The Rocking-horse Winner

by D. H. Lawrence

Complete explanation of the lesson included in the NCERT/CBSE Class 11 Elective English book ‘Woven Words’

About the author

D. H. Lawrence ((1885-1930) was born in Nottinghamshire in England.  Lawrence’s father was a coal miner whose days were marked by heavy slog in the mine and heavy drinking at home. The mother was a homely woman, humble, but ambitious. The relationship was rocky, and far from being congenial. Lawrence grew up in such a household. Quite expectedly, the lack of harmony in the house left Lawrence’s mind jarred and turbulent. It reflected in his later life that turned out to be so rebellious, and un-orthodox.

Controversy dogged Lawrence all his life because he wrote so candidly about sex and love. Quite curiously, acclaim and appreciation by eminent literary icons of his time inundated him elevating him to be a trend-setting author . Lawrence wrote short stories, novels, poems and essays. Literary critics loved to critique his works.

Among his famous works are ‘Sons and Lovers’, ‘The Rainbow’,  ‘Women in Love’. His controversial sex-laced nivel ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ raised a storm of disapproval and angry castigation by the conservative society of his times. The book had to be banned for its profane content.

The story

The story starts with the account of a sour marriage where the wife had to grapple with want and budget constraints perennially. The husband didn’t  enough. She had a young son, and two lovely daughters. Sadly for the mother, the natural love of a mother towards her children was absent in her. This made her feel the presence of the children in the house tiresome and vexing. Motherly love seldom flowed from her eyes. Reflecting on such disharmony in the home she felt guilty and thought that there was something lacking her.

The other reason that gnawed at the family’s peace was the over-stretched family budget that made everyone in the family including the young children crave for money relentlessly.

 – To be continued –