OntheAlienationoftheMother

田寧

【Abstract】The Rocking-Horse Winner is one of D.H.Lawrence's greatest short stories.Taking Hester，the mother's image as an example，Lawrence described the alienated human nature in industrial civilization and expressed his discontentment and criticism.Focusing on the alienation of the mother's image from the perspective of Erich Fromm's alienation theory，this paper analyzed the manifestation of the mother's alienation and concluded it is the expanded crazy pursuit of money that destroys the beautiful，pure nature of human and finally alienates human nature.

【Key Words】The Rocking-Horse Winner； alienation

David Herbert Richards Lawrence is one of the most famous English novelists，poets，playwrights，essayists and literary critics.This paper is aiming at studying the alienation of the mother's image，namely，her work，her consumption and herself in D.H.Lawrance's The Rocking-Horse Winner with Erich Fromm's Alienation Theory as its guideline.In this way，we could explore the reasons of alienation of people under industrial civilization.

1.The Alienation of her Work

Fromm believed that work is the expression of oneself，both in the perspective of physical strength and intelligence.During the process of work，man makes himself developed and finds his value.Work is not only a means to achieve the purpose，namely to get production，but also the very purpose itself.It is a manifestation of human ability，which as a result，makes people happy.While in modern industrial society，the fact is not what Fromm expected.On the contrary，driven by money worship，human being regard work as the way of earning money，which deprives work's original meaning.What's worse，some people tend to replace work with speculation.Thus，the essence of work is alienated.Instead of being a kind of creativity from which people represents their value，work becomes the force for earning money.The meaning and function of work has been changed during the alienation of production process.And gradually human being lose their value of existence.

At the beginning of this short story，the author told us：

The mother had a small income，but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up.At last the mother said，“I will see if I can't make something”.But she did not know where to begin.She racked her brains，and tried this thing and the other，but she could not find anything successful.The failure made deep lines come into her face.（Lawrence 181）

From these descriptions，we can see that the mother regards work just as a way of earning money to keep up her social status，not a way of enjoying the happiness of work itself.Instead of bringing joy and sense of achievement，work brings her great depression.What she only wants to achieve is the material making her live in style.

What's more，the mother attached great importance to luck in her life.She contributed her unhappiness to bad luck，which actually reflects that instead of acclaiming work，she values speculation more.To her，earning money is the purpose，whether it comes from work or speculation.

Thus，we can conclude that work which should be human nature，has already been alienated on the mother's image.The essence of work has lost，thus the creative nature of human has also lost.During the alienated work，the dignity and value of human being has disappeared.

2.The Alienation of her Consumption

According to Fromm，money possesses alienation functions.People are likely to believe that money is so powerful that it can purchase everything and solve any problems.The society has polarized towards hunting money.However，as work，the process of earning money，has been alienated，consumption，the process of spending money，has also been alienated.Fromm considered that instead of being a meaningful and creative human experience，in the money worship trend，consumption has been alienated to satisfy people's delusion.To make it short，man only uses the goods he purchases to show off rather than to put it into use in reality.At first，consumption is the way to obtain happiness，while now it turns out to be the purpose of consumption itself.

In the story，the mother，Hester represented this alienation phenomenon.In the second paragraph，the author depicted：“They lived in a pleasant house，with a garden，and they had discreet servants，and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighbourhood.”（Lawrence 181） From this，we can see this family is better off.Nevertheless，“Although they lived in style，they felt an anxiety in the house.There was never enough money.”“Their income is not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up.”“The mother who had a great belief in herself，did not succeed any better，and her taste were just as expensive.”（Lawrence 181） From these details，we are clear that consumption for the mother is to keep up her social status rather than to get a pleasant creative experience as Fromm expected.The mother's taste is just as expensive，thus，there was never enough money.The more she has，the more she spends.

Another example to clarify this alienation phenomenon lies in the middle of the story when she got five thousand pounds which Paul gave her secretly as a birthday present.With so much money，some change appeared in the house.

There were certain new furnishings，and Paul had a tutor.He was really going to Eton，his father's school，in the following autumn.There were flowers in winter，and a blossoming of the luxury Paul's mother had been used to.（Lawrence 188）

We can see when the mother got money，she became extravagant with luxuries.Instead of being a meaningful and creative human experience，her consumption progress is filled with her lust of money.There is a growing distance between greed and happiness.Thus，the essence of consumption which makes people happy and fulfilled has been alienated.

3.The Alienation of Herself

As for human nature，Fromm hold the view that human nature is a kind of inborn potential.The purpose that man exist is to use the law of nature to develop his potential so as to make himself become what he can be.And human should be a personal autonomy with personality and emotion.In Fromm's alienation theory，if human is driven by money worship trend and gradually lose his own thought and dignity，he will be alienated to an object that only possesses usage in the market.In this story，it is money worship that dehumanizes the mother and makes her alienated from her original nature.

First，she lost herself as a woman with love in the heart.At the very beginning，the author described like this：“There was a woman who was beautiful，who started with all the advantages，yet she had no luck.She married for love，and the love turned to lust.” （Lawrence 181）Through this description，we got that at first，the mother Hester was a graceful lady with good-looking and favorable merits.That she married for love indicated that she loved her husband.Moreover，she had bonny children and she lived in style.However，these seemingly good condition never satisfied her.She was haunted by the anxiety of the shortage of money.Because for her，she always needs money to keep up her expensive taste and materialize her prospect to maintain her social status.Actually，she is driven by money and manipulated by vanity.Being so anxious to earn money，“She racked her brains，and tried this thing and the other，but could not find anything successful.The failure made deep lines come into her face.”（Lawrence 181） She changed from a beautiful lady with all the advantages into an unsuccessful woman with deep lines.Without love，confidence as well as the meaning of living，She lost herself in the excessive pursuit of money.

To sum up，The mother's image in The Rocking-Horse Winner was alienated from three perspectives：the alienation of her work，her consumption and herself.The mother was dehumanized into an object without emotion，value and dignity.It seems that the only reason she exists is to earn money and to spend money.Love，which Fromm considered as the way to connect people in a community，has already lost in the mother's image.Money worship deprived her of the ability of loving and being loved.In The Rocking-Horse Winner，Lawrence criticized the ruin of human nature，especially the hurt on children that industrial civilization had brought about.The increasingly expansion of material desire distorted the harmonious relationship of human.

Reference：

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