Preview

Comparing The Jewelry And The Rocking-Horse Winner

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1188 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparing The Jewelry And The Rocking-Horse Winner
Can Money Be a Bad Thing?
Many people seem to believe that money means happiness and if you have it you will have what is thought to be the perfect life. In this paper I will be comparing and contrasting two stories called “The Jewelry” and “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” I found these stories to be very shallow but interesting and wrong but also right at the very same time. The characters that make up these short stories are also very intriguing and have a side to them that you don’t find out until later in the story. Can money be unhealthy and damaging to a marriage or family? In the story “The Jewelry” two people were madly in love and he claimed there were only two things about her that he didn’t like and that was her love for theater and
…show more content…
This family is also not considered to be very wealthy but they made themselves struggle financially because they only wanted nice things and wanted people to think that they had a lot of money. They had a large home and a maid that waited on them and watched the children. Everyone thought that the Mother was a loving mom that loved her children dearly and was a great wife but in her heart she was bitter at being married and having kids. All the kids knew that their mother had a unheard hatred for them but never said a word. The son became very money curious and began to ask his mother a lot of question which made her even more bitter. The son considered himself to be lucky unlike the rest of the family. He heard the house say things about money and strived to find a way to provide for his mother. He soon learned that his rocking horse in his room would tell him the name to a winning horse if he road it and thought very vigorously, which actually worked. Nobody knew about his secret until the very end where he risk his own life to provide for his mother, The mom was a very greedy woman and only cared about money and how they could make more of it. Instead of her providing for her kids like a normal parent does the kid provided for her and she was okay with that. She dressed id fur and jewels and went to big parties and spends what money they had on materialistic things for only her. The boy came across a lot of money and was going to give her a certain amount once a year on her birthday but she demanded to have it all at once, which the boy allowed her to do so. By riding his rocking horse the way he did to find out the secret horses name we grew very tired and anxious. His attitude and poise scared everyone when he was on the horse. The Mother finally became concerned with her sons wellbeing in the end but it was already too late and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    After reading, “ Why Money doesn’t buy happiness,” of Sharon Begley, I have read another essay similar to this one in high school before. This question has been asked for years, everyone has different answers for it, “Does money buy happiness?”- By the author, the economy where people try to get as much as for what they sell as they can, when where people try to pay as little as they can for things they want to buy, the more they can earn/save money, the more contentment they have. The main purpose of this essay is to convince people that not the more money you have, the happier you must be, there are a lot of unhappy rich folks out there are depressed and suicide everyday, but it does give you more choices, which mean money bring you more…

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    David Sze (July 7, 2015) posted a column in the Huffington Post entitled, “Money and Happiness? It’s Complicated.” As the title suggests, Sze discusses the link between having money and finding happiness, or “life satisfaction.” He approaches the issue from a post-modern perspective without considering any transcendent categories to evaluate the issue. Leaving a theistic perspective out, Sze struggles to find an adequate explanation for meaning, happiness and satisfaction in life.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D. H. Lawrence is a story with a fairy tale aspect, but it is not the only story he wrote that can be viewed this way. A closer look at “The Horse-Dealer’s Daughter” shows the fairy tale theme too. Compare the story to classic fairy tales like Cinderella, Snow White or Sleeping Beauty and you will see a correlation. All of these stories share elements in common with “The Horse-Dealer’s Daughter.”…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    People often say that money does not determine how happy you are but in William Hazlitt’s essay “On the Want of Money”, he tries to prove the world wrong. He firmly believes that if money cannot get you happiness then it will truly “pave the road for it”. Hazlitt weaves his argument though the use of syntax, diction and appeals to pathos, logos and ethos; by using these effective rhetorical strategies Hazlitt proves his point that money is a crucial part of happiness in today’s world.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Can money buy happiness? This age old question is a recurring theme in the novel The Great Gatsby. Throughout the novel we see that wealth creates loneliness, isolation and corruption in people. Through the examination of the main character’s behaviours present in The Great Gatsby, it is clear that wealth negatively impacts people.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Thus I Refute Beelzy” by John Collier and “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D. H. Lawrence are two extraordinary short stories in which possess many significant similarities and differences. “Thus I Refute Beelzy” is about a boy named Little Simon, who talks of a character named “Mr. Beelzy” whom he plays with every afternoon in the garden. As the story progresses, the external conflict emerges when his father, Mr. Carter, ironically disapproves with his imaginative games. He therefore attempts to justify to his son that his character is not real despite Little Simon's pleads. “The rocking horse winner” is about a boy named Paul, who believes that when he rides his rocking-horse, he obtains knowledge of the winning horse in the upcoming derbies. His mother feels her family does not have enough money because she married an unlucky man. Paul consequently becomes determined to allay his mother’s discontent by betting on horses to earn money. Both authors clearly implement several vital devices by incorporating…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is said that money cannot buy happiness. Many people believe for this to be true. They think money can solve any and all problems. Some even think that love can be bought with materialistic items. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, love, wealth, and love of wealth go hand in hand to create a magical novel of what can happen when money controls the heart.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dr. Scarpa

    • 1786 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In society, money and wealth have many diverse effects regarding to personal integrity, and within writing, copious amounts of literary devices can present various ways to show many relationships between what money can do to personal ethics. Between the pages of the novel Tortilla Curtain, written by T.C Boyle, figurative language and irony convey that when a person has an abundant amount of wealth, the more likely they tend to change their personal morals and ethics to fit what the society thinks is right. In the pages of the novel The House of Mirth, written by Edith Wharton, the point-of-view and diction help show when a person is less than financially successful, the desire for more money leads them to acquire the morals of what the society as a whole thinks.…

    • 1786 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Literature often deals with the human drive for wealth and material success. The love of money often exercises a harmful power over individuals, causing a conflict both within themselves and with others. Although the characters in A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations assess the value of people only in terms of their financial contributions to society, they learn that self respect and dignity can be derived from means other than the possession of money and prestige. Through Scrooge and Pip, Dickens shows how the love of money does not lead to happiness but rather defiles the soul, depriving it of morality and grace.…

    • 1997 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Duchess and the Jeweller”, a story by Virginia Wolf, tells the tale of Oliver Bacon a man who grew up very poor but ended up a master jeweler with very rich and titled customers. Although his outward appearance is one of high breeding and richness it hides his insecurity and his longing for something else. Oliver is a tortured soul who cannot enjoy the fruits of his labor and his dissatisfaction with his life causes him to treat those around him with disdain and rudeness.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Money--it seems to be able to provide anything the heart desires. But, in reality, money can never produce true satisfaction and will eventually destroy its holder. D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner" (rpt in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 8th ed. [Fort Worth: Harcourt, 2002] 302) describes a "poor" family with very expensive taste that never seems to gain satisfaction. Their house silently whispers "There must be more money!" (303), implying that to be happy, this family must obtain more riches. The little boy in the story, Paul, tries to silence the whisperings and give his family some peace of mind because he is supposedly "lucky." However his plan proves unsuccessful and eventually leads to his death and the end of his "luck."…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The true path to happiness is usually painted as a dollar sign; however, in Jessica Krampe’s article “Does Money Really Make People Happier?” a different picture is painted. In fact, money may negatively impact our lives if not utilized correctly despite popular understanding that it is the key to limitless happiness. While money does play an important role in the creation of individual happiness by providing safety and stability, money may also act as a conduit for insecurity and a feeling of being constricted. Krampe exposes the steps behind happiness when combined with wealth. Emphasizing that luxury will not facilitate happiness in the long run, the logic and statistics used by Kempre further pushes the idea that modesty and self-worth…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Candide

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages

    * “The Shows of Kilomengaro” by Hemingway shows that money cannot buy happiness because the protagonist married his wife because of her money thus he relys on her money but he is still miserable.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Money and gems can not buy happiness, but only comfort. For example Prof. Howell says, “And yet we still keep on buying material things,” He says ,“Because they’re tangible and we think we can keep on using them.”(Prof. Howell 2008). This tells us that people will buy jewelry and furniture because they’re tangible and will last a while. This also proves that people will buy material goods because they think it will last longer than a cruise or a flight to Hawaii. Dr. Dean says “People's’ desires for material possessions at the same, or greater rate, than their salaries… this means that despite considerably have more luxurious possessions, people end up no happier.”(Dr. Dean 2008) This…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Rocking Horse

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The first distinct moral in The Rocking Horse Winner is that we must not let ourselves be succumbed to greed and the need for materialistic items over our responsibilities in life. The mother and father 's obsession with wealth and material items is at battle with their parenting responsibilities within The Rocking Horse Winner. The mother and father have replaced love with the constant, overwhelming desire for additional money. It is the responsibility of the parents to provide for the children in their family. Especially, where as young children are concerned, they should never feel the need to provide for their parents. The Rocking Horse Winner portrays the financial destruction of an upper class family struggling to maintain their high level status while regularly spending beyond their means. The mother and father have expensive tastes that can not be supported with their mere common jobs. In order to give their family the best and retain their illicit status, both parents embezzle all of their resources to…

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics