ПК 1 Англ яз 5, 6 семестры / Ответы рассказ 10

PART 1

A

The story includes some supernatural elements: there's the talking house, Paul seemingly supernatural intuition, and Paul's untimely and implausible death.

Paul has an ability to predict the result of horse-races. And his Uncle Oscar reinforces the assumption that Paul is lucky by encouraging his horse-race betting and by financially profiting from Paul’s winning picks. But as the story progresses, and Paul’s obsession worsens and his health declines, it becomes clear that Paul is not such a lucky boy after all. in the end, Paul is still a boy with an absent father and a mother who does not love him, and he is surrounded by adults who encourage his unhealthy behavior.

B

1. Why is there always a shortage of money in Paul’s household? Is the family poor?

Their family live in a luxurious home in England. Despite their wealth, Paul’s family is plagued by unhappiness and dissatisfaction, rooted in his mother’s constant need for more money. She is never content with what she has and always wants more. The tension begins when Hester refuses to accept the ordinary way of life. She struggles to get out of this life and live luxuriously like elites. They live in a utilitarian world where everything is measured in material worth. For Paul’s family, this difference between their income and huge expenses makes the situation worse.

2. Whom does the mother blame for their financial difficulties? Is she correct?

The mother blames her husband for financial difficulties. I believe that she is completely wrong, since it is impossible to take out her anger on her loved ones, and she chose this man as her husband, respectively, this is her conscious choice. Thus, they were supposed to support each other in a difficult moment, but instead she blamed everyone around her all the time.

3. Why does the mother think that luck is more important than wealth?

Mother believes that if there is luck, then there will be wealth, because the rich can go broke, lose their money, but if you are lucky, you will always have money.

4. What does Uncle Oscar enjoy doing in his spare time?

He was fond of gambling on horses.

5. Who is Bassett, and what is his connection to Uncle Oscar?

Bassett is the family’s gardener. He works with Paul and Oscar and arranges gambling best for him because Paul asks Bassett to work for him.

6. Why does Paul confide in Uncle Oscar?

Because he was his uncle.

7. At what point does Uncle Oscar start to take Paul seriously?

Uncle began to take Paul seriously when he said the name of the horse, and she really won at the races.

8. Why do people send Paul’s mother writs? (line 301)

Because his mom had debts that needed to be paid.

9. Why is the mother working secretly in a friend’s studio? (lines 331-332)

She worked secretly because, as it turned out, she had a talent for creating sketches of fabrics and furs.

10. Does Paul’s mother’s birthday check solve her financial problems? Explain your answer.

In response to this sudden gift, the mother's greed and desire for more is worse than ever. The author is clearly showing how materialism is a vicious cycle, where when you gain more, you simply want more, which of course in this story results in the death of Paul as he is driven to evergreater efforts to find out winners.

11. What is the mother’s attitude toward gambling?

The mother has a negative attitude to horse racing, because her family has already had such a bad experience, it brought them misfortune.

12. Does Paul’s mother show any love toward Paul? Explain your answer as fully as possible.

No, Paul's mother in D. H. Lawrence's The Rocking-Horse Winner did not love him; she did not love any of her children. The only thing that mattered to her was wealth and social class. Paul trying desperately and futilely to gain her love and respect by earning money with his rocking horse visions.

13. What killed Paul?

In the one hand it was his horse, which gave him a luck, but in the other hand it was his mother, because she didn’t take care of her children, the only one thing that she want: to be in the high society class and to be wealthy.

PART 2

A

1. What is the importance of the frequent references to eyes in the story?

Paul’s specification is his intense blue eyes that turn his desires to a wild extent. He is a small child but his emotions and desires are big enough to be handled by his physique.

2. What are the supernatural aspects of the story?

The first supernatural element involves the whispering of the house. While it seems like a simple metaphor at first, we eventually learn through Paul that the whispers of the house, at least to him, are all too real.

The second element that's his mother telling him that life is financially hard because his father has no "luck" indicates that things happen by an invisible, supernatural hand that makes things good for people or not: with or without luck.

And the last element is the fact that Paul knows which horses to choose in order to win at the races is also fantastic and supernatural in nature. Even at the end when he rides on his horse in a frenzied state, exhausted and not realizing what he has done, so much so that it kills him, he is driven by what seems to be an unseen force.

3. How important is social class to the story?

Hester’s financial status does not coincide with her neighbors’ conditions. Therefore, she tries to rise to their level and give the impression that she is as wealthy as they are. The problem arises when her finances do not allow her to surpass her status. To seek their approval, she develops huge greed for wealth. This impacts her family life also. For instance, she begins to dislike her husband and ignore the children.

4. Who in your view is to blame for Paul’s tragedy? You need not limit yourself to only one person.

Paul's family is to blame for his death. However, they did not directly cause his death. His mother was in the room when he hit his head, but he was just rocking on his horse, something that is usually not dangerous. She was also not near him, so she could not stop his fall.

5. What is the role of the father in the story?

The father is a curiously absent figure in this story. He is only mentioned once, at the beginning of the tale, where the narrator gives us information regarding Paul's family background and the want that characterizes his upbringing because of the way that his parents are unable to make their future and family.

B

Symbol

1. What does the rocking horse symbolize? Give as many details as you can to support your answer.

A young boy named Paul rides his rocking horse to predict the winners of horse races, which he does successfully but at a cost: he becomes obsessed with winning money to please his mother, who is never satisfied. The rocking horse thus symbolizes the twisted relationship between Paul and his mother, as well as the destructive nature of greed. ///////////////////////////////////// The rockinghorse has multiple symbolic meanings in Lawrence’s story. The fact that at the beginning of the story, Paul has a rocking-horse but not a tutor is proof of Hester’s skewed values. She is very materialistic, and prizes her ability to buy her children beautiful Christmas presents more than she values their education. Rocking-horses are also toys that children typically age out of, but Paul continues to use his despite the many protests of his family members. His attachment to the toy suggests that he is not growing up in a normal way. Although the rocking-horse itself is a toy, its form is based on a real horse—an animal that can be wild and difficult to tame (or predict how it will act, as Paul seeks to do in his betting). In some ways, Paul might be compared to the rockinghorse: he seems innocent, but there is a wild force within him that cannot be controlled. He rides his rocking-horse so fiercely that the seemingly-harmless toy comes to seem malevolent and powerful, and perhaps even causes Paul’s death.

2. What descriptions of the rocking horse scenes help reinforce the symbolism?

I think the symbolism is enhanced by the scenes where he sat on this horse at the moment and swayed so violently, as if he was riding a real horse. The last such trick ended fatally.

3. Why do you think Lawrence chose a rocking horse as the central symbol?

Paul’s shiny modern rocking horse is a symbol for materialism. Paul is obsessively attached to the horse, a material item, and the materialism leads to his death. Lawrence uses the rocking horse to symbolize the dangers of chasing wealth and his disdain for conspicuous consumption.

4. Money is used both literally and symbolically in the text. What is its symbolic importance?

The story contains an interesting extended metaphor comparing materialism to religion and money itself to a kind of deity. This extended metaphor is foundational to the characters' anxieties surrounding money and material possessions (???)

Fable

1. What qualities does “The Rocking-Horse Winner” share with a fable?

The story combines elements of the fable with a variety of traits, such as the unhappy marital relationship, the capitalist obsession with money and work.

2. How does the opening paragraph suggest a fable?

The beginning of the text strangely resembles a fairy tale. And fairy tales usually illustrate a moral which is similar to a fable. It gives us a short overview of the story to understand what the moral will be about.

3. What is the moral of the story? Explain it in your own words.

the story illustrates the idea that greed for money makes people unhappy and ultimately inhumane.

С

1. Do you think the mother is capable of loving anybody?

I don’t think she’s capable pf loving anybody because she never seems to keep her expectations of anything is this world. She will never be satisfied enough with what she got so she can’t truly love anybody.

2. Do you think she learns her lesson at the end of the story?

His mother's emotional detachment during Paul's death, when she learns that his efforts have brought her a large sum of money, suggests that her view of luck remains unchanged despite the tragic loss of her child.

3. Would you agree with her that it is important in life to be lucky?

Yes, it is important to be lucky, but I think u can bring the luck to you by yourself, by your hard work and by believing in yourself.

4. Do you think that Bassett should be punished for his role in Paul’s gambling?

Yes, Bassett was the one who introduced all of the horse gambling to Paul and encouraged him to continue doing so, so he should be punished.

5. In your view, could Paul’s father have helped avert the tragedy? If so, how?

Maybe the father could avert the tragedy if he wasn’t absent in his life and showed his sone that his not unlucky at all, and luck is not only about wealth as his mother thinks.

D

1. What is the attitude toward gambling in your country?

In my county gambling is viewed as a precarious way of making money and it is not widely used.

2. Have you ever gambled? If so, in what way? Did you win or lose money?

I have gambled, but through my classmate, he was betting on sports and I gave him 100 rubles to win me something, and he actually did win and I made 800 rubles, but later on he lost them all so he just returned me my 100 rubles

3. Have you, or anybody you know, ever been obsessed by anything? If yes, explain the obsession.

According to my memory I don’t remember knowing someone with a huge obsession to gambling or anything at all. IF only my dad’s obsession with smoking but it’s a very common addiction so I don’t know if it’s fair to compare it to gambling.

4. Do you have superstitions in your country about what is lucky and unlucky? What are they?

Yes, there are superstitions about luck in my country for example if a black cat crosses your path or looking into a broken mirror means bad luck of the other hand if a plate breaks it means good luck.

5. Do you believe in the supernatural? Explain why or why not.

I don’t think so. I believe in superstitions that much but if I see a black cat crossing my road I will indeed suspect it, but wouldn’t give it too much thought and probably will forget in 5 minutes.

E

Gambling is a harmful activity that should be banned.

I agree with this statement, because gambling is danger for out society.

Thus, I believe that gambling should be officially banned.