The Rocking-Horse Winner

D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner" gives you a lot of information simply off the first paragraph. You learn a lot about the mother's character just from this paragraph. You immediately learned the tone of the story right from the first sentence: "There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck" (709). You learn what an important role luck is going to have in this story because Lawrence first described the mother by relating her to luck. I found it interesting that right away Lawrence lets the reader know that she felt her children "had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them" (709). It's rare that you hear a mother talk about her children in such a way. The fact she did not love her children is ironic because her son does so much to earn this love. He feels horrible for his mother that she has such horrible luck that he lets this desire to please her consume his life. I also thought it was interesting that we learn so little about the father. The only things we really learn about him are through his wife who claims he has high tastes, but horrible luck. She talks so negatively about him even to his own children, which I found odd. You would think in most cases you would speak highly of your husband and father of your children, but this is not the case. It seems that nothing is good enough for this woman. Even when her son has the lawyer give her money she does not act with happiness, she simply wants more. The first thing she does is ask her lawyer for all the money because they are in debt. It is clear the family wasn't in debt because the mother just bought furniture and tutors with the money. If you were in debt you would not spend your money on creating a better image for yourself, but its obvious this is one of the only things she cares about.