摘 要

劳伦斯是20世纪英语文学中最重要的人物之一，他的作品对资本主义工业文明提出了强烈的批评。本文旨在探讨西方工业化背景下《木马赢家》中亲情关系的异化：母子的畸形关系、父子的冷漠关系和舅甥赤裸裸的金钱关系。亲情关系的异化直接导致主人公保罗产生恋母情结及自卑情结。而造成亲情关系的异化主要有两方面因素：西方工业化是外部因素，夫妻关系和家庭教育是内部因素。《木马赢家》亲情关系的异化研究能让人们意识到盲目追求金钱对人际关系的危害，提醒人们珍惜所拥有的感情。只要社会上存在过度追求物质的现象，《木马赢家》的警示作用就会存在。因此，劳伦斯的作品《木马赢家》值得进行深入研究。

关键词：《木马赢家》；西方工业化；亲情关系；异化

Abstract

D. H. Lawrence is one of the most important figures in English literature in 20^th century. His works strongly criticize the capitalist industrial civilization. This paper aims to explore the alienation of family relations in The Rocking-Horse Winner: abnormal relationship between son and mother, indifferent relationship between son and father and monetary relationship between nephew and uncle. The alienation of family relations directly leads to the protagonist Paul’s Oedipus complex and inferiority complex. There are two factors resulting in the alienation of family relations: western industrialization is the external factor; conjugal relation and family education are the internal factors. The study on the alienation of family relations in The Rocking-Horse Winner can make people realize that blind pursuit of money does harm to the interpersonal relationship and remind people that emotion is what should be cherished. As long as there is the phenomenon of excessive pursuit of material in the society, the warning function of The Rocking-Horse Winner will exist. Therefore, The Rocking-Horse Winner written by D. H. Lawrence deserves further in-depth study.

Key Words: The Rocking-Horse Winner; western industrialization; family relations; alienation

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 2

2.1 Main content of the story 2

2.2 Research in related fields 2

2.3 Theory of alienation 2

3 Alienation of family relations in The Rocking-Horse Winner 4

3.1 Alienation of Paul's family relations 4

3.1.1 Abnormal relationship between son and mother 4

3.1.2 Indifferent relationship between son and father 5

3.1.3 Monetary relationship between nephew and uncle 5

3.2 Effect of Paul's family relations' alienation 6

3.2.1 Oedipus complex 6

3.2.2 Inferiority complex 7

4 Reasons for alienation of Paul's family relations 9

4.1 External reason — Western industrialization 9

4.2 Internal reasons 10

4.2.1 Conjugal relation 10

4.2.2 Family education 11

5 Conclusion 12

References 13

Acknowledgements 14

Alienation of Family Relations in The Rocking-Horse Winner on the Background of Western Industrialization

1 Introduction

Since the industrial revolution, Western capitalism has highly developed. Many people stick to the pursuit of material life. Looking into the situation at home, money worship has come into being in recent years. A great number of people tend to make friends with rich people or marry them in order to satisfy their material needs and vanity. The phenomenon indicates that people give up spiritual life due to pursuing materialism. The Rocking-Horse Winner is a short story written by the English writer D. H. Lawrence. It describes that a boy Paul loses his life in order to satisfy his mother’s desire for money. The story reveals the phenomenon of pursuing materialism. By analyzing the story, it is clear to see how excessive pursuit of material gradually leads to the destructive effect.

First of all, this paper has a comprehensive analysis of three kinds of relations, including Paul and his mother, Paul and his father as well as Paul and his uncle. Paul’s mother has the overwhelming effect on him. Meanwhile, Paul’s father’s negligence influences him. As the betting partner, Paul’s uncle also plays an important role. This paper also dissects two psychological changes of Paul. He has Oedipus complex because he wants to get more love from his mother. And that he is unable to earn money results in his inferiority complex. In addition, this paper explores the reasons for alienation of three kinds of relations. On the one hand, western industrialization has a significant impact on the whole society. On the other hand, conjugal relation drives Paul to be a lucky boy. Family education misleads Paul into believing that money can make a difference.

This paper aims to demonstrate the theme of The Rocking-Horse Winner. It should be realized that money and luck cannot bring one happiness. Greedy pursuit of materialism can destroy love. This paper warns people of attaching importance to the spiritual world in the pursuit of material life so that people will not be penny wise and pound foolish.

2 Literature review

2.1 Main content of the story

The Rocking-Horse Winner is about the story of Paul. The tastes of his parents are expensive. But there is not enough money to meet the needs of the family. His mother tells him that luck is what causes someone to have money. So he begins to seek luck by riding his rocking-horse. He gets to know the horse winner and starts winning with ten-shilling note that his uncle gives him. He wins the money in the Lincoln and the Leger. After he gives five thousand pounds to his mother secretly, his mother is more eager to get money. Then he fails to predict the horse winner in the Grand National and the Lincolnshire. Finally, he madly surges on the rocking-horse and knows the winner in the Derby. But he dies in the night.

2.2 Research in related fields

The domestic research has probed into the tragedy in The Rocking-Horse Winner and discussed the causes of Paul’s death. The blind pursuit of money and the disregard for spiritual wealth are the major reasons. The parental neglect and family education make Paul lack love and pursue money, which further results in Paul’s Oedipus complex and inferiority complex. In this process, alienation of the people arises influenced by the materialism. Meanwhile, alienation of family relations comes into being. This paper analyzes the alienation in Paul’s family and why alienation exists based on Western industrialization. This paper demonstrates the harm of materialism and significance of cherishing love.

2.3 Theory of alienation

Melvin Seeman provided an appropriate theoretical framework for the analyses of alienation in literary works. Starting with expectation and value, he created a model of alienation from the perspective of social psychology. This model contains five aspects: powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation and self-estrangement. This paper will reflect the interpersonal alienation from powerlessness, normlessness and self-estrangement. Powerlessness is a state when the individual is unable to achieve the goal. Paul’s mother fails to make more money. Paul can’t gain his mother’s love and attention. Normlessness can be defined as having high hopes for the acts which are not authorized by the community in order to achieve the goal. The story reflects a phenomenon that people are obsessed with the speculative gambling. Paul joins the activity of betting on horse races under the influence of his mother, the gardener and his uncle. Self-estrangement is that people turn themselves into a tool and alienate themselves from it. Almost everyone in the story turns himself into a tool to make money and becomes a slave to money, including Paul, his parents, his uncle and the gardener.

3 Alienation of family relations in The Rocking-Horse Winner

3.1 Alienation of Paul’s family relations

3.1.1 Abnormal relationship between son and mother

“Everybody else said of her: ‘She is such a good mother. She adores her children.’ Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other’s eyes.” (Wang, 2014: 207) Paul lacks maternal love. From the superficial aspect, his mother is a considerate wife and amiable mother. Actually, she doesn’t love Paul at all. She is obsessed with the pursuit of money and not concerned about Paul. She doesn’t find that Paul is betting on horse races secretly. Nor does she find that Paul has powerful predictive ability. “ ‘Aren’t you growing too big for a rocking-horse? You’re not a very little boy any longer, you know,’ said his mother. ” (Wang, 2014: 210) When she sees Paul riding the rocking-horse, she doesn’t ask him the reason but only tells him not to play with these toys.