Respond to Kerstin and Rebecca

Answer

Mother’s Greed Leads to Son’s Death

The story "The Rocking-Horse Winner" talks about a foredoomed and desperate young man named Paul who wins his mother's love by seeking luck, something that the mother claims she doesn't have. Paul tries to win the love of her mother by bringing a luxurious life that the mother yearns for. He is so determined to find luck for her mother, something that his dad too did not have.  Conversing with her son, Hester, Paul’s mother claims that life has not been well since she married her father; an unlucky husband. She convinces her son that it is better being lucky than having money. In response, Paul accepts to take her father’s position to make her mother happy. The mother's greed and materialistic nature cause more troubles or his son. Using the Lacanian Model, this paper seeks to establish whether Hester’s greed led to the death of his son Paul.

Distortion of the Relationship between Husband and Wife

The relationship between Hester and her husband is boring and cold. Lacan’s  first assumption is that," …human subjects derive from an original whole, which was divided in half and that its existence is dominated by the desire to recover the missing complement” (Silverman 150). It is open that the mother only married her husband for love. From the Lacanian model, one can say that as people grow and become adults, they discover the missing concepts. Love is one thing that men and women long for in society. Sometimes, love leads people into making regrettable decisions.  Love makes the mother and father stay together, but when the mother discovers that her husband is not lucky, she begins to think otherwise. Despite the bond between mother and father, Lawrence factors in greed as a distractor. He portrays that greed is the major source of problems for the family.  Hester has greed for high social position in the society. When she realizes that her husband lacks a good social position and misses promotion, she claims that her husband is unlucky. She is also is greedy for money. She knows very well that her husband cannot meet her increasing desire for money, but needs much. As result, she subjects her son to toils to achieve her desires. Paul uses his luck to help the family hoping to fix the relationship issues in the family, but it does not work. Instead, her mother views her as more important just because he can offer money that her husband cannot provide. I believe that Lawrence uses greed for money and material things to show how roles can change in the family. Because of greed, Paul’s attempts to fix the relationship problem between his parents worsens. But, he finds more love from the mother that offered to the father; this changes the relationship between the parents.

Lacan brings the concept of lack in human life. He asserts that, “…. is determined to fulfill his biological destiny by achieving a complete sense of being male or female.” (Silver 156). I can only compare Lucan's desire and commitment to Paul desire to make her mother happy. When his mother tells him about their unlucky nature and chose to pursue her material desires, she subjects Paul to a lot of commitments in the family. Lawrence drives his story "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by the devastating effects that money can have in the family. Although a mother tries to fulfill her desires of the missing social position, her desires are too much. Considering the relationship between the mirror and Oedipus complex Lacan claims that, “The image which a child discovers in the mirror is ideally neutral” (Silverman 160). The identification of Paul with his family is distorted by his mother. Whereas the desire and commitment to look for money and please his mother was positive and aimed at keeping the family together, mother’s last for material goods overwhelmed leading to more mess in the family. His idea of neutralizing the situation and keep the relationship between his parents is overcome by mother greed that grows love for him because he is the breadwinner.

Distortion of the Relationship between Paul and his Mother

The family is haunted by the ghost of money.  Lawrence uses money a symbolic thing that substitutes love and affection. To Paul, however, money may not be good enough. But it is the most essential tool for winning his mother's love. The mother’s desire to have money and her continuous complaints in the house worsens the situation. As a result, Paul finds himself in a stressful condition, he tries to please his mother, but this even increases her mother’s greed. Paul invests his money in betting to source money for his mother. He believes that betting is profitable and is a good investment. Whereas one can relate this to economy, I believe that Paul’s is turned to a mere laborer. He does all these to please his mother who never gets satisfied. He is seemingly not free to possess the money he generates from the betting activities. Lawrence portrays the nature of greed and demand for money in the capitalist society. Capitalism concept asserts that any surplus received from a working population only benefit the superiors of the society Paul's (Paul’s Oedipus complex in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" 54).  Due to greed, capitalists never get satisfied. Their greed for money and social status make them milk the poor. Paul’s mother is a true capitalist, she cannot personally achieve her material wants, and therefore she exploits her son, subjects him to stress of because of greed.

Why the mother is so Materialistic

According to the theory of imagery, Lacan asserts “The need for subjects to identify themselves with some group or class in society” This makes me understand why the mother has greed for money and material things. First, the family leaves in a capitalist society. The capitalist society is usually filled with the desire for money, exploitation of the poor, alienation and often the rich depend on the poor’s sweat for their own selfish gain (Schumpeter 37). The mother lives in a capitalist society, where she believes that for one to gains acceptance in society, they must have money. However, she never gets satisfied. Hester's greed complicates the relationship between parents and children in the story. Whereas the children need parental love, the parents are too busy looking for fame, money and social status.  (Lawrence 134). Instead of clearing the debts, the mother buys new furniture and prepares to send children to prestigious schools. Paul also grows desire for approval and love leading to greed. He wants to be lucky to win the mothers luck. He wants the mother to think of him as a lucky soul hence he whips his toy rocking horse and furiously rides him to get lucky. He does not want money for himself, but for the mother. The mother’s greed is selfish. But the son’s unselfishness to fulfill the mother’s desire does not save him. He becomes very obsessed, stressed and intense to get lucky that he dies in the process.

Conclusion

Conclusively, Hester’s greed must have contributed to the death of his son. The determination towards achieving a complete sense of being a capitalist is the major push towards material greed. The family relationship is in the form of Oedipus complex where the mother is in marriage but concentrates on luck and material greed. When she gets money, her greed never ends and she needs more. Paul, on the hand, is obsessed with unselfish greed of finding money for his mother. He wants show the mother that he lucky by whipping the toy rocking horse furiously leading to intense stress and obsession before collapsing to death.  Lawrence portrays greed as harmful. Greed makes Hester subject her son to toils and whipping of toy-rocking horse. The result of whipping the toy rock an intense obsession that makes him collapse and die. Using the Lacan assumption, “That human subjects derive from an original whole, which was divided in half and that its existence is dominated by the desire to recover the missing complement,” Lawrence portrays Hester’s greed to achieve a social position of having money as very harmful. It subjects Paul into stress and obsession that causes his death.  Without doubts, I must agree that Hester’s greed for money and material things caused Paul’s death.

Works cited

Lawrence, D. H. The Rocking-Horse Winner: Short Story. HarperCollins, 2013. Pp. 123-136

Lawrence, D.H.  BU Blogs – Blogs for the Boston University Community, blogs.bu.edu/cflamm/files/2012/10/. Accessed 8 June 2019.

Paul's Oedipus Complex in "The Rocking-Horse Winner". Pp.54

Schumpeter, Joseph A. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. Routledge, 2013. Pp. 37

Silverman, Kaja. The Subject of Semiotics. Oxford UP, 1983. Pp. 149-169

1. QUESTION

 Respond to Lynne and Jenny    

ANSWER

Discussion Responses

Response to Lynne

Hello Lynne, you have provided an informative post on the cancer health literacy along a continuum (CHLT-30) which is designed to evaluate literacy levels among cancer patients. I agree with the findings by Dumenci et al. (2014) that individuals with limited literacy overutilize the emergency services and experience exacerbations, which increases their frequency in seeking medical help and hospital admission. To contribute to your discussion, the utilization of these health literacy tools is essential in establishing the deficiency in an individual’s knowledge, which then informs the development of patient education program. According to Beauchamp et al. (2015), health literacy is vital, especially for individuals with chronic conditions where they are at risk of emergency situations. Educating these individuals on how to manage their conditions and the specific aspects to evaluate reduces the morbidity and mortality rates related to their health challenges. For instance, diabetic patients should be aware of measuring their blood sugar levels, and what to do in case there are spikes in these levels.

References

Beauchamp, A., Buchbinder, R., Dodson, S., Batterham, R. W., Elsworth, G. R., McPhee, C., ... & Osborne, R. H. (2015). Distribution of health literacy strengths and weaknesses across socio-demographic groups: a cross-sectional survey using the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). BMC Public Health, 15(1), 678.

Dumenci, L., Matsuyama, R., Riddle, D. L., Cartwright, L. A., Perera, R. A., Chung, H., & Siminoff, L. A. (2014). Measurement of cancer health literacy and identification of patients with limited cancer health literacy. Journal of Health Communication, 19(2), 205-224. doi: 10.1080/10810730. 2014

Response to Jenny

Hello Jenny, indeed, the 80 million adults in the US having limited health literacy is a worrying trend. In the definition of health literacy, one should demonstrate competence in accessing and understanding health information, which is essential in making profound decisions. I also agree with you that health literacy challenges are more prevalent among aged patients. As noted by Chesser, Keene Woods, Smothers, and Rogers (2016), geriatrics have several comorbidities and make risky decisions regarding the conditions which may result in emergency situations and death. To contribute to your discussion, the availability of different screening tools such as the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) allows healthcare providers to understand the literacy levels of different patients and based on the findings, make critical decisions such as patient education (Batterham, Hawkins, Collins, Buchbinder, & Osborne, 2016). The importance of promoting patient awareness regarding their health based on the assessment tools’ findings include increasing the recovery rate and reducing the risks of medical emergencies. Also, patient education reduces medical costs and length of stay at the hospital.

References

Batterham, R. W., Hawkins, M., Collins, P. A., Buchbinder, R., & Osborne, R. H. (2016). Health literacy: applying current concepts to improve health services and reduce health inequalities. Public health, 132, 3-12.

Chesser, A. K., Keene Woods, N., Smothers, K., & Rogers, N. (2016). Health literacy and older adults: a systematic review. Gerontology and geriatric medicine, 2, 2333721416630492.

Response to Jenny

Hello Jenny, I agree with you on the definition of health literacy, which involves the ability of an individual to obtain, process, and comprehend basic health information to make appropriate decisions. Indeed, limited health literacy is more prevalent among the aged as noted by Levy, Janke, and Langa (2015). To contribute to your discussion, using health literacy tools allows the healthcare provider to establish the individual’s ability to make profound decisions regarding health. The role of healthcare providers in this regard is to engage with the patient, establish the level of health literacy, and conduct educational programs. Taking an example of an aged patient with different chronic conditions, the responsibility of the healthcare provider is to educate the individual about the causes, symptoms, and management of the condition (Wouters, O’donoghue, Ritchie, Kanavos, & Narva, 2015). For a patient to strictly adhere to the management plan, a high level of literacy is essential. For instance, an individual with two chronic conditions has to follow the medication schedule and maintain profound life modification such as exercising and diet. High literacy levels promote the individual’s understanding regarding the importance of a holistic management plan.