul arranges for his mother to receive the money with great pleasure, and promptly spent it all.
As the story’s end reveals, Uncle Oscar regrets riding Paul’s rocking horse to locate an elusive winner and describes Paul as an “average hick”. This statement has many meanings. What is it tion of this statement? His uncle supported his obsession all the way through.
The boy is exploited by wagering the winners of Paul’s gamble when he is told that Paul is making money through gambling. As a result, he cries foul: “That’s right, son!”. Paul is told not to stop until he gets there, since he loves pulling out his childhood toy, the rocking horse.
Describes Paul’s secret as the result of their developing relationship of mutual respect. He describes the place that he takes in Paul’s family as being a servant. By far the only adult in the story to show respect to Paul is Bassett.
A young man whose foot was wounded in World War I, Bassetton grows plants for Paul. As friends with Oscar Cresswell he as well.
Following Uncle Oscar ’s advice, Paul agrees to give her all of the money at once. (full context) ...because he doesn’t want to leave his rocking-horse— a secret about which even Bassett and Uncle Oscar don’t know . When Hester decides that Paul is too old to stay in the nursery,... (full context)
Paul... (full context) Uncle Oscar takes Paul to a horse race, and Paul’s eyes look as though they are blazing... (full context) Paul, Bassett, and Uncle Oscar go on a walk and Paul explains that they always win when he is sure... (full context) Uncle Oscar asks Paul how he becomes “sure,” and Paul explains that he just knows.
Uncle Oscar asks Paul how he becomes “sure,” and Paul explains that he just knows. Bassett says... (full context) Instead of giving Hester money directly, Paul gives five thousand pounds to Uncle Oscar, who takes the money to the bank and arranges for one thousand pounds to be... (full context)
When Paul dies, Oscar suggests that Hester is better off having the money Paul made instead of having a strange son—or at least that Paul is better off dead than living in such a state.
Joan, one of Paul’s sisters, tells Uncle Oscar that Paul talks about horse racing with Bassett, the family’s gardener. Uncle Oscar interprets Paul’s comments about “getting where he wanted to go” and the horse’s changing name as the result of a lively imagination—he doesn’t take them seriously.
Paul believes that if he rides the rocking-horse enough he solve all of the family’s problems—essentially that he can free his mother from her worries by taking them upon himself.
Uncle Oscar asks Paul which horse he should bet on for the upcoming Lincoln horse race. After Paul makes Oscar promise “honour bright” that he won’t tell anyone else, Paul says to bet on Daffodil—a relatively unknown horse.
Just as Hester wants luck so that her neighbors think she’s wealthy , Paul wants luck so that his mother will think he’s lucky (and, presumably, will then be proud of him and love him more). Both are concerned with appearances, but Paul is willing to work hard to find luck, while Hester expects it to be given to her.
Paul tells Hester that he wants the rocking-horse to keep him company until he is able to get a real horse.
Hester finally notices the madness in Paul ’s eyes and suggests that he go down to the seaside for some rest. Paul explains that he cannot go before the Derby (a big horse race). His mother tells him that gambling runs in the family, and she is concerned by how invested he has become in horse racing.
Hester believes that she is (relatively) poor because she was unlucky in marriage (not work), and she does not play an active role in her children’s lives.
For Paul's dying is the necessary end of the damage done to him, body and soul, by his deliberate efforts to reach God. "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is indeed a story about religious perversion. Paul sins against God all right, but the God is Pan, Nature.
Lawrence hated money and the warping of modern man that scrambling for money caused. But he knew that no middle-class marriage could be successful without it. Money on the other hand must be kept in perspective and not romanticized into a substitute for love, as it is in "The Rocking-Horse Winner.".
In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Hester Cresswell's sexual disappointment results in a similarly inordinate and destructive craving for substitute "luxuries," and in a like resentment of her child. According to Lawrence, Hester Prynne "simply hates her child, from one part of herself.
The idea is that mothers shape their sons into the desirable opposite of their husbands. Whatever they are powerless to prevent or alter in their mates, mothers will seek to prevent or alter in their sons. In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the woman cannot alter her husband's ineffectuality. She herself tries to be effective in the world of commerce and money, but she fails, partly because of the lack of opportunities available to her. So she turns unconsciously to her son. In this reading, Paul's death owes less to the specific character of his mother's demands and more to the strength of those demands. He dies—cannot live, cannot grow and flourish—partly because he is too good a son, and she is a woman with unbounded desires and no way to work directly toward their gratification. In Sons and Lovers, the young son kills, literally and figuratively, the paralyzed and paralyzing mother. The alternative pattern, which Lawrence felt to be common among the men of his generation, is played out in "The Rocking-Horse Winner."
Snodgrass's essay considers the socio-economic, religious, and, especially, the sexual aspects of the story, focusing on Lawrence's use of symbols. Other critics have further highlighted the Freudian aspects of the work and have interpreted it in regard to economic theories and spiritual allusions.
Lawrence's repeated use of the word "religious" in describing him prepares us by indirection for the revelation of the boy's being in the grip of a supernatural power. At the climax of the story the mother opens her son's door and sees him "in his green pyjamas, madly surging on the rocking-horse.".
Uncle Oscar then asks Paul whether he puts money on the horses. Paul tells his Uncle Oscar that he has been winning a lot of money betting on horses—getting his start with a ten-shilling note that was a gift from Uncle Oscar.
When his mother receives the letter about the thousand pounds, she visits the lawyer and asks for five thousand pounds all at once. Paul agrees, and Uncle Oscar arranges to have the whole five thousand pounds given to Paul's mother.
Paul collapses with a brain fever, screaming, "Malabar!". For three days, Paul lies ill and unconscious in his room with his mother at his bedside. Meanwhile, Oscar and Bassett have put their money on Malabar. On the third day, Bassett visits Paul, and informs Paul that Malabar has won.
He's also unsure about the Lincoln, where he loses fifty pounds. Paul's mother worries that Paul seems headed toward a mental breakdown, and she suggests that he takes a break at the seaside. Paul wants to bet on the Derby race, and convinces his mother not to send him away until after the Derby.
Uncle Oscar decides to be a partner as well. For the next big race, Paul predicts that a horse named Lively Spark is going to win.
Lively Spark wins at 10-1 odds, meaning that Paul wins ten thousand pounds, Bassett wins five thousand pounds, and Uncle Oscar two thousand pounds. Paul wants to give the money to his mother, but doesn't want his mother to know that it's from him or how he's made the money.
Paul's mother spends the five thousand pounds on home décor and an expensive new tutor for Paul. But with all the money, the house begins to whisper even louder that there must be more money. Paul is desperate to win, but he isn't absolutely sure about the Grand National, where he loses a hundred pounds.