The Green Quest
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The Green Quest
For centuries, money has had tremendous impacts on every aspect of one’s daily life. The never ending quest for fiscal superiority has driven people to unprecedented highs and unexpected lows. In D.H. Lawrence’s The Rocking Horse Winner, there is an imperative yearning for more money. This need for money seemed to be more important to the mother than were her own children. Both Paul’s mother and Paul’s father had expensive tastes, expensive styles, but lacked the finances necessary to support these characteristics. These needs for money lead to an unfavorable anxiety throughout the home which was felt by all who resided in it.
It has been said, that money is the root of all evil. It has also been said, however, that those who believe that aphorism, simply have no money. But why is money the root of evil? Perhaps it is because people are blinded by the natural emotion of greed. It is not wrong for an individual to want more of something, but when that need becomes the sole focus in one’s life, it can, and often times has, lead to one’s downfall.
People, who are brought up in a western society (i.e., the United States, Western Europe) are taught by the media, celebrities, and other aspects of
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entertainment that possessing money makes you a good person, and that the more money one has, the better he or she is. It is also understood that the better education one has, the more money he or she will generate in a career. College educations, however, require thousands of dollars annually. Therefore, it appears that it takes money, to make money.
This theory of needing money to make money rings true with gambling. Casinos, lotteries, horse racing, and a vast array of other tools require individuals to use the money he or she has, and hopefully increase the original sum through the appropriate means of gambling. However, money is not the only aspect of gambling. Luck is money’s right-hand man when it comes to gambling. This theory ties in with D.H. Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Winner.
The association between luck and money is explained to Paul by his mother. She explains that to have luck, is to ultimately have money. Because of this faulty explanation, Paul vigorously rides his rocking horse in a disillusioned belief that he will find winners of horse races. This disillusioned belief, seems to pay off, however. Ultimately, Paul generated over eighty thousand pounds by his obsessed, yet lucrative technique. Although Paul may have generated large sums of money, he became an obsessed child with grandiose delusions. These delusions, together with his obsession to generate money and possess luck eventually were his demise. Paul’s own life was traded for large sums of money and the achievement of “luck”.
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Paul’s uncle states “My God, Hester, you’re eighty thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad.” Paul’s mother finally attained luck and fortune through her child’s loss of life. It is hard, though, for one to argue the mother’s emotions for the dead child. It would seem that if a mother lost a child, she would experience distress or sorrow, however, it is possible Paul’s mother felt nothing. This theory is supported in the beginning of the story, “She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. They looked at her coldly…Only she herself knew that at the centre of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody.” In the absence of love and emotion, Paul attempted to fill the void through luck and money.
I personally believe this a common situation for many people. Individuals go through his or her entire life trying to fill personal voids through fiscal achievement and other selfish, emotion-lacking desires. I am careful to not say “needs”, since many other people do not need money to feel happy, or to fill a void. Instead, one can find a soul mate, start a family, or find a noble profession that benefits the community. Money should not be associated with happiness or success, however,