The heart would always turn cold every

The heart would always turn cold every

The Comparisons of “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “The Lottery” “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D. H. Lawrence is an unpredictable, fairytale-like short story about a mother of three who constantly worries about her financial problems. She has a son who is fervent about figuring out a solution to her predicament.

This story also has an abrupt ending that gives off strong emotion. Another short story, called “The Lottery”, has the same spectacle of ending the story with suspense. Written by Shirley Jackson, this story begins with a sunny day in a village, but miserably ends with the stoning of one of the villagers.

The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “The Lottery” are two sensational stories that have tragic ironies; however, they differ in tone and style. The introduction of “The Rocking-Horse Winner” almost foreshadows and sets the tone of the whole story. “There was a woman who was beautiful…” (Lawrence) is a sentence that is almost fairytale-like. It gives the hint that the story might have a melodramatic aspect, one with a magical horse that gives prophetic visions to a little boy. The introduction also hints of a depressing, yet hopeful view of the relationship between the mother and her children.

It describes how the mother’s heart would always turn cold every time she was around her kids, but she would always pretend to have affection towards them. The introduction does not state why she feels that way, so it leaves the reader with an inquisitive view as to what will come of the plot. The tone all throughout the story is also tense because Paul is engaging in something that he should not be doing. Unfortunately the story ends with his death; consequently, it leaves the reader with a profound sense of affliction because, after all, Paul was only trying to help his mother.Unlike “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, the beginning of “The Lottery” has a tone of a warm and summery day.

There are people gathering around and kids collecting stones, so it appears as if nothing is wrong. The story starts out in a blissful and jovial mood, but eventually leaves the reader shocked and astounded at the end of the story when the villagers stone Tessa. One of the characters, Mr. Summers, gives everyone the directions of how to play the lottery. The author does not disclose to us what the directions are, but he reader would probably assume that a lottery is a gambling game that is played in order to win a prize.

In contrast, the irony of this story is that whoever receives a piece of paper with a black mark is stoned to death. This approach is what makes this short story disturbing. It brings a discomforting thought as to why the villagers would ever behave in such a despicable manner.

This ending is a great example of tragic irony because most of the story has no deliberate conflict until right at the very end when there was the abrupt death of Tessa.In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” the mother is quite obsessed with the fact that she does not have enough money, even though she spends lavishly on materialistic things. She whispers to herself constantly about not having enough money, thus giving Paul the impression that he needs to do something in order to make her happy.

The story mysteriously unfolds with Paul riding a magical horse that gives him prophetic visions of which horse would win the Epsom Derby. At first it seems like an interesting idea, but eventually Paul obsesses over money exactly like his mother.In the very end of this story, Paul dies from convulsions. Paul chooses the winning horse in the race, but he ends up losing his life. Another example of irony is when Uncle Oscar discovers that Paul can reveal the future winners of the horse race. He takes full advantage of him.

Instead of stopping his nephew from gambling he actually encourages him all the way until Paul’s death. The irony of this story is that the uncle is supposed to be mature and responsible enough warn and protect his nephew from the dangers of gambling.These two short stories provided many ironies that helped the reader discover the true meaning of the overall story. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” the author’s purpose is to grasp the concept of how obsessing over money can be evil.

The tone was melancholy with a touch of suspense. “The Lottery” gives an intriguing perspective of how not all traditions are appropriate. The tone was light-hearted until the very end. These two stories were remarkable, yet enlightening.