In the two short stories The Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence and Through the Tunnel by Dorris Lessing, both stories can be seen as a rite of passage because the main characters Jerry and Paul, illustrate a theme of having to break free in their lives to have a test of achievement. Both boys father’s are somewhat absent in the stories. This made the main characters strive to make their lives better. Jerry’s goal was to swim through the tunnel which ultimately almost leads him to his death. For Paul, his goal leads him to an obsession for money which ended up killing him.

Paul rides his rocking horse as if he is on a quest to seek a grand prize which ends up being luck. His winnings will free his mother which can be seen as a rite of passage. Paul’s obsession with winning money is what ended up killing him. He wanted to prove to his mother Hester, that he himself had luck with money compared to his father. As Paul says in his last word’s in the story, “I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure - oh, absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky.” Paul wants to change his mother into a loving mother rather than keeping her as a neglectful parent because she is a person who has a mindset of only material possessions are her only main focus in life. Throughout the story, Paul’s mother continuously pushes her idea that luck equals being rich and that money is the most important in her life. Hester has so much of a fixation towards material things, which it created for Paul to have a way of getting love from his mother. The only way he saw that he can get love from his mother, was through winning money, which would to make her feel better, so he started to inherit her obsession of always wanting to have money until the point where his reaction of seeing his mother getting her birthday gift of money and