There Must Be More Empathy.docx

There Must be More Empathy! – More Than Ever! More Than Ever! The Rocking-Horse Winner is a story about desires. All kinds of them. It’s a story about not knowing where to draw the line. And a story about anxieties manifested as the paranormal. Thinking about it, the story is so complex there are many levels to explore and analyze, such levels can easily explain what caused all of the good and bad situations throughout the story. And it gets even more complicated if we take into consideration each of the main characters have its own desires, and its own anxieties. In this essay, two of these levels will be discussed: the importance of love within a family to achieve peace of mind, and the idea of money as the key to happiness. This, through the point of view of Hester, the mother of the rockinghorse boy. Hester had it all. She was beautiful, she started with all the advantages one could possibly think of… but she had no luck, and that was even more important than any other attribute. As the story advances, it’s clear that she only cares about her own comfort, and even when good things happen to her, it doesn’t change a thing: she still behaves in a dry, almost resentful way with her family and close acquaintances. And as it wasn’t enough, as the story progresses, she starts to act in an even colder and loveless way. This causes trouble to everyone, especially to Paul, her son. Paul showed an interest towards the difficulties his mother was having. Along with his sisters, he always listened how the house spoke to them, demanding more and more money. Neither he nor his sisters knew where that voice came from, but it always tormented them. It was an anxious-inducing voice that apparently came from the house itself. He was a curious child with no real idea of what was going on. So when his mother told him that the main reason to all of her problems was the lack of luck in the family, he had a peculiar thought: If he helps his mother with their lack of money, maybe the house would stop talking and her mother would be happier and more sympathetic towards everyone. He had a plan for this. He knew that he could predict which horse would win in the races that were occurring at the time. Sometimes he chose the wrong one, but when he was ‘sure’ about the winner, he didn’t commit any kind of mistake. He used this special powers to bring more money to his family, but it made no difference. And instead, it only appeared as if his mom was growing bitterer as more money came to the house. And as if this wasn’t enough, the house’s voice started to demand even more money, in a more aggressive way. Paul didn’t

understand why this was happening, and thought that if he gained more money, maybe all of these situations would finally stop. This lead to his ultimately death. If we analyze what happened here, it’s clear that it all started with his mom, Hester. It’s stated in the story that she was a cold person, and that as the story progressed, her heart became colder, towards everyone, but especially towards her son. It’s also clear that the voice of the house was her uncomfortableness and her anxieties manifesting through a mysterious, ghostly voice. Paul only wanted two things, to please her mother, and to make the voice stop. But there was only one solution to his problems. Love. Hester couldn’t love her children, she couldn’t love everyone, and we all know parental affection is a really important aspect in the life of every children. Paul exhausted himself to death, but if his mother could’ve shown at least a little more affection towards him, things would’ve been a lot different. This leads us to the other level: the idea of money as the key to happiness. This is pretty straightforward. Hester thought she needed luck in order to be happy. She states that being lucky is better than being rich, because if you’re lucky, you’ll never be short on money. By saying that, she only manifests that in her mind, the most important thing is money. Her family tried to live a luxurious life, but always at the expense of always having the sensation that there wasn’t enough money. This troubled her a lot, to the point of creating a paranormal entity which consisted solely of her anxieties and fears. This also led to the death of Paul, because even when more money started to arrive, she didn’t show any sign of change. She was always the same cold, bad tempered person and mother. These two levels complement each other. If Hester would’ve shown more love to her son, he wouldn’t have exhausted himself to death. But even more, if Hester wouldn’t have put that much importance to a materialistic life, led by how much money and how luxurious her lifestyle was, and instead, she would’ve focused on her children and a way of living closer to the budget they had as a family, the story would’ve been a different one. This story shows us a trouble that still happens today. People believe that money is more important than anything else in life, and they are sure that they won’t feel complete until they have enough to cope with how they want their lifestyle to be. But as their lives go by, they unconsciously realize that with that idea on their minds, they will never have enough money to be happy. The actual key to happiness here, would be the affection and empathy towards the ones that are close to you.