THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER

by D. H. Lawrence

FILM ADAPTATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbgsMDtSucs

Questions to consider:
What did you think of the movie version?
How does it challenge or reinforce your experience
with and interpretation of the text?
What elements of the text (theme, genre, etc.) are
more apparent in the film version?

DAVID HERBERT (D. H.) LAWRENCE

Born in 1885

Parents:
Arthur John Lawrence
Lydia Lawrence

Career:
Teacher
Writer

Died in 1930 (45 years old)

LAWRENCES WRITING

Economy/money

Social class and class differences

Sex and sexuality

Fifty Shades of Grey?

SOCIAL CONTEXT: 20TH-CENTURY ENGLAND

Political power for diverse groups

World War I

Welfare

Taxation increased

DISCUSSION TOPICS RE: FORMALISM

Genre

Christ figure

Setting

The rocking horse

Characters
Social class
Psychological criticism

GROUP DISCUSSION
Identify the overarching theme of the story, and
write it down.
Choose one of the remaining critical approaches.
Discuss the story in light of your chosen approach.

(That is, what aspects of the story are made meaningful

through this approach?)

Write a -page response:

Prompt: How does your chosen approach support or
challenge the theme of the story? How does it help us
understand the motivations of certain characters or the
relationships between characters? How does your overall
understanding of the story change when you view it
through more than one critical approach (i.e., formalism
and your chosen approach)?
Incorporate at least 3 textual examples that support
your discussion and written response.

SOURCES

D. H. Lawrence photos: rickrozoff.wordpress.com

and modernism.research.yale.edu
Lawrence biography: dh-lawrence.org.uk (written
by Professor John Worthen)
Socio-historical information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwardian_era