The Rocking

The Rocking Book Summary The Rocking-Horse Winner describes a young boy’s search for luck and love in a world with no love. Paul has a gift of picking the winning horse in horse races. His mother, Hester, in contrary, has no luck and even though she is outwardly successful, she is troubled by a feeling of failure.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Rocking-Horse Winner specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The family’s expenditure exceeds its income and creates unspoken tension and this affects the relationships in the family. Paul and his two sisters recognize this tension and Paul even alleges that he can hear the house whispering, â€Å"There must be more money† (Lawrence, 1926). Paul informs his uncle (Oscar) and Bassett, the gardener, about his luck on betting in horses: he has been betting using his pocket money and has won and accumulated some money. Both men place huge bets on the horse Paul identifies t o be a potential winner. After their win, Paul and Bassett give Paul’s mother a very expensive gift, but this makes her spend more money, this upsets Paul and he works harder to be lucky. As a Derby race nears, Paul strives to know the name of the winning horse. He does this by riding his rocking horse so that he can get to a state in which he can be sure about the winning horse. He remains sick on the day of the Derby but Bassett places bets on the horse that was identified by Paul, and even places a bet for Paul. The horse wins and Paul wins eighty thousand pounds, however, he dies at night. Analysis The Rocking-Horse Winner presents a society in search of love and luck and this is evident from a number of characters. The main characters in the short story, Paul and Hester, are in search of love. Paul’s mother, Hester, entered marriage with a handsome man because of love, but the love died. Even though she has three children out of the marriage, she could not love th em, and does not even love herself for she is troubled by a feeling of failure. The closest she ever comes to finding love is through her son, Paul, but she rejects him too. Indeed, her lack of love for her children is shown when the author writes, â€Å"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† (Lawrence, 1926). While everyone thinks of her as a great parent, only she knows that her heart is hard and cannot love, not even her children who need it very much. To her, success and happiness means getting more money. Hester’s desire for material wealth surpasses that of other important things such as love and self-knowledge. Her desire for money is insatiable, instead, they lead to disastrous results when she confuses money with love. In her pursuit of more money, Hester loses some basic family values.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Her main aim is to bring up her children in a flamboyant lifestyle, as a result, her relationship with her children and husband dies. Whenever she gets money, she overspends it. Although the family lives in a â€Å"pleasant house† complete with servants and a nurse, they take them as show off objects. Hester’s uncontrollable spending creates tensions inside the household and this is personified by the whispering sounds that seem to come out the house and say â€Å"there must be more money† (Lawrence, 1926). Paul’s talk with his mother about luck makes him believe that her mother’s love can only be won with money and luck. She makes a strong connection with luck and money. When Paul asks her whether luck was money, she replies, â€Å"Its what causes you to have money† (Lawrence, 1926). From this talk, Paul concludes that his luck would make her happy, and this would translate to lo ve. In contrary, she becomes greedier and is more concerned about money than loving her son (Snodgrass, pp. 196). Paul’s ability to identify the winning horse pulls Oscar and Bassett into the betting business. Paul would get onto a rocking boat and rock continuously, like he was part of the race, until he got into a state in which he was sure of the winning horse. At the final race, Paul drives himself harder and harder to identify the winning horse. His mother’s insatiability and whispering house drives him to try more and more as he knew that he would achieve two important things if he identified the winning horse: make his mother happy, and win her love. Paul’s desperate actions are an attempt to win love from his hard-hearted mother. These efforts leave him sick and weak. After Bassett tells him that he had won eighty thousand pounds from the derby race, he tells his mother, â€Å"†¦did I ever tell you? I am lucky!† to which the mother replies, à ¢â‚¬Å"No, you never did† (Lawrence, 1926), this proves that Hester never loved her children, especially Paul. Paul dies that night after failing to win his mother’s love. Lawrence, David Herbert Richards. The Rocking-Horse Winner. In The Norton Introduction to Literature. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays, eds. Portable 10th ed. New York: Norton, 2011. Print.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Rocking-Horse Winner specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Snodgrass, William de Witt. A Rocking-Horse: The Symbol, the Pattern, the Way to Live. The Hudson Review, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1958, pp. 191-200

Best Automotive Business Pract essays

Best Automotive Business Pract essays Survival of the Fittest in the Present Automotive Market How Slow and Steady Can Win the Race The automobile manufacturing trade presents an interesting and important microcosm of American business as a whole. The general public opinion is that American manufacturing in general is faltering-that decreases in worker productivity and product quality, stiff competition from foreign concerns, increasing domestic labor costs, a diminishing loyalty among consumers for U.S. made products, and other factors are causing a subtle shift in our entire economy. Americans just dont build the best products, or so says the current school of thought, and the future of the U.S. economy lies not in manufacturing, but service sectors. To the casual observer, nowhere is this opinion more valid than in the American automotive industry. It is common knowledge that domestic carmakers are struggling, and have been for decades. Buick Motor Division, and the General Motors conglomerate of which it is a part, once enjoyed unparalleled prestige and rosy prospects for the future. Then, competition and other outside forces reshaped the landscape of the U.S. auto market. Buick and other domestic car companies foundered for over three decades. A few American companies went out of business altogether during this tumultuous time, including Studebaker, American Motors and Eagle. Even more recently, the Oldsmobile and Plymouth divisions of General Motors and Chrysler, respectively, were dismantled by corporate edicts within months of their centennial celebrations. Many industry pundits now predict that General Motors Buick division will be next. However, Buick is implementing business strategies that could not only save the division, but enable it to thrive in the coming years. Presently, the centenarian company has a unique opportunity to grow in a stagnant segment, by continuing its tradition of quiet innovation, m aintaining ties with its core custome...

Panopticism review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Panopticism review - Essay Example The tower was to be made in such a manner that only the people operating it had the vantage view of the prisoners. The prisoners could not have any clear view of their jailers. The organization of the panopticon increased the potency of power in the minds of the prisoners and made the control of the prison more efficient. In essence, the ideals of total control of the prison facility as imagined by Foucault borrowed from the quarantines against the plague as practiced in the seventeenth century (Veyne 54). The process of quarantine involved the determination of a range of processes that maintained some strict discipline in affected villages including locking people within their houses and keeping away the keys. The nature of discipline was regulated in ways that ensured easy control of the villages by the authorities. Threats of death were used to ensure compliance. Critics contend that the panopticon was modeled on the desire by the seventeenth century societies to protect civilizations from the scourge of the plague. Others contend that the objective was aimed at achieving a perfect society. Some of the issues that continue to attend to the matters of society are largely determined by the desire by central authorities to design the codes of ethics for their subjects. Such objectives often come into conflict with the theories that reinforce the need for human freedom and liberty. Critics of panopticism argue that governments do not have the moral authority to suppress the liberties and freedoms of the governed. They add that the idea of a perfect society is illusory and defeatist in nature. As such, they seek to demonstrate ways in which the processes of governance can be moderated in ways that support the free reign of the will of the governed. Within a modern context, Foucault’s panopticism could be conceptualized in terms of the structural