How old is paul in the rocking horse winner

Bassett is the only adult in the story who treats Paul with respect. He plans to give her the money in installments, instead of all at once. Paul can be described as earnest, eager to please, haunted, and mature for his age.

Why does Paul avoid telling the secret of his rocking horse? He fears that the horse will lose its magic. Paul rides the rocking horse to learn the names of horse-race winners so that he can win money. How does Paul arrange to give his mother his winnings? He has his uncle give the money to his mother as if she had inherited it.

She does not seem happy at all, voices in the house go mad. How does Paul respond to the way his mother reacts when she receives the money? There are two reasons why Paul thinks he can be lucky on his own in D. Since his father cannot provide the life his mother wants, Paul is determined to help his mother himself. At the end of the story, she doesn't appear to feel remorse over the loss of her son, but rather over the loss of her future income. Uncle Oscar enables Paul to bet on the horses and is able to secure his own financial gain through Paul.

Although Uncle Oscar gives the appearance of a concerned family member, he is willing to sacrifice Paul's health for money. He exploits Paul's gift and does not give any indication that he has any feelings for Paul at all. At the end of the story, he ends with a chilling line, exclaiming to Hester that she made a lot of money, then as an afterthought mentions the bad fortune of Paul's untimely death.

Bassett was the family's servant. He fancied horse racing and would tell Paul about the horses. Paul became interested and asked Bassett if he could also bet. Bassett agreed and would place bets for Paul and bring back what he had won. He never brought Paul to the races or did anything else that could hurt Paul in any way.

He seemed to genuinely care for Paul given his concern, gratefulness, and caring demeanor. So he would mount again, and start on his furious ride, hoping at last to get there. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if I was lucky, it might stop the whispering.

Oh, now, now-w! More than ever! He became wild-eyed and strange, as if something were going to explode in him. He hardly heard what was spoken to him, he was very frail, and his eyes were really uncanny. His mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him. Sometimes, for half an hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him that was almost anguish.

She wanted to rush to him at once, and know he was safe. His eyes blazed at her for one strange and senseless second, as he ceased urging his wooden horse. Then he fell with a crash to the ground, and she, all her tormented motherhood flooding upon her, rushed to gather him up.

Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky! The Rocking-Horse Winner. Plot Summary. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play. Miss Wilmot : The family nurse. Chief Artist : Woman who sketches drawings for newspaper advertisements placed by drapers.

Hester works for her to make extra money. Point of View. Lawrence wrote the story in omniscient third-person point of view, enabling him to reveal the thoughts of the characters. The underlined words in the following sentences are examples of passages that present the thoughts of characters.

His mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him. Sometimes, for half an hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him that was almost anguish. She wanted to rush to him at once, and know he was safe. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her , and she could not love them. They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly she felt she must cover up some fault in herself.

In her preoccupation with material things, Hester neglects to provide Paul the love he needs to develop into a normal, mentally stable child. Faulty Sense of Values. Hester makes stylish living the chief goal of her marriage.

Consequently, her relationship with her husband and the care and nurture of her children—in particular, Paul—stagnate. Whenever money becomes available, she spends beyond her means. Though she and her husband rear their children in a "pleasant house" with servants and a nurse, they seem to regard them as objects for display, like the furnishings in the home.

Hester's spending and indebtedness create anxiety that haunts the house and personifies itself by repeatedly whispering the phrase: "There must be more money. Lust for material objects, stylish living, and money so obsesses Paul's mother that she neglects Paul and his sisters.

Paul then "inherits" her obsession. But he wants to win money for his mother, not for himself, in order to prove that he has the luck that his father lacks. Having luck and money will make him lovable to his mother, he apparently believes, and silence the house voices. When he discovers that the five thousand pounds he sets aside for her is not enough to achieve his goals, he becomes obsessed with winning more. His mania ultimately kills him. Oscar Creswell acknowledges that Paul's wagering makes him nervous.

But rather than take steps to stop Paul, he encourages him and asks for tips on winning horses. When Paul lies deathly ill muttering the name of his pick for the Derby, Oscar runs off "in spite of himself" and places a bet on the horse at fourteen to one odds.

Paul rides his rocking horse like a knight on a quest. He seeks a great prize, luck, that will enable him to win money wagering on horses.

His winnings will free his mother from a great monster, indebtedness, that consumes all of her attention. Once free, she will be able to turn her attention to Paul and give him the greatest prize of all: love. In the first paragraph of the story, the narrator says Hester does not love her children. Nevertheless, outwardly she pretends to love them, and people say, "She is a good mother.