The Rocking-Horse Winner: The Discontents of Human Relations

Abstract

This paper discusses, from a psychological perspective supplied by Sigmund Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents, the problem of unhappiness in human relationships as depicted in D.H. Lawrence's The Rocking-Horse Winner. Within the framework of modern civilization, Lawrence's short story is a tragic tale underscoring emotional alienation, disintegration of families, and the vicious consequences of materialism all these confirming Freud's concept of inherent human discontent. This dissertation relates Freud's ideas on repression, guilt, neuroses, and the opposing instincts of life and death to Lawrence's depiction of misery in human relationships through an examination of emotional and psychic flows motivating the characters, especially Paul and his mother Hester. Through a close reading of both Lawrence's narrative and Freud's philosophical and psychoanalytic arguments, this research underlines the powerful and destructive role played by social convention on personal happiness and family relationships.

Keywords: Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, D. H. Lawrence, The Rocking-Horse Winner, neurosis, repression, materialism, Oedipal complex, death instinct