The Rocking Horse Winner
Complete textIn a household troubled by the feeling that there is never enough money, a boy becomes intent on discovering the secret of luck. His rocking-horse and an unusual interest in racing draw him into an effort to meet a need whose demands seem continually to grow.
Continue readingAbout The Rocking Horse Winner
Lawrence gives financial anxiety an almost audible presence, turning a comfortable house into an environment of pressure. The child's literal response to adult desire makes the fantasy unsettling rather than whimsical. Repeated references to luck and money reveal how an emotional need can be mistaken for a problem that sufficient winnings would solve.
Reading focus
Read an uncanny family story where a child's search for luck exposes the emotional pressure hidden inside apparently ordinary financial dissatisfaction.
This reading edition contains 5,431 words in 1 original section. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.
Author: DH Lawrence. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.
Opening excerpt
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. 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. Yet what it was that she must cover up she never knew. Nevertheless, when her children were present, she always felt the centre of her heart go hard. This troubled her, and in her manner she was all the more gentle and anxious for her children, as if she loved them very much. Only she herself knew that at the centre of her…
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Is this the complete The Rocking Horse Winner?
This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 1 section and 5,431 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.
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