DH Lawrence D.H. Lawrence's Short Essay

Her reaction "angered him somewhere, and made him want to compel her attention." While Paul's mother did not kill her son directly, her complicity in his obsessive behavior and her lack of genuine love and affection ultimately led to her own son's demise. Basset enables Paul, too, but because Basset is not a family member he is less responsible for Paul's fate.

Both Basset and Paul's mother enable Paul's gambling addiction. Paul's mother is a classic enabler who does not consider her son's well being. In fact, she blames her husband for her own problems too. By refusing to take responsibility for her own happiness-or for her own role as mother -- she fosters Paul's unhealthy behavior. Basset and Uncle Oscar use Paul, who appears to have a genuine knack for picking horses. They do not care how Paul picks the winners; only that he does. Likewise, Paul's mother only seems to care that her son brings her money and is oblivious to his falling ill. The tragic end to the tale underscores her own mental illness as Paul asks her, "Mother did I ever tell you? I am lucky!" Of course, Paul did tell her that earlier in the story but she ignored and belittled him, spurring him on to bet on the races.She does not recall their conversation, though, and simply responds, "No, you never did." Paul's mother is all but dead on the inside: she "sat, feeling her heart had gone, turned actually into a stone."

Therefore, in "The Rocking Horse Winner," DH Lawrence suggests that the reckless pursuit of money kills the human spirit. The mother, as well as Basset and Uncle Oscar, lose sight of the real value of life because of their obsession with money. Moreover, all the adults in the story are consumed with the idea that money is best acquired via the nebulous notion of "luck." For poor Paul, luck is just a surrogate for love......