In the Rocking-horse Winner the main character is a young boy called Paul who is in search of luck after his mother states there is no luck in the family, he wants to prove to his mother he is lucky so he can win her love and stop the whispering in the house. In search of this luck Paul is lead to a rocking horse which he uses to go in to deep thought and predict the winning horse, this results in Paul gambling on a regular basis to make money which was believed to be his luck. Paul uses the money he makes to pay the bills in the house and make his mother content. During the proceedings of the gambling he is encouraged by both his uncle Oscar and the batsman to continue. In the end Paul becomes obsessed with the rocking horse and goes into a trance which results in his death.
In The Bottle Imp the main character is Keawe, he’s a character that comes across as honest and brave and someone who lives a simple ordinary life because of the lack of money which was present. Keawe was a sailor and had a desire to travel so he sailed to San Francisco and this was when he had the first encounter with the bottle. In the story Keawe and the other characters go through a series of events which threaten to change their future, fortunately due to the surprising twists of the book the final outcome for Keawe is a happy ending, he has a beloved wife, is free from the devil and has a less stressful future ahead of him. Due to all the previous events which have taken place, in the following essay I’m going to discuss if the characters in the bottle imp and the Rocking-horse winner get what they deserve.
Kea we is the main character in the bottle imp; he has more then one encounter with the bottle not all by choice. In the end of the story Keawe is freed from the devil and bottle, he escapes the hell fire and burning in hell for eternity. Looking at the previous events I believe he deserves the happiness he gets the reasons are:
At the beginning of the story Keawe was tricked in to buying the bottle he doesn’t intend to buy the bottle so therefore he didn’t intentionally get involved with the devil and have the greed for wealth he specifically states he wants no relation with the bottle. “I don’t want any more of this fun here take your bottle back”. As Keawe is stuck with the bottle he attempts to destroy or loose the bottle all attempts fail so he decides to confine in his friend Lopaka who advises him to test the bottle by making a wish to see if it comes true, if it did Lopaka would personally buy the bottle off him.
To Kiwi’s surprise the wish is fulfilled but at a cost, although Keawe has his dream house it has cost him the lives of his uncle and cousin. The death of these relatives to have a greater impact then the house makes. This shows the character of Keawe does not become overcome by greed and he is genuine person. After the death of his relatives Keawe falls in love with a women called Kokua, she is unaware at this time of the possessions he owns and he is eager for her to be oblivious to that fact until they are married. As the story went on Keawe sold the bottle to his friend Lopaka this shows he was caring as he didn’t keep the bottle to himself and wanted all the wealth or fortune. When Keawe had sold the bottle and fell in love with Kokua he discovered he had leprosy, once this was discovered Keawe decided to track down the bottle and wish for it to disappear but there was a complication the price of the bottle decreased to only two cents so Keawe was the one who would die with the bottle and suffer the consequences as there was no money in Hawaii which had less value then one cent. Knowing this Keawe brought the bottle for the love of Kokua this showed how much he valued her as he was willing to sacrifice his soul for her. This action however caused great distress to him later in the marriage as he was having images of himself burning in the hell fire and was oblivious to the world around him including the love of his life Kokua.
Near the end when Keawe decided to confine in his wife and she revealed the currency in France had money which was lower then the cent so they went the sell the bottle, they had no luck until kokua tricked Keawe in to selling her the bottle. When Keawe discovers this he is furious and instead of being relieved that he will not suffer in hell he attempts to sacrifice his soul for her.
Kokua is the wife of Keawe she exudes the impression of being intellectual, considerate and helpful. In the story Kokua sticks by her husband when she finds out about the bottle, instead of walking out on him she finds a solution to the problem and is optimistic for the sake of Keawe. Also when there are no sales for the bottle she is prepared to sacrifice her soul for her husband’s happiness as she can’t stand his depression. This shows she contains the characteristics I stated before.
Lopaka is the friend of Keawe who first advises Keawe to test the bottle promising to buy the bottle if it works. During the story the role of lopaka is minor but yet essential as he is the first person who buys the bottle off Keawe. The character of Lopaka is honest and brave because when he first sees the imp he pales and turns to stone and is speechless but still buys the bottle due to the fact he promised. In the end Lopaka receives a cruiser as he wished for it from the imp before he passed the bottle on.
The boatswain is a drunken man who Keawe asks to buy the bottle of kokua so he can save her soul but instead of selling the bottle to Keawe like planned the boatswain decides to keep the bottle despite protests from Keawe this means if the boatswain ends up dying with the bottle he will live his afterlife in hell.
The last person I will talk about is the man who sold the bottle to Keawe in the first place. This man was sly and immoral when he sold the bottle to Keawe as he tricked him he ended up as with a piece of mind.
In the Rocking-horse winner Hester was the mother of the main character is described at the start of the story as not loving her children and is unhappy with the amount of money available. She comes across as greedy at times because she was unhappy with 1000 pounds a year and insists she receives the money all at once. In the story Hester ends up with loosing her son.
Paul is the main character in the Rocking-horse winner he is a young boy who is in search of luck. The search of luck for him begins when he asks his mother about luck believing luck is money Paul stars gambling on horses. The technique he uses is riding on his rocking-horse to give him either inspiration or a thought of mind, because Paul is in a trance he becomes obsessed with gambling. The reasons he states is to stop the whispering of the phrase ‘there must be more money’ so he tries to make more and more money to stop the whispering. This along with trying to win his mothers love is why he gambles. In the end Paul dies due to his obsession with gambling he enters a trance where his only thoughts revolve around gambling even when he is unconscious.
Bassett is the gardener of the family and Paul partner in gambling. During the story Bassett puts the bets in for Paul and shares the winnings. In the story Bassett ends up with a small fortune through all the bets he has placed.
Paul was the nephew of Uncle Oscar who was a wealthier member of the family. In the story uncle Oscar encourages Paul to gamble by joining partnership with him, also by agreeing to keep his secret. In the end he receives a sum of money by the bets he placed with the help of Paul.
Overall I believe all the characters in the bottle imp didn’t get what they deserved. In the bottle imp Keawe ended up with happiness. I think he deserved this peace of mind and be freed from the devil as he didn’t buy the bottle intentionally. Keawe was an honest character who was willing to sacrifice his soul for Kokua throughout the whole book hence he deserved the happiness he received. Kokua also ended up with happiness and peace of mind she deserved the happiness she got as she had no connection with the bottle herself and was selfless throughout the whole story.
Lopaka in my opinion deserved what he gets as he was an honest man and kept to his word he still brought the bottle even when he was petrified of the imp as he promised. This showed the boat he wished for was minor compared to the fact he was willing to overcome his fear as he promised his friend. The man who sold the bottle didn’t deserve the peace of mind he got in the end as the man was deceitful when selling the bottle to Keawe he tricked him in to accepting the bottle so consequently he didn’t deserve the peace of mind. Lastly in the bottle imp the boatswain doesn’t deserve this punishment he receives as he was drunk and although he isn’t the best person in the world he was drunk and not in a clear state of mind.
In the rocking-horse winner Hester the mother of Paul ended up loosing her son and gaining money. I believe she didn’t deserve loosing her son this was because at the end of the day she tried her best with her children. Even tough there was little love she was still a good mother. Also she worked for money to help support the family and pay the fees of Eaton as well as taking care of her children. I believe no mother who deserves to loose their child. Paul was the main character and I reflect he didn’t deserve to die as he first became involved in gambling through influences of his uncle and Bassett he was first involved with gambling. Paul was young, vulnerable he was an adolescent he didn’t know better, and if his mother wasn’t so pessimistic about money and luck he wouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place. So therefore I think his final outcome was unnecessary and inequitable.
The batsman Bassett didn’t deserve what he got as I believe he should have suffered. The reason for why I think he should is because he encouraged and allowed a young child gamble without the consent of his parents this is both irresponsible and unjust as Bassett was selfish. Lastly Uncle Oscar didn’t get what he deserved as he was self-centred and inconsiderate to his sister Hester by allowing and encouraging Paul’s gambling. As well as being inconsiderate to Hester he was also insensitive to Paul because whilst Paul was unconscious and suffering he insists to place a bet on Paul’s word.
Analysing both poems I’ve discovered both poems reinforce the idea of money is not everything and teaches money has its consequences. The importance of family life is higher then any amount of money also the value of life. The Rocking-horse teaches that love should be un-conditional and the bottle imp reinforces the previous ideas of money. I enjoyed both stories greatly and believe the authors succeeded in their morals.
Sadia Shahzad 9134
Winners and Losers