comentary writing of prose "The Rocking Horse Winner"

The Boy and the Unspoken Phrase How is it possible for a rocking-horse to be a winner? It is possible in the short story entitle The Rocking-Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence. The title of this story brings out readers’ imagination to picture a rocking-horse; a toy made from wood, looks like a mini horse, and usually boys can ride on its saddle. When we read The Rocking-Horse Winner, we can straightly think about the characters that would be introduced in the story, there might be character of children in it. As the family in general, there are father, mother, children, sometimes other member of the family, and the housekeeper. In The Rocking-Horse Winner, we are introduced to at least five characters in the story; there are Paul the boy, Uncle Oscar, Bassett the young gardener, the mother, and Joan the sister. The major character is Paul the boy, while the others are minor characters. The interesting thing from Lawrence’s way to describe the characters is not focus in the physical appearance, but he describes the characters from their inner thought, actions, and dialogue. When the story begins, Lawrence introduced the readers to a life that characters are going through. Lawrence describes the life of Paul’s family. This family lives in an expensive lifestyle but there was never enough money to support all things. The thing that becomes the focus of this story starts when Paul asks his mother about what is happening in the family, and the mother rises a word “unlucky” as the thing which is caused that situations. This is the part where Paul comes as the center of the story. Paul is the major character in the story. The story follows all his thought, actions, and every word he says. Lawrence does not describe the character of Paul physically, but he describes Paul from his dialogue with other characters, his thought, and other characters’ thought about him. From Paul’s first dialogue with his mother, he appears as a boy who is smart and wants to know a lot. It is shown by question after question given by Paul to her mother which are questioning about a thing that disturb him in his mind. He seems as a smart boy because he can think of problem that his family is going through and he also thinks about what he can do to solve the problem. The problem in his family is about luck and money. The parents are not gain a lot of money to support their expensive tastes and they also need more money to support their children who are growing up and have to go to school. It is described in the story that the relationship between the mother and her children are not too close as the relationship of mother and children which is supposed to. It is shown from the words used by Paul to his mother, which seem cold and brief, like in these dialogue, “Where did you get to?” asked the mother. “Where I wanted to go,” Paul flared back at her. The mother feels that the children look at her coldly, as if they blame her for every unlucky thing that happens in the family. The mother herself was a beautiful woman; at least that is what she thinks. From what Lawrence describes, we can see that she is a hard-working woman because she tried and tried so much things even she could not find anything successful and she believes in herself that she can do something right. But in the other hand, she can not manage what she has because she still has expensive tastes of lifestyle. Paul looks like has closer relationship with his uncle instead of his mother. It is shown from the dialogue between the uncle and Paul which seem very intimate which can be seen when in one time, Uncle Oscar greets Paul, “Hello, you young jockey! Riding a winner?”. It also can be seen from the choice of words which look more relax and the dialogue is longer, which conclude that Paul is open to his uncle, as is shown in these dialogue, “Yes I am. But it’s between you and me, uncle. Honour bright?” said Paul. “Honour bright all right, son!” said Uncle Oscar. Uncle Oscar himself seems as a nice person because he knows how to place himself in different situations. When he is with Paul’s mother, he acts like the adult is supposed to, but when he is with his nephew; he seems to be more friendly and fun. The other relationship is that between Paul and the gardener, Bassett. Paul seems to trust Bassett so much, Basset looks like a friend instead of a gardener. It is shown from how Paul who partners with Bassett in betting for horse racing and Paul also trusts Bassett of keeping the money. From the story, Bassett looks like a young man that has spirit because he always says his words spiritedly, and he also a polite young man. It is shown when he speaks to Uncle Oscar, “If Master Paul offers you to be partners, sir, I would, if I were you: if you’ll excuse me.” The last two relationships are between Paul and his elder sister, Joan, and his nurse. Actually, the relationships here are not described too much because of a few dialogues are existed between the characters. But from the describing, we can see that Paul and Joan are close, but not too close. It is shown from the words of Joan, which seem very understand Paul’s behavior, “He’s always riding like that! I wish he’d leave off!” D.H. Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Winner is a very unique short story which offers us, the readers, about a life that can be happened in everywhere and to anybody. The describing of characters gives us a new view of how the author can describe the characters not only in the physical appearance, but also in their thought, actions, even from other characters’ thought.