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Archetypes In The Rocking Horse Winner Essay

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“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a short story by the English novelist, essayist and literary critic D.H. Lawrence. It represents how the author cautions about the negative effects of materialism, as it can never fully satisfy the human need and will eventually end in tragedy and unhappiness. Lawrence does so through the archetypes of the terrible mother, the hero, and the anti-wise old man.
Firstly, archetype is of the terrible mother, Hester, whom is haunted with the never-ending need for money; the more she got, the more she craved. As a result, it left her void of love towards anything or anyone other than money, which left her children, primarily her son Paul, feeling unloved and neglected. The author demonstrates this by writing, “She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them” (Lawrence 18). Hester is not an admirable woman, let alone mother, in any given way. She claims to be unlucky, yet the opening lines introduce her as beautiful woman, who married out of love, and has beautiful children. Hester does not abuse her children in the traditional way, her treatment of …show more content…

Oscar Cresswell, brother of Hester, is a supporter of Paul’s destructive gambling and hides these facts from Hester as he can benefit from his nephew’s gift. When he learns that Paul earns money through gambling, he greedily takes advantage of the boy by betting on the horses that Paul selects, "That's right, son! Don't you stop till you get there" (Lawrence 22). Selfish and shallow, Oscar does nothing to help Hester with her financial struggles, although he has inherited the family fortune. Despite Oscar being aware of his nephews’ bizarre habit of obsessing over a toy that he has outgrown, he does not say a word to Paul’s mother, nor does he warn him about the dangers of

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