In two short stories, “The Rocking-Horse
Winner” by D.H. Lawrence and “The Destructors” by Graham Greene, two young boys
struggle to find their place in a cruel, modern world, a world where survival depends
upon either luck or destruction, rather than upon G-d and love. Each of these boys experience adult pressures
and both respond in a manner that reflects modernist attitudes and
perceptions. At the peak of their
character development, major differences between the two protagonists begin to
emerge. Paul, who is motivated by an obsessive desire to make money for his
unlucky parents, is merely a child who has burdened himself with pressures
beyond his years, pressures which are eventually relieved through his illness
and subsequent death. Trevor, on the
other hand, is someone who is much more cynical, destructive, and hopeless in
his outlook on life. He lives in a world
that is utterly devoid of love, compassion, and any modicum of concern for
others. Greene resolves Trevor’s
conflict, not through illness and death, but rather through the childish and
senseless destruction of another human being and his property.
In these two short stories it is
immediately evident that the two protagonists, Trevor and Paul, have much in
common. They both seem to be struggling
to find their niche in society (Trevor as a member of the Wormsley Common Gang,
and Paul as the eldest son in a proud family), and they both struggle with the
pressures weighing on them in similar, destructive ways – Trevor in his
destruction of Old Misery’s house for no reason, and Paul in his self-destructive
frenzy for gambling. Both Trevor and
Paul attempt to manage conflicts and pressures that prove to be too much for
them to bear. Trevor is confronted with
the horrible destructiveness of a crime he perpetrated, while Paul valiantly
attempts to shoulder the impossible burden of restoring luck and happiness to
his family.
Eventually, both boys are confronted with
the harsh reality of a world without love.
Trevor muses with an adult, philosophical skepticism: “All this hate and
love…it’s soft, it’s hooey. There’s only
things, Blackie.” Paul, after a conversation with his mother about having no
money and no luck, jumps on his rocking horse and rides off on a frenzied quest,
desperately demanding to be taken where there is luck. Without G-d, there is no love, and without
love, there is no reason not to destroy.
Without love there is only luck, as “The Rocking-Horse Winner” tells us
in the opening line; “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.”
There are also several important differences
that distinguish the character of Trevor from the character of Paul. These differences are highlighted by their
respective conflicts. Trevor’s struggle is
self-centered and he is primarily concerned with his own status, not only in
the gang but also in the modern world. Paul,
on the other hand, is anxious for his family’s financial situation, an anxiety that
slowly evolves into a troubling obsession for him as he begins to hear voices
whispering in the house, “There must
be more money! There
must be more money!” Trevor has
already been hardened by a society committed to destruction and cruelty, while
Paul destroys himself in his futile attempt to fight against the capricious
hand of Fate. Trevor embraces the
selfish Darwinist attitude towards survival while Paul tries to fight it,
believing that “G-d” has given him luck (yet failing to realize that “luck” is
nothing more than a poor substitute for G-d Himself.)
Two thematic elements evident in
both stories are childhood conflict and destruction. Both narratives focus on children struggling
to come to terms with a cruel, modern and godless world. Both stories also explore the relationship
between godlessness and destructiveness.
In “The Destructors”, a world without love, morality, and compassion for
others is one that eventually ends in mindless destruction as expressed in the
demolition of a helpless old man’s home.
In “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, death, obsession, and insanity are the
fruits of a godless worldview dependent upon luck and chance for happiness.
Paul’s childhood struggle is resolved in
his death at the end of the story, while it seems that Trevor will eventually
grow into a troubled, destructive young man.
For Greene, cruelty and destruction are dismissed in a din of cynical
laughter in a world that is deaf to meaning and which finds expression in the
cab driver’s reaction to the destruction of Old Misery’s house: “‘I’m sorry. I can’t help it, Mr. Thomas. There’s nothing personal, but you got to
admit it’s funny’”. If there is no
meaning to be found, even in the cruelty of the world, then there is no point
to struggle against it – all we can do is embrace it in all its
destructiveness, as did Trevor, and laugh about it, as did the cabbie.
D.H. Lawrence presents a boy who is
determined to resist and combat the cruel hand of fate, but whose efforts prove
to be no less futile than Trevor’s. Paul’s
struggle is summed up by his uncle: “But, poor devil, poor devil, he's best
gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to find a winner.” In other
words, Paul does not belong to a world that accepts fate and destruction, and
Lawrence seems to imply by Paul’s death that the struggle is a hopeless one.
In these two short, but complex stories, D.H.
Lawrence and Graham Greene develop protagonists and plots united by similar
thematic elements. Trevor and Paul are
both children who face similar dilemmas as they try to function in a world
without G-d and devoid of meaning. The
ideas of adult pressures and destruction are prominent in both stories as
well. However, the two authors resolve
their respective dilemmas and conflicts very differently.
Both D.H. Lawrence and Graham Greene have
powerfully portrayed the futility of a world without G-d. Where G-d and G-d’s love are lacking,
destruction and the whimsical hand of fate rise to take their place. And as
Lawrence and Greene demonstrate in their stories, the final resolution of the
struggle against G-d can never be anything but ultimate annihilation, hate,
cruelty, and death.
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