Professor
ENGL 102-B54 LUO
3 February 2014 “The Lottery” vs. “The Rocking-Horse Winner”
In “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” by D. H. Lawrence, and “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, the two authors illustrate symbols and themes throughout their stories in which one common idea is present: perhaps winning is not always positive. “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” by D.H. Lawrence is a fictional story about a woman’s obsession for money and the lack of love and affection she shows to her family. Her son Paul hopes to change his mother’s mind-set in order to gain her love by becoming lucky. Paul discovers a way to become lucky from a rocking horse that he receives as a Christmas present. He perceives that this horse has magical powers, which empowers him to predict the winner of horse races. Paul becomes more and more obsessed with becoming lucky to appease his mother but eventually loses his life. “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, is a short story of an annual tradition in which a small New England town randomly draws one person’s name to be the winner of the lottery. This lucky person will neither win money nor a special prize; instead are stoned to death by the rest of the community. This story gives a different meaning to the event called a lottery. D.H. Lawrence proves many points by using the following themes: obsession for money, trying to win a mother’s love and affection, gaining no affection after achieving such luck, and death. "The Rocking-Horse Winner," starts off on a great note by mentioning "There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages,” (235) and turns for the worst by adding "yet she had no luck." (235) Lawrence goes on to show how Hester dislikes her life and her family. He describes the family’s lifestyle as “living in style,” (235) but greed and social status leads them to believe that “there was never