The Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence and The Destructors by Graham Greene are each set in Post War eras and depict a dark and depressed time in which individuals struggled with poverty and desolation. Written in the third person, both stories use a young boy who goes to great lengths to accomplish a greatly desired goal. The theme of the story is decided by the readers perception with greed, misery, tragedy and materialism just to name a few. For the purpose of this paper, we are assuming that the theme is misery due to the poverty stricken state of each main character.
The protagonist of The Rocking Horse Winner is Paul; a young boy who is part of a family accustomed to living quite well and is now fighting to maintain their appearance of a higher social class while struggling to obtain enough money. Paul is concerned with the financial hardship of his family and confronts his mother, the antagonist, who explains that its luck or a lack of luck that causes their poverty. Paul takes it upon himself to bring luck and wealth back to his family.
The protagonist of The Destructors is an adolescent boy called T. His real name is Trevor but because of the higher social class his name implies, his friends call him T. Trevors family used to be upper class until his father, an architect, lost his job placing the family in financial hardship. Trevor quickly rises to leader of the Wormsley gang that meets in a parking lot close to an area destroyed by war. These youth were born and raised in post war poverty with constant reminders of their situation all around them. They have been robbed of their childhood innocence by hardships that no child should have to know or bear that has left the characters miserable and determined. They set out to gain notoriety by destroying a house that survived the bombings and that now stood as a constant reminder of all that the youth did not possess. The antagonist is Old Misery, the owner of the house they intend to destroy.
When it comes to character development, the authors used different approaches. D.H. Lawrence uses a mythical tone in The Rocking Horse Winner using symbols and supernatural forces to create a fairytale atmosphere. The characters can be defined as stock characters with Paul being a tragic hero or knight in shining armor who is a rounded character with his mother fitting the role of the damsel in distress. Paul works hard to liberate his mother from her distressing situation and pays the ultimate price of his life. The supernatural forces are items such as the whispering house and Paul riding the wooden rocking horse until it gives up the winning name. Symbolism is found in things like luck that could be interpreted as the pursuit of love in this story. Also there is Pauls obsession with the rocking horse that could be representative of mans self-destruction.
The characters of The Destructors appear flat and barely developed compared to The Rocking Horse Winner. The conversations that occur among the youth revolve primarily around destroying Mr. Thomas house or Old Misery as he is caused by the youth. This story is allegorical with several underlying meanings. Old miserys house remains standing near a bombed out area symbolizing good fortune or luck which to this post war youth gang is offensive and must be destroyed. The gang sets about peeling back the walls and gutting the house, destroying every symbol of prosperity making the house as miserable as they themselves are. T. and Blackie go so far as to burn Old miserys savings before the gang totally destroys his house.
A common link between both characters is that each worked in secrecy. Young Paul is secretly riding his rocking horse and having the family gardener place bets on horses for him. This brings money back into a hungry house that seems to always be whispering, there must be more money. T. on the other hand works with a group of young males working inside a house to destroy it while the owner is away on business. Old Misery returns early and the gang tricks him into the outhouse in the garden where they hold him captive until the lorry driver destroys the house the next day.
In contrast, in The Rocking Horse Winner conflict exists between Paul, his mother and his uncle due to the misery and poverty and his mothers perception that Pauls father lacks luck and a boys strong desire to obtain his mothers love and bring luck and money to the family. He gambles to win money by riding his toy horse until it gives up the name of the winning horse. On the other hand, The Destructors depicts a gang that instead of trying to gain prosperity, despise its very existence and work hard to destroy any evidence of it. Both stories show how people react to poverty in different manners.
Each author creates a unique air of suspense in their story that keeps the readers attention from the beginning to the conclusion. Lawrence gives the reader Paul, a young determined boy who furiously rides his wooden rocking horse seeking wealth and luck for his family. The intensity of this character increases as the story develops drawing the reader deeper into the desperation felt by this young lad. The reader is held captive as they are guided to the climax of Paul furiously riding his wooden rocking horse until he falls into a delirium calling out the winning horses name just before he collapses and dies.
Suspense is created by Greene in The Destructors as T. and the Wormsley gang work in secret to inwardly destroy an architecturally important house before the owner returns from a business trip. Suspense climbs when the gang is alerted to the home owners early return. The suspense thickens as the gang performs the risky move of stalling the home owner by tricking him into his own outhouse where they lock him in and hold him captive. Greene brings the story to a climax as the lorry driver returns the next day and becomes an unknowing accomplish to the task of bringing the house down. When reading this particular story, the reader is drawn through each paragraph with anticipation of what will happen next. Greene does not disappoint the reader with the surprise twist to the houses destruction and the use of the lorry driver.
These stories have similar moral implications that center around desperation and misery. Misery can lead people to desperate acts that are outside the way they would normally behave. The young gang in The Destructors attacked and destroyed Old Miserys house because it symbolized a remaining piece of prosperity in a world overrun by poverty. Greene informs the reader that the youth have no ill feelings towards the houses owner. Regardless of this fact, it was still wrong for the youth to break into someones home, burn their savings and destroy their house. In contrast, in The Rocking Horse Winner, Paul tried to gain prosperity for his family, not destroy it. Paul consulted his mother who told him that the familys poverty was linked to being unlucky which caused an unhealthy view that luck and wealth were related. Paul set out to achieve luck and bring wealth to his family by having the family gardener place bets for him because he was a child. This is morally wrong for the gardener to help a child gamble.
Though both stories show opposite responses to the situation of poverty and misery, both are similar in that neither has a happily ever after ending. The irony of The Rocking Horse Winner is that Paul finally wins big at the track and brings wealth to his family but the price he pays to do this too high. Paul achieves his goal but will never see it because he loses his life. In The Destructors T. sets out with the goal to secretly destroy a house and establish a name for the Wormsley gang. The story concludes with the gang succeeding in destroying the house but it is unknown if the gang obtains the notoriety that they sought. It is known that the owner of the house, Old Misery, has lost everything he owned and to make his situation worse, the lorry driver stands and laughs at his misfortune.
In conclusion, each story has been limitedly contrasted and compared showing how each main character responded similarly and differently to their impoverished situations. It remains uncertain whether either author wrote their story to entertain the reader or instead wanted to convey a message or possibly wanted to do both. Whether it was about poverty and misery in general or about morality is up to the interpretation of the reader. Each story did carry a similar message of destruction and misery both allegorically and physically that resounded loudly throughout each paragraph of each story. In summary, both held enough drama and suspense making the reader want to turn the page regardless of the authors intent to entertain or give a message.
Already have an account? Log In Now
6988