In Comparison to the story The Rocking Horse Winner, by DH Lawrence, The Most Dangerous Games by Richard Connell, both carried themes of unhappiness, greed and insanity. Driven by the desire to find happiness, characters in both plots went to inhumane extremity to satisfy their uncontrollable yearning for peace of mind. In the story The Rocking Horse Winners, unhappiness spread through the household like a terrible plaque, infesting every member of the family unit individually, some more than others. The main characters that were severely plague were the young son Paul, more so than his mother. Paul state of mind was triggered from his mother-camouflaged unhappiness from believing that she was an unlucky woman. She successfully misleads the general public into believing that she is the perfect mother with a good life, though those within the house knew better. She tried hard to fit into prominent societies; where she befriends people with significant statues to fit in their standing. Since she associates riches with luck and she was poor, she drew the conclusion that she was unlucky. This was express several times in conversation between Paul and herself. “I use to think I was lucky…. before I was married”, indicate that at one point she had riches which she probable after she marry her husband. Being severely distraught by his mothers’ unhappiness, Paul decided to seek solitude in his room with his rocking horse. Doing this he would elude reality and try immensely to uncover answers to the changes he so forcefully seek, “luck”. His mother leading him to believe that lack of luck definitely lead to poverty, and she was so because she marries an unlucky husband. Throughout the story she had no proviso to highlight the reason for their financial dilemma, and the importance of luck. She would make statements such as, “Well…. I suppose” “its because your father has no luck”. She said. “I can’t be if I married a unlucky husband.” Or “I use to think I was before I’m married. No I am very unlucky indeed”. This strengthen Paul’s aspiration to be lucky, more so for his mothers sake than himself. With his intensified drive, Paul desperately seeks luck; as his mothers’ perception is that with luck one will always have money. “Its better to have luck than to be rich, because with luck you can always get rich again.” She said. With this newfound information, Paul was even more determine to be lucky. Outside of being unhappy she had very little faith in God, this was depicted when Paul said, “ I am lucky”, she asked, “How do you know?” Paul replied, “God told me so”. Her contemptuous laughter portrays disbelieve in Paul’s statement. Wanting to prove to her mother that God is truth, and the urge to heave her from her state of depression, he decides to venture into areas to come up with a solution. This is what fundamentally drives him to psychosis; he heard voices chanting which begin the pathway to madness. Though the other children admitted they to heard voices, it meant more to Paul than them, for him it was a command telling him they need more money. Since the rocking horse to tell him what to do he use it as his idol in command. Ultimately the rocking horse became his lucky charm, as it will lead him to riches “luck”. In his mind the horse tells him who will win the horserace, which he solely depend on to change his luck. He was so delusional that believes the horse chants the name of the winning horse. “I am sure when the horse tells me” he said. Not being satisfied with small winning he ride harder and faster to get to his zone where his imagination trick him by taking him to a place outside sanity, the same locale the horse ride him to his death. On the other hand the dangerous game by Richard Connell replicate mental retardation and cruelty, unlike Paul General Zaroff desires was driven by an insane and ungodly motivation of pleasure seeking. Killing human was not exactly a sport, but to the general it was a deep thrill that gives him challenges and pleasures at the same time. He had gone from killing animal to human being; his reasons were as foolish as they were irrational. Being in a state of lunacy, he rescues people, feed them and play games with their lives by hunting them as one would wild animals. Not only in this inhuman but illegal as well, therefore he make sure they no one escapes and if by a emaciated chance they do, they must never mention what happen on “his island”. Danger excites him and he didn’t regard the consequences of his action. Like young Paul he was not satisfied with diminutive wager, he was after larger and more gratifying venture. In comparison to Paul trying to win thousand instead of hundred, general Zoloft went after human instead of animal. And the end result of both stories is death, “So are the ways of everyone that is

Work cited

D.H. Lawrence. The Rocking Horse Winner and Connell Richard. The Most Dangerous Game Literature An Introduction to Fiction, poetry, drama and writing. Ed X. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6Tth Compact ed. New York: Longman, 2010.
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