I think that Keawe deserved to live at the end and he was cured of leprosy but he deserved to live with Kokua because he was in love with her.
Kokua:
Kokua first came across in the story when Keawe noticed her when walking along the beach one day. He did not tell Kokua straight away who he was because he thought that if he told her who he really was then she may have heard of him and not have given him a true answer to a question he had asked her. She came across to Keawe as a sweet, soft caring individual who Keawe now saw as more than a friend but became slightly jealous asking for things when she discovered about the bottle and the powers it held within it.
After Keawe sold the bottle to Lapaka who then sold it to a lawyer, Kokua set out to find the bottle so she could cure Keawe’s illness of leprosy. Eventually Kokua found the bottle and bought it from the old man who first sold the bottle to Keawe so she could cure him of his illness and risk her own soul in the process. Kokua did not tell or mention to Keawe that she had bought the bottle otherwise he would have told her not to.
At the end of the story, Kokua sells her soul to the devil in sacrifice for Keawe’s soul not to be taken. She dies but Keawe lives.
In the story, I think that Kokua is a good, moral character although she came across earlier in the story as a selfish person when first in possession of the bottle. She sacrificed her own life for Keawe and I thought that was very sweet and emotional when you hear about something like that.
Paul:
Paul was a simple boy but he and his mother were very poor. His father was very unlucky and his mother was very unhappy. Paul’s family’s lifestyle was that they lived in a nice, pleasant house with a garden and had very discreet servants. Paul wanted to win some money and he knew Bassett quite frequently was betting. Paul gave a tip to his uncle for the Lincoln race to bet on daffodil. They both came to an agreement that their relationship is to be partners and not tell anyone about the tips. Paul bets three hundred pounds on daffodil and wins fifteen hundred pounds in return (including the three hundred he betted with to start off with). He starts betting more often and sometimes doesn’t win because he gets confused about who’s going to win. Paul did not tell his mother about the betting so she would not get worried or be angry. A big Derby race was coming up and Paul’s behaviour was changing as it was coming nearer and nearer because he had bet a lot of money on that one particular race. He was becoming very tense. There was a point in the story where Paul became unconscious and he kept on repeating the word Malabar’ as that was the horse he betted so much money on in the Derby. At the end of the story his mother finds out what has been going on and he made £80,000 which went to his mum although she didn’t deserve it because she didn’t love him that much and Paul died.
I think that Paul is a good moral character because he wanted to do something for the family not to be poor anymore and was in search of luck to help the family and not him.
Hester (Paul’s Mother)
At the beginning of the story, Paul’s mum was very quiet and kept on wondering why Paul kept on asking questions such as “Why are we poor?” Hester was concerned about her son but didn’t pay much attention to him. She found out that Paul had a “secret within a secret” and found out later on that it was his old wooden horse, which had no name. She started to become concerned because Paul’s behaviour was changing close to the end of the story before the Derby.
At the end of the story, Hester finds out that Paul has been betting to help her and the family and that he has won eighty thousand because of the Derby. That’s why he was so stressed because he had bet so much on it. Paul dies and his mother takes the money.
In my opinion, I think that Paul’s mother, Hester was a bad and immoral character in the story because she didn’t love her son or pay much attention to him and got the money in the end, which she didn’t deserve.
Uncle Oscar:
At the start uncle Oscar is a normal character and is not mentioned very much. A little over a year ago he noticed that his nephew Paul had the ability to spot winners as he was becoming to be very interested in horse racing. When uncle Oscar begins to take an interest about Paul’s ability, he tells him to go and see Bassett who knows more about these sorts of things and has greater knowledge.
A little later, uncle Oscar begins to realise that Paul and Bassett are serious about Paul’s ability to spot winners a year ago when his luck turned. The thing that convinces him is that Bassett came round to the house with fifteen hundred pounds in notes.
At the end of the story he is very sad to see Paul die because he had such a gift.
I think that uncle Oscar is a good, moral character because instead of letting money get to his head. He also left the fact that Paul had this ability for a year until he noticed it again.
Bassett:
At the beginning of the story Bassett is not mentioned until uncle Oscar tells Paul to go and see him about the gift he had come across. He kept the relationship between him and Paul as partners so no one else would know about the tips. To prove to uncle Oscar that Paul really had a gift and was able to predict winners, he came round to the house with fifteen hundred pounds in notes. That amount of money was the winnings from the Lincoln Race. Then a race called The Derby was coming up and Paul told Bassett to bet a lot of money on “Malabar”.
At the end of the story, Paul wins eighty thousand pounds on the Derby race and Bassett is sad when Paul dies because he hasn’t just lost a partner with a gift, he’s lost a good friend.
I think that Bassett is both a good and bad character because if he didn’t take advantage of Paul’s gift then it would’ve gone to waste and if he abused the gift and got money for himself then that would make him an immoral and bad character so I think that Bassett played quite an important role in the story.
Similarities and Difference’s between
‘The Bottle Imp’ and
‘The Rocking Horse Winner’
Differences:
- Keawe was tricked into buying the bottle in the first place and did not know about the consequences until much later on in the story whereas Paul actually went out looking for luck.
- Keawe was not looking for luck or riches but Paul was because his family were unlucky.
- At the end of ‘The Rocking Horse Winner’, Paul died where in ‘The Bottle Imp’ Keawe didn’t die although Kokua did.
Similarities:
- Both Paul and Keawe didn’t have much at the beginning of either story.
- At some point in both of the stories, Keawe and Paul became rich and had a lot more than what they first started off with.
- Keawe and Paul both got rich somewhere around the middle of the stories.
- Someone was always worrying about Keawe and Paul in each of the stories. For example, in ‘the Bottle Imp’ Kokua kept on worrying about Keawe and in ‘The Rocking Horse Winner’ Paul’s mother Hester was worrying about him although she didn’t show it much.
- They both knew it was wrong what they were doing.