کوثر

دي. اچ. لارنس

 زني زيبا که با همه مزيت‌ها شروع کرد، با اين حال شانس نداشت. با عشق ازدواج کرد و عشقش خاکستر شد. فرزندان شاداب داشت اما آنها را سربار خود حس مي‌کرد و نمي‌توانست دوستشان داشته باشد. آنها به سردي به او مي‌نگريستند، گويي در او نقص مي‌جستند و او دستپاچه احساس مي‌کرد بايد نقصي را در خود بپوشاند. ليکن هرگز نمي‌دانست چه را بايد بپوشاند. با اين حال، بچه‌هايش که در کنارش بودند، احساس مي‌کرد قلبش سخت مي‌شود. اين ناراحتش مي‌کرد و او در رفتارش با بچه‌ها بيش از پيش مهربان و نگران مي‌شد، انگار که سخت دوستشان داشته باشد. تنها خودش مي‌دانست که در ميان قلبش جاي کوچک سختي هست که براي هيچکس نمي‌تواند احساس عشق کند. همه درباره‌اش مي‌گفتند: «چه مادر خوبي. بچه‌هايش را مي‌پرستد». فقط خود او و خود بچه‌هايش مي‌دانستند که چنين نيست. اين را در چشمان هم مي‌خواندند. آنها يک پسر و دو دختر کوچک بودند. در خانه‌اي دلباز مي‌زيستند، با يک باغ و خدمتکاران پرمبالات داشتند و خود را در آن محل برتر از همه‌کس مي‌دانستند.

 اگرچه با تجمل مي‌زيستند اما هميشه احساس نگراني با آنها بود. هرگز پول کافي نداشتند. هم مادر و هم پدر درآمد کمي داشتند و اين براي موقعيت اجتماعي‌اي که آنها مجبور به حفظش بودند، اصلاً کافي نبود. پدر در شهر به اداره‌اي مي‌رفت. اگرچه آينده‌ي خوبي داشت اما اين آينده هرگز تحقق نمي‌يافت. حس خراشنده‌ي کمبود پول هميشه وجود داشت گرچه تجمل نيز هميشه حفظ مي‌شد. سرانجام مادر گفت: «ببينم مي‌توانم چيزي در بياورم» ولي نمي‌دانست از کجا شروع کند. به هر دري زد و هر کاري را آزمود ولي نتوانست کار موفقي بيابد. از اين ناکامي چين‌هايي در چهره‌اش نقش بست. فرزندانش بزرگ مي‌شدند، بايد به مدرسه مي‌رفتند. پول بيشتري لازم است. پدر که هميشه شيک‌پوش و خوش سليقه بود، انگار که هرگز قادر به انجام کار ارزنده‌اي نيست و مادر هم که سخت به خودش اطمينان داشت موفقيتي نيافت و همان‌قدر هم خوش سليقه بود. به اين ترتيب، خانه با اين جمله‌ي ناگفته تسخير شد: پول بيشتري لازم است! پول بيشتري لازم است! بچه‌ها همه وقت مي‌توانستند آن را بشنوند گرچه کسي آن را به صداي بلند نمي‌گفت. آن را در کريسمس شنيدند، زماني که اتاق بچه‌ها پر از اسباب بازي‌هاي گران و باشکوه شده بود. از پشت اسب چوبي براق نو، از پشت خانه‌ي عروسک قشنگ، صدايي زمزمه مي‌کرد: پول بيشتري لازم است! پول بيشتري لازم است! و بچه‌ها دست از بازي مي‌کشيدند تا لحظه‌اي گوش دهند. در چشمان هم مي‌نگريستند تا ببينند آيا همه شنيده‌اند و هر کدام در چشمان دو نفر ديگر مي‌ديد که آنها هم شنيده‌اند: پول بيشتري لازم است! پول بيشتري لازم است! اين زمزمه از فنرهاي اسب چوبي که هنوز در نوسان بود مي‌آمد و حتي اسب سرچوبي و جونده‌اش را خم کرد و آن را شنيد. عروسک بزرگ صورتي رنگ که بخاطر آن آگاهانه‌تر از پيش پوزخند مي‌زد.

 توله‌سگ احمق هم که جاي خرس پشمالو را گرفت، به اين دليل بسيار احمق مي‌نمود که زمزمه‌ي را در سراسر خانه مي‌شنيد: پول بيشتري لازم است! اما هرگز کسي آن را به صداي بلند نگفت. زمزمه همه جا بود پس بنابراين کسي آن را بلند نگفت. درست مثل اينکه کسي هرگز نمي‌گويد: داريم نفس مي‌کشيم! گرچه نفس مدام مي‌آيد و مي‌رود. روزي پسرشان پل گفت: «مادر، چرا ما هيچ وقت از خودمون ماشين نداريم؟» چرا هميشه از ماشين دايي اسکار استفاده مي‌کنيم، يا از تاکسي؟» مادر گفت: «چون ما اعضاي فقير خانواده‌ايم». «ولي مادر، آخه چرا اينطوره؟» زن کند و تلخ گفت: «خب، لابد براي اينکه پدرت شانس نداره». پسر مدتي ساکت ماند بعد با کم‌رويي پرسيد: «مادر، شانس همان پوله؟» «نه پل، نه دقيقاً. اون چيزيه که باعث مي‌شه پولدار بشي». پل گنگ گفت: «آه! من فکر کردم وقتي دايي اسکار گفت ثروت پست منظورش پول بود». مادر گفت: «ثروت به معني پول هست ولي پول خودِ شانس نيست». پسر گفت: «آهان! پس شانس چيه مادر؟» «اون چيزيه که باعث مي‌شه پولدار بشي. اگر خوش‌شانسي، پول هم داري. به اين دليل بهتره آدم خوش‌شانس به دنيا بياد تا پولدار. اگر پولدار باشي ممکن است پولت را از دست بدهي ولي اگر خوش‌شانس باشي هميشه پول بيشتر گير مياري». «آهان! راستي؟ و پدر شانس نداره؟» زن به تلخي گفت: «بايد بگم خيلي بدشانسه». پسر با چشماني نامطمئن او را تماشا کرد و گفت: «چرا؟» «نمي‌دونم. هيچکس نمي‌دونه چرا يکي خوش‌شانسه، ديگري بدشانس». «نمي‌دوني؟ هيچکس نمي‌دونه؟ کسي نيست که بدونه؟» «شايد خدا ولي او هيچ وقت نمي‌گه».

 «ولي بايد بگه و خودت هم شانس نداري. مادر؟» «نمي‌تونم، وقتي با يک شوهر بدشانس ازدواج کردم». «خودت تنهايي چطور؟ باز هم خوش‌شانس نيستي؟» «قبلاً قبل از ازدواجم فکر مي‌کردم که هستم. حالا فکر مي‌کنم بسيار بدشانسم». «چرا؟» زن گفت: «خب، ولش کن! شايد هم اينطور نيست». بچه، مادر را نگريست تا ببيند که آيا راست مي‌گويد ولي از چين‌هاي دهانش خواند که زن فقط مي‌کوشد چيزي را از او پنهان کند. راسخ گفت: «خب، من که آدم خوش‌شانسي هستم». مادرش با خنده‌اي ناگهاني پرسيد: «چرا؟» به مادرش خيره شد. حتي نمي‌دانست چرا چنين حرفي زده است. با گستاخي ادعا کرد: «خدا به من گفت». زن گفت: «اميدوارم گفته باشه، عزيزم». اين بار هم با يک خنده اما قدري تلخ. «مادر، او به من گفت!» مادر با استفاده از يکي از تکيه کلام‌هاي شوهرش گفت: «بسيار عالي!» پسر ديد زن باور نمي‌کند، اصلاً به ادعايش توجهي نمي‌کند. اين، قدري خشمگينش کرد و وادارش کرد تا توجهش را به زور جلب کند. پسر تنها بيرون رفت، گنگ، با حالتي کودکانه، در پي سرنخي از شانس. مجذوب، بي‌اعتنا به همه، مخفيانه، در هر کجا، از درون به دنبال شانس مي‌گشت. او شانس مي‌خواست، آن را مي‌خواست، مي‌خواست. وقتي دو دختر در اتاق بچه‌ها عروسک بازي مي‌کردند، او اسب چوبي بزرگش را سوار مي‌شد و جنون‌آسا به هوا مي‌تاخت، با جنوني که باعث مي‌شد خواهرهايش پريشان به او زل بزنند. اسب وحشيانه جولان مي‌داد، زلف تيره و مواج پسر در هوا مي‌لغزيد و چشمانش درخشش شگرف داشت. دخترها جرئت نمي‌کردند با او حرف بزنند. در پايان تاخت و تاز جنون آسايش، پايين مي‌جست و روبروي اسب چوبي‌اش مي‌ايستاد و مستقيم به چهره‌ي رو به پايينش چشم مي‌دوخت. دهان سرخش اندکي باز، چشمان درشتش گشاد و چون شيشه شفاف بود.

 سپس آهسته به توسن از پا افتاده نهيب مي‌زد: «الان! همين الان منو ببر به ديار شانس! همين الان منو ببر!» و با مهميزي که از دايي اسکار گرفته بود به گردن اسب مي کوفت. او مي‌دانست که اسب مي‌تواند او را به ديار شانس ببرد، فقط بايد وادارش مي‌کرد پس دوباره سوار اسب مي‌شد و سواري خشم‌آگينش را از سر مي‌گرفت به اين اميد که سرانجام به آنجا برسد. او مي‌دانست که مي‌تواند به آنجا برسد. پرستار گفت: «پل، اسبت را مي‌شکني!» خواهر بزرگش جون گفت: «هميشه همين‌طور ميرونه. کاش دست برداره!» ولي او فقط ساکت از آن بالا به آنها خيره مي‌شد. پرستار از او مأيوس شد. نمي‌توانست با او کاري کند. به هر حال او از کنترلش خارج مي‌شد. روزي مادرش و دايي‌اش اسکار در حين يکي از سواري‌هاي خشماگينش وارد شدند. او با آنها حرفي نزد. دايي‌اش گفت: «درود بر چابک‌سوار جوان! اسب برنده رو مي‌روني؟» مادرش گفت: «فکر نمي‌کني ديگه براي يک اسب چوبي خيلي گنده باشي؟ مي‌دوني که ديگه يک پسر کوچولو نيستي». ولي پل فقط از چشمان درشت و نيم بازش نگاهي آبي انداخت. هنگامي که با آخرين سرعت مي‌تاخت با هيچکس حرف نمي‌زد. مادرش با اضطرابي آشکار در چهره‌اش او را تماشا مي‌کرد. سرانجام ناگهان ايستاد و همچنان که اسب از فشار او هنوز بطور خودکار در جايش مي‌جنبيد، پايين پريد. با خشونت اعلام کرد: «خب، رسيدم». چشمان آبي‌اش هنوز مي‌درخشيد و پاهاي ستبرش دور از هم بود. مادرش پرسيد: «کجا رسيدي؟» پسر با نگاهي فروزان به سوي او برگشت: «همان جا که مي‌خواستم برم». دايي اسکار گفت: «درسته پسرم! تا اونجا بي‌وقفه مي‌راني. اسم اسبت چيه؟» پسر گفت: «اسم نداره». دايي پرسيد: «بي‌اسم خوب مي‌تازه؟» خب، اسم‌هاي مختلف داره. هفته‌ي پيش سانسو وينو صداش مي‌کردند». «سانسو وينو، هان؟ جام آسکات را برد. چطور اسمش رو مي‌دونستي؟» چون. گفت: «او هميشه راجع به مسابقات اسب‌دواني با باسِت حرف مي‌زنه».

Type of Work

.......“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a short story that incorporates elements of the fable, the fantasy, and the fairy tale. Like a fable, it presents a moral (although it does so subtly, without preachment). Like a fantasy, it presents chimerical events (the boy’s ability to foretell the winners of horse races, the whispering house). Like a fairy tale, it sets the scene with simple words like those in a Mother Goose story: “There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. . . . There were a boy and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighbourhood.” 
.......
Publication Dates

.......“The Rocking-Horse Winner” first appeared in Harper's Bazaar magazine in July 1926. Hutchinson & Company then published it in London later in the same year in a collection entitled Ghost Stories. In January 1933, Martin Secker published the story in London in another collection, The Lovely Lady. Viking Press in New York published The Lovely Lady later in the same year. 

Setting

.......The action takes place in England in the years just after the First World War. The places include a home in an unidentified locale in or near London; London's Richmond Park; a car traveling to a home in Hampshire County, southwest of London; and Lincoln Racecourse in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The narrator mentions major races in England well known to readers of the story when it first appeared in 1926. These races included the Grand National Handicap Steeplechase at the Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool; the Royal Ascot at Windsor, west of London; the Epsom Derby at Epsom Downs in Surrey, southeast of London; the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster in South Yorkshire; and the Lincoln, at Lincoln Racecourse in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. 

Characters

Paul: Boy who knows that his mother does not love him or his sisters even though she outwardly shows affection and treats her children kindly. After Paul receives a rocking horse one Christmas, he rides it often and develops a strange intuitive power that enables him to correctly predict the winners of horses races. At racetracks, he wins thousands of pounds that he sets aside to defray his mother’s debts.
Hester: Paul’s mother. She becomes dissatisfied with her marriage after her husband fails to make enough money to support the elegant lifestyle that has put the family deep in debt.
Paul’s Father: Man who works in town and has promising prospects that never seem to materialize because, as his wife says, he is unlucky. 
Bassett: The family gardener. He initiates Paul into the world of horse racing, and they becoming betting partners.
Oscar Creswell: Paul’s uncle and his mother’s sister. He provides Paul the money that the boy uses to make his first successful bet.
Miss Wilmot: The family nurse. 
Paul’s Siblings: Two younger sisters, one named Joan and the other unidentified by name.
Chief Artist: Woman who sketches drawings for newspaper advertisements placed by drapers. Hester works for her to make extra money.

Point of View

.......D. H. Lawrence wrote the story in omniscient third-person point of view, enabling him to reveal the thoughts of the characters. The underlined words in the following sentences are examples of passages that present the thoughts of characters.

Paul's mother only made several hundreds, and she was again dissatisfied. She so wanted to be first in something, and she did not succeed, even in making sketches for drapery advertisements. 

His mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him. Sometimes, for half an hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him that was almost anguish. She wanted to rush to him at once, and know he was safe. 

She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly she felt she must cover up some fault in herself. 

Plot Summary
By Michael J. Cummings...© 2008
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.......A  beautiful woman blessed with advantages marries a handsome man for love, but the love eventually runs dry. Feeling as if her three children—a boy and two girls—“had been thrust upon her,” the narrator says, she resents them in her heart. Outwardly, however, she behaves as if she loves them dearly, and people say she is wonderful mother. She does not fool the children, however. They know she does not love them, nor anyone else. They see it in her eyes.
.......The children and their parents reside in a nice house with “discreet” servants, but the mother and father never seem to have enough money to support their elegant lifestyle even though they both have incomes. At his office in town, the father has promising business prospects, but that is all they are—promising. 
.......The parents try various schemes to increase their income, but financial success eludes them. 
.......And so the house comes to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money!
.......At Christmas, even the rocking horse, the teddy bear, the big doll in its pram, and the puppy hear the phrase.
.......One day, Paul asks his mother, Hester, why the family always borrows the car of her brother, Oscar Creswell, instead of getting one of its own. She explains that they lack the money to buy one. When her husband tries to make more money, he has no luck. If you're lucky, she tells Paul, you have money. That is why it is better to be born lucky than rich. When asserts that he himself is lucky, his mother does not seem to believe him. Peeved at her lack of faith in him but wanting to prove himself to her, he goes off by himself wondering how to generate luck. In the following days, he rides his rocking horse in the nursery in a wild charge to nowhere while his sisters play with their dolls. Getting off, he commands the horse “to take me where there is luck,” then remounts it and rides on, whipping the horse on the neck with a lash Uncle Oscar bought for him. Paul's nurse, Miss Wilmot, cautions him that his rough riding will break the toy, and his sister Joan says, “I wish he’d leave off!”
.......When Uncle Oscar visits him one day with his mother, the boy is riding hard as usual.
.......“Riding a winner?” the uncle says.
.......His mother tells the boy that he is getting too big to be riding a rocking horse. But Paul does not respond until he completes his ride. When he dismounts, he says, “Well, I got there.” His mother asks where, and he says, “Where I wanted to go.” When Uncle Oscar asks what he named the horse, Paul says he has different names. In the previous week, his name was Sansovino, after the name of a horse that won the race at Ascot. His sister explains that the family’s gardener, Bassett, keeps Paul up to date on racing news. Basset, who served as Creswell's batman (military officer's assistant) in the war (the First World War, known in author Lawrence's time as the Great War), loves horse racing and places bets for Paul. Later, when Creswell takes Paul for a ride through the countryside to his home in Hampshire, he asks the boy for advice on which horse to bet on in the Lincoln race. Paul recommends Daffodil.
.......“What about Mirza?” 
.......Paul says, “I only know the winner.”
.......When he began gambling, Paul says, he lost five shillings Basset had given him. Then he started winning with ten shillings from Uncle Oscar and concluded that his uncle had passed luck onto him. At all costs, though, he wants his uncle to keep his betting a secret. After Creswell agrees to remain mum on the subject, he asks the boy how much he plans to bet on Daffodil. Paul’s answer—three hundred pounds—stuns and amuses him. 
.......Sometime later, he takes Paul to the Lincoln races, where Oscar bets on Mirza and gives Paul money to place a bet.
.......“The child had never been to a race-meeting before," the narrator says, "and his eyes were blue fire.”
.......Daffodil wins and Mirza finishes third.
.......Uncle Oscar then asks Paul whether he is telling the truth about the amounts of money that he bets. Paul affirms that he is and says his uncle can become partners with him and Bassett if he is so inclined. But the boy again asks him to keep everything a secret.
.......One afternoon, Creswell takes Paul and Basset to Richmond Park (a recreation area in London). There, Bassett tells Creswell that he and Paul lose only when they are in doubt about a horse. But they always win when Paul regards a particular horse as a sure thing.
......."It's as if he had it from heaven,” Bassett says. 
.......Bassett keeps all of Paul’s winnings for him under lock and key except for twenty pounds held in reserve in the deposit of the Turf Commission.
.......In another race, Paul is sure about a horse named Lively Spark when odds are ten to one against it. Paul wins ten thousand pounds, Basset five thousand, and Uncle Oscar two thousand. When Creswell asks Paul about his plans for his winnings, the boy tells him he is reserving it for his mother, who has no luck because his father has no luck. After his mother gets the money, the house will stops whispering that the family is short of money, Paul says.
.......Paul gives his uncle five thousand pounds to deposit with the family lawyer. The lawyer in turn is to give Paul’s mother a thousand pounds each year on her birthday but is not to reveal the source of the money except to say that a relative had reserved it for her.
.......His mother, meanwhile, had begun to earn extra money sketching figures of women in the latest fashions. An artist friend for whom she works sells the sketches to drapers for their newspaper ads. However, because her wages are meager—far less than her artist friend makes—Hester remains unhappy.
.......On her birthday in November, she receives her first thousand of Paul's winnings. However, she asks the lawyer to give her the rest of the money to defray her mounting debts. That afternoon, Uncle Oscar informs Paul of his mother’s request, leaving it up to him whether she should get the full amount.
.......“Oh, let her have it,” Paul decides, saying he can get more when he bets on the Grand National, the Lincolnshire, or the Derby.
In the following months, Paul’s mother outfits the house with luxurious furnishings and flowers, hires a tutor for Paul, and enrolls him in Eton (prestigious secondary school in Berkshire) for autumn. But the house voices do not stop. Instead, they become incessant: “There must be more money . . . more than ever!” They scare Paul.
.......Although he studies Latin and Greek with his tutor, he spends most of his time discussing horses with Bassett. Unfortunately, he receives no flashes of inspiration, as before, and he loses a hundred pounds at the Grand National and another hundred at Lincolnshire. 
.......“He becomes wild-eyed and strange,” the narrator says.
.......Desperate, Paul says, “I’ve got to know for the Derby!”
.......His mother tries to persuade him to take time off and go to the seaside to calm his nerves, but Paul says he prefers to remain at home until after the Derby. She assents to his wishes, but makes him promise not to preoccupy himself with the races.
.......“You needn’t worry,” he says.
.......The reason the boy does not want to go away is his rocking horse, which is now in his bedroom.
.......Two days before the Derby, Paul’s mother attends an evening party. Suddenly, she becomes terribly uneasy about the boy, as if something bad is happening to him, so she calls home and asks Miss Wilmot whether Paul is all right.
......."He went to bed as right as a trivet,” she tells Paul’s mother. “Shall I run up and look at him?"
.......Paul’s mother, satisfied that the boy is in no danger, tells the nurse not to bother. Besides, she says, she and her husband will return home soon.
.......When they arrive at about 1 o’clock, Paul’s father makes himself a drink and his mother goes upstairs to check on the boy. Outside his room, she hears a noise—“soundless, yet rushing and powerful”—coming from inside. When she enters the room and turns on the light, she sees Paul riding the rocking horse in a frenzy.
.......“What are you doing?”
.......In “a strange, powerful voice,” the narrator says, Paul cries out, “It’s Malabar!”
.......He then falls from the horse and lies unconscious. His mother runs to him.
.......Afflicted with “some brain-fever,” the narrator says, “he talked and tossed, and his mother sat stonily by his side."
.......Paul shouts, "Malabar! It's Malabar! Bassett, Bassett, I know! It's Malabar!"
.......During the next three days, Paul remains in a stupor. Neither his father nor mother knows what Malabar means, but Oscar informs them that it is the name of a horse entered in the Derby.
.......Oscar and Bassett later confer, and Oscar bets a thousand pounds on Malabar at odds of fourteen to one. Bassett places a bet for Paul.
.......On the evening of the third day, Oscar does not return, but his mother allows Bassett to enter the room in hopes that he might say something to revive Paul.
.......“Master Paul,” he says, “Malabar came in first all right, a clean win. I did as you told me. You've made over seventy thousand pounds, you have; you've got over eighty thousand.”
.......Paul says, “I call that lucky, don't you, mother? Over eighty thousand pounds! I knew, didn't I know I knew? Malabar came in all right. . . 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!"
......."No, you never did," said his mother.
.......During the night, Paul dies.
.......As he lies before her, Hester hears the voice of her brother: “My God, Hester, you're eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to find a winner

Type of Work

.......“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a short story that incorporates elements of the fable, the fantasy, and the fairy tale. Like a fable, it presents a moral (although it does so subtly, without preachment). Like a fantasy, it presents chimerical events (the boy’s ability to foretell the winners of horse races, the whispering house). Like a fairy tale, it sets the scene with simple words like those in a Mother Goose story: “There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. . . . There were a boy and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighbourhood.” 
.......
Publication Dates

.......“The Rocking-Horse Winner” first appeared in Harper's Bazaar magazine in July 1926. Hutchinson & Company then published it in London later in the same year in a collection entitled Ghost Stories. In January 1933, Martin Secker published the story in London in another collection, The Lovely Lady. Viking Press in New York published The Lovely Lady later in the same year. 

Setting

.......The action takes place in England in the years just after the First World War. The places include a home in an unidentified locale in or near London; London's Richmond Park; a car traveling to a home in Hampshire County, southwest of London; and Lincoln Racecourse in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The narrator mentions major races in England well known to readers of the story when it first appeared in 1926. These races included the Grand National Handicap Steeplechase at the Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool; the Royal Ascot at Windsor, west of London; the Epsom Derby at Epsom Downs in Surrey, southeast of London; the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster in South Yorkshire; and the Lincoln, at Lincoln Racecourse in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. 

Characters

Paul: Boy who knows that his mother does not love him or his sisters even though she outwardly shows affection and treats her children kindly. After Paul receives a rocking horse one Christmas, he rides it often and develops a strange intuitive power that enables him to correctly predict the winners of horses races. At racetracks, he wins thousands of pounds that he sets aside to defray his mother’s debts.
Hester: Paul’s mother. She becomes dissatisfied with her marriage after her husband fails to make enough money to support the elegant lifestyle that has put the family deep in debt.
Paul’s Father: Man who works in town and has promising prospects that never seem to materialize because, as his wife says, he is unlucky. 
Bassett: The family gardener. He initiates Paul into the world of horse racing, and they becoming betting partners.
Oscar Creswell: Paul’s uncle and his mother’s sister. He provides Paul the money that the boy uses to make his first successful bet.
Miss Wilmot: The family nurse. 
Paul’s Siblings: Two younger sisters, one named Joan and the other unidentified by name.
Chief Artist: Woman who sketches drawings for newspaper advertisements placed by drapers. Hester works for her to make extra money.

Point of View

.......D. H. Lawrence wrote the story in omniscient third-person point of view, enabling him to reveal the thoughts of the characters. The underlined words in the following sentences are examples of passages that present the thoughts of characters.

Paul's mother only made several hundreds, and she was again dissatisfied. She so wanted to be first in something, and she did not succeed, even in making sketches for drapery advertisements. 

His mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him. Sometimes, for half an hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him that was almost anguish. She wanted to rush to him at once, and know he was safe. 

She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly she felt she must cover up some fault in herself. 

climax

The climax is when Paul's mother comes home to find him furiously rocking back and forth on the rocking horse yelling the name of the horse he believes will win the race and then falls off injuring himself ultimately fatally.

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