The Rocking-Horse Winner Theme of Gender

The protagonist of "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is a boy who is barely on the cusp of manhood. Over the course of the story, he transitions from being under a nanny's care to studying Greek and Latin with a tutor and dining with his parents.

It's a pretty confusing period for any boy to begin with, but it doesn't help any that Paul's parents give him such conflicting messages about what manhood is. His father isn't exactly a role model, and his mother seems to take on many traditional male roles, such as making sure the family has enough money to spend. In fact, it's his mother who constantly prods him to grow up, to leave off his childish attachment to his toys, including the rocking horse, and to start getting ready to go to Eton so he can be more like his father.

Yet, in the end, Paul is perhaps most like his mother, inheriting her insatiable intensity and her belief in luck.

1. Does Hester fit into traditional roles for women? How does her status as a wife and mother affect her ability to be professionally successful orfinancially independent?
2. Compare the men in the novel: the unnamed father, Bassett, and Uncle Oscar. How does each character represent some aspect of manhood or masculinity? How does each character measure up to certain qualities associated with manhood, such as wealth, physical strength, or professional success,?
3. In what ways are the children—Paul and his sisters—preparing to assume the gender roles they'll be expected to assume as adults? Which adult characters do you think Paul is most similar to?
4. As the story goes on, Paul transitions from a child in the care of a female nanny to an older boy tutored by a male tutor to go to his father's elite school. Do you think Paul "grows up" over the course of the story? Or do you think he's too stuck in childhood, as his mother complains?

At the end of the story, Paul's only options are to maintain his infantile attachment to his rocking-horse and his passionate, emotional world, or become a soulless gentleman like his father and Uncle Oscar. Since neither option is a very appealing, he has no choice but to die.

Hester's unhappiness stems from her dependence on male characters like her husband and Uncle Oscar; she is unable to break free and have a fulfilling, independent life of her own.