《木馬贏家》中的人物介紹(精品文檔)

1、1. IntroductionDavid Herbert Richards Lawre nee was one of the greatest no velists of the 20th century.In his short life, he wrote many novels which enjoyed great popularity. TheRock in g-Horse Winner is one of the most famous short stories writte n by DHLawre nee.In The Rock in g-Horse Winner, a yo

2、ung boy, P aul, p erceives that there is n ever eno ugh money in his family, he sets out to find a way to get money through luck. He discovers that if he rides his rock in g-horse fast eno ugh, he will somehow "know" the n ame of the winning horse in the n ext race. He begi ns to make mone

3、y and secretly funnel this money to his mother, but the desire for more money only grows more intense in stead of going away. He fin ally rides his rock in g-horse so furiously in order to discover the winner of the Derby that he falls into ill ness and dies.This story shows the materialized relatio

4、 nship betwee n people and the distorted character in cap italism society followi ng the En glish in dustrial revoluti on which destroyed and distorted huma ni ty. This article aims at an alyz ing the characters of this work.2. The characters2.1 PaulPaul is the young boy in the story who tries despe

5、rately to find a way to have luck ” mea ning mon ey, for his mother. He beg ins to ride his rock ing horse furiously,eve n though he has outgrow n it, because whe n he does so, he somehow is give n the name of the horse that will win the next race. He makes an astounding amount of money this way wit

6、h the hel p of the garde ner Bassett (who p laces his bets for him), and later with the help also of his Uncle Oscar. For the final big race, the Derby, he rides himself into a feverish delirium, but he is sure of the winner. His un cle pl aces a large bet for him. Just as his un cle arrives to tell

7、 him of the fortune he has made, he dies from the fever. Paul dies for the sake of making money for the family, particularly his mother, even though her “ heart was a stonW.P aul seems comp letely un aware that he has overtake n res pon sibilities that are rightly his paren ts'.He seems only con

8、cerned with reliev ing the an xiety he p erceives in the house caused by a lack of money. He tries to understand why there is not eno ugh money by ask ing his mother, but she only says that his father" has no luck”He directly associates luck with mon ey, so the gambli ng seems like a n atural s

9、oluti on to the p roblem. He is so innocent in his en thusiasm for the game he begi ns p lay ing with Bassett that eve n whe n his uncle discovers that he has bee n gambli ng, he does not stop P aul from gambli ng further. Eve n though P aul is still a child, all of the adults,Bassett, Un cle Oscar,

10、 and P au' s mother, seem to treat him like an adult. No one anticipates that Paul will pay a huge price for playing this game. No one even questions Paul s ability to pick the winners of the horse races, or wonders how in the world P aul is able to pick winners so accurately.Throughout the stor

11、y P aul rema ins innocent, as well as des perate,to help his mother, who seems oblivious to P auls concerns. Although it is clear to the reader thatP aul is very in tellige nt and sen sitive, no one in the story seems to no tice or app reciateP aul'gifts un til it is too late.2.2 HesterHester is

12、 P aul's mother, who is incap able of lovi ng others. She is not only obsessed with mon ey, but she is also irres pon sible with the money she does get. Whe nP aul arra nges through his attor ney to give her a thousa nd pounds a month from his winnin gs, she immediately begs the attor ney for th

13、e en tire amount. However, i nstead of paying her debts, she spends the money on new things for the house. This results in an eve n greater n eed for more mon ey. She also does not exp ress any tha nks for this sudde n win dfall, depriving P aul of the joy of pro vid ing the much-n eeded in come for

14、 his family.Although at the end of the story Hester becomes in creas in gly concerned aboutPauls deteriorating health, she still does not love him, even when he dies. At the beg inning of the story, it is stated that “ at the cen ter of her heart was a hard little pl ace that could not feel love, no

15、, not for an ybody” This image is rep eated at the end of the story, when Hester sits by her son s bedside “feeling her heart had gone, turned actually into a stone” Before he dies Paul asks “ Mother, did I ever tell you?I f m lucky,” she responds, “No, you never did.” However, the reader remembers

16、that P aul did, in deed, tell her that he was lucky earlier in the story. Since she p ays little atte nti on to him, she does not remember this.When Hester fin ally receives the finan cial fortune she has always wan ted but loses her son in the p rocess, the reader realizes that Hester will p robabl

17、y not feel the loss of her son and will probably waste all that money in record time. All of these details show Hester to be cold, un feeli ng, wasteful, and shallow.2.3 BassettBassett is the family garde ner who helps P aul p lace bets on horses. He used to work around horses and racing and he talk

18、s about racing all the time, so it seems reas on able that P aul would seek his advice. He takes the boy seriously and follows all the boy' in structi ons in p lac ing the bets. He also kee ps P aul' money safely hidde n away, at least un til Uncle Oscar gets invo Ived. He is the on ly adult

19、 who treats P aul with a serious res pect. It is Basset' s serious nessthat convin ces Uncle Oscar thatP aul' s gift for p ick ing winners is real. He is trustworthy and kind, but he is also a serva nt, so once Uncle Oscar takes over, he res pectfully withdraws from the acti on.So he is p as

20、sive, loyal, a little bit afraid of his sup eriors, and somewhat greedy to the exte nt he p artic ip ates in Pai's wi nnings at the track.2.4 Oscar CresswellOscar Cresswell is Paul's uncle and Hester'sbrother. He is in a better financial po siti on tha n Hester, since he owns his own car

21、 and a p lace in Hamp shire. This is because he inherited the entire family fortune, leaving Hester to depend on her husba nd for supp ort. It is Un cle Oscar who stumbles upon P au's secret of earning money through gambli ng, but he does not at first believe in P aufs gift. He thinks thatP aul

22、is not serious and treats the boy as if he were merely p layi ng a game. After Oscar realizes that P au's tips are depen dable, he en courages the gambli ng. Oscar arran ges for a lawyer to funnel money to Hester. He also bets his own mon ey, using Paus tips for his own p rofit.Although Un cle Oscar seems harmless at first, the reader becomes aware that he is using P aul for his own ben efit. He makes no effort to teach P aul about being careful with money or the dan gers of gambli ng