The Rocking-Horse Winner Analysis

While the year is never specified, references to World War I and actual racing horses of the time tell us that the story takes place in 1920s England. Like a classic ghost story, most of th...

The story sounds mythical and fable-like with its use of the third person/omniscient. Even the opening of the story sounds like a fairy tale: "There was a woman who was beautiful, who started w...

D. H. Lawrence is considered one of the big Modernists of his era. Like many Modernists, he was heavily influenced by Freud's writings on human sexuality. "The Rocking-Horse Winner" reveals...

We get the sense that whoever is narrating "The Rocking-Horse Winner" has it out for the adults, but remains sympathetic toward the boy. The general tone is pretty ironic—statements about Hes...

"The Rocking-Horse Winner" reads like a parable, or a folktale. The language is simple and unadorned—it relates crucial dialogue and actions, but leaves out the prose and lengthy descriptions...

The title might sound a little "off" to you, as if the story is about someone who wins a rocking horse (the "winner" of a "rocking horse"), which probably wouldn't be very interesting at all. A...

The ending is just stone cold. Literally. Hester has never been very affectionate toward Paul, but by the time of his illness, she seems to become even colder and, as Lawrence describes, her heart...

(1) Sea Level The story is a short, powerful read, in conversational English. 

Initial Situation Stage Identification: Paul's family appears moderately well off, but they're still struggling to maintain their lifestyle. Explanation/Discussion: The disparity between Paul's...

In 1909, Sigmund Freud published a study of a five-year-old boy who had a fear of horses called Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-Year-Old Boy. Freud believed that the boy's fear of horses was connect...

There is no sex in the story, only a lot of suggestive Freudian symbolism.