David Herbert Lawrence “The Rocking Horse Winner” (1926) Nathalia Parra, Tia DENNIS, IAN GRAY, AND Gabriel ESCOBAR

The Early Life of “Bert” David Herbert Lawrence was born on September 11th 1885 in Eastwood, England to parents of the lower working class who were employed as a miner and a factory laborer. The Lawrence’s poor financial status prompted Bert’s mother, Lydia, to pursue a profitable career in teaching in order to rise above his unfortunate beginnings through employment success. After graduating from Nottingham University Bert was incorporated into the staff at Davidson Road School where he not only excelled in teaching his students but also was given the opportunity to expand upon his investment in publishing some of his texts from time to time through massive networking with his fellow faculty members. Though it wasn’t until the death of his mother and his constant bouts of illness that prompted Bert to fully devote himself to a life of fulfillment in his developing career as a writer. In his initial transition into adjusting to full time writing Lawrence drew upon creative inspiration from his travels across Germany and Italy with his wife, Frieda, which ultimately prevented Bert’s strict literary focus in romanticism.

Early Life of Bert in Pictures

Historical Influence By the year 1914 Lawrence and Frieda were essentially stuck in Cornwall, England amongst one of their intended brief visits as a result of the lack of safety in returning to Italy with the emergence of WW1. Their forced residence in the English country resulted in Lawrence’s overall degradation of his emerging writing career as his impoverished circumstances provided inadequate to fund the expenses of reviewing and publicizing his proposed texts Over a strenuous period of four years, by 1918 Lawrence and his wife were able to return back to their homeland of France and later to the US by the conclusion of the war, primarily as a result of escaping from the inflicted destruction that had indefinitely scarred Easter Europe and had temporarily discouraged any source of motivation to help influence his poetic and novel pieces. At this time Lawrence was able to see a transition in the language of his texts from a form of conservativeness to absolute “obscenity” according to the responses to the public. Such outrage was entirely sparked by Lawrence’s ease in discussing topic pertaining to human nature and their existing possibilities for sexual discovery and pleasure.

Lawrence vs World War One

Lawrence’s Popular Conceptual Themes Materialism ( The Rocking Horse Winner- Discusses the relationship between luck and wealth- which in the novel is a highly sought distinction) Sexual Exploration (The Rainbow- Regards the fluidity of romance between individuals of the same gender. Love is not strictly for a man and woman) Separation of Social Classes (Lady Chatterley’s Lover- A prestigious socialite begins to develop an attraction to a working class man which is considered socially unfavorable) Human Nature (Women in Love- Relates to the relationships founded by men and women dependent on caring for one another rather than for romantic purposes) Freudian Concepts of the Sub-Conscious (Sons and Lovers- Applies the concepts of Oedipal Complex to the relationship between a son and mother) Authoritarian Leadership (The plumed Serpent- Comically describes the attempts of a Mexican rebel to revive the native Aztec cult) Romanticism (The Man Who Died- Founded upon the concept of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and how in the man’s revival he discovers a life full of purpose in discovering the power of selflessness and love)

Lawrence’s Significant Quotes “When one jumps over the edge, he is bound to land somewhere” “I want to live my life so my nights are not full of regrets” “Be still when you have nothing to say, when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say and say it hot” “For man, as for the flower and beast and bird- the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive” “Death is the only pure, beautiful conclusion of a great passion”

The Rocking Horse Winner This novel was written in 1926 and quintessentially embodies the popular trends of The Roaring Twenties Era The text frequently references such periodical characteristics in its conveyed message of greed in its description of the protagonist's poor financial decisions as a result of their overpowering desires to spend an excess amount of money on materialistic goods with the intentions of developing a social image that they could never truly afford. In questioning his parent’s state of well-being Paul’s mother confesses her desires to be lucky. As she quotes “It’s better to be born lucky than rich. If you’re lucky you will always get more money” After his honest communication with his mother Paul feels empowered to search for his own luck in order to raise finances to alleviate his parent’s consistent “burden” of not satisfying their bourgeois desires Though Paul’s persistent pursuit of this abstract quality comes at the expense of his personal physical and physiological stability Ultimately, it is the unfortunate outcome of such selflessness that allows Paul’s family to confront their destructive flaws, which overall have managed to effectively deteriorate their sense of familial unity

Applications of the Rocking Horse Winner Lawrence discovered the motivation to develop this novel from his childhood upbringing in a state of poverty, always exposed to the struggles of his parents unable to meet ends meet and his general inability to assist them in anyway The novel’s plot is entirely oriented in expressing the concept of the insignificance of materialistic drives due to the fact that it is only valuable in providing a temporary “empowering high” Conclusively, Lawrence holds the overall purpose of explaining to readers that in life we should seek happiness in things that are not tangible, such as love, relationships, or honesty, as they are everlasting in their existence, whereas any good will undoubtedly deteriorate over time.