Reality vs. Pretense: the Leading Binary Opposition in Lawrence’s “The Rocking Horse Winner”

You jackpot bend it and twist it you can misuse and abuse it, nevertheless even God cannot change the materiality, the illustrious Michael Levy once said. This emblematic quotation assigns the pivotal basis for homophile bes upon which all other imaginations be measured. It is the pragmatism that none pursue but all worship. Since literary works spot the light on realities that volume conceal, it is where binary oppositions are truly presented. D. H Lawrences The Rocking Horse W home(a) is no draw offion.By presenting twain main mythemes Reality/Pretend under the concept of attitudes, Lawrence shows how family members, society citizens and even dyspnoeal objects prefer inferior pretense over superior reality. To begin with, the binary opposition of Reality/Pretense is intensively elaborated on by the attitudes of Pauls family. The sustain, the uncle and Basset continue putting masks so as to obscure their real intentions towards Paul. The grammatical construction of the mother re built in bedments in her snake-changing continue which perfectly conveys contradiction between authenticity and acting as if.She continually behaves as if she loves her children sincerely while at the centre of her heart there is a hard little place that could not feel love. The unstable earn deeds allow plainly for herself and her offspring to realize her real inner feelings even though not in front of others. The lack of literal communication illustrates weakness within the family bonds substituting it with Pauls disapproving glares. By preferring secrecy over speaking, Paul himself portrays the unprivileged part of another binary presence/absence. The vend blue color of his eyes foreshadows his final end in which he leaves the earth to the skies. However, the uncles role accumulates this pretend-you-care strategy in order to achieve level best exploitation out of the child. Oscar shows care for the kid when asking Basset close to the reason for Paul being interested in derbies. But gibe deeper, one finds that its the uncle who accompanies him to the derby and offers him five dollars. Further much, Basset alleges that he sympathizes with the childs interest. However, the hidden remnant is no longer veiled its to squeeze out the little child for the sake of money.None of the family members acts in a real manner except Paul himself. What he has in pops out through his speech. Even this console reality changes at the end as the narrator says, he has a secret within a secret, something he has not divulged, even to Bassett or to his Uncle Oscar. Just like his rocking horse, none of Pauls family experiences stability but take the side of inferior part of the binary opposition as their personality determiner. Secondly, pretend a higher status in society is the focus of the mother for which she emotionally abandons her family.As evidence, the narrator declares, there is always the grinding gumption of the shortage of money, though the sty le is always kept up. Camouflaging the real authorize financial status that the family maintains is what the mother approaches because such a reality would place her on the margins of society. The social networks are obviously built up harmonize to pretended realities. This oxymoron is highly inflected in the way she and her husband expensively dress though the former only obtains several hundred as a salary.The mothers obsession with materialistic possessions forbids her from declaring the reality that they are poor members of the family. Instead, she always pretends to have a prestige she doesnt really afford. The mothers egocentricity structure disintegrates the family and drives Paul to profit his life for her sake. Nevertheless, she quests a luxurious support to secrete their real fiscal capabilities from society. For instance, the narrator asserts, they livesin a pleasant house, with a garden, and they have discreet servants, and feel themselves superior to anyone in the neighborhood. The inferior part of the binary opposition Reality/Pretend is what being avoided to speak about in public confirming the fact that unprivileged mythemes are not praised by society. This life-leading binary opposition is a core regulation upon which all other binaries are measured including satisfaction/ dis-satisfaction. This is how readers are introduced to two complex binaries when the mother pretends satisfaction and hides the bona fide discontent. Structuralist Barthes emphasizes that binary oppositions are so sculptured in humanitys mind to the extent that one cannot conquer.Whether its the plot structure or the characters, they all confirm one fact the quest for money to result society ends up in a mothers guilt and a childs death. perish but not least, the spine-chilling means, by which inanimate objects in the house act, alike contribute to the overall binary opposition that collapses the family. The house and toys pretend a realm of characteristics whic h are not taken for granted as real ones. The objective reality of the corruption of Pauls environment is based on the personified structures of those inanimate tems. The deluxe-looking house repeats there must be more money xii times throughout the story leading Paul to a traumatic fall-down. A more convincing clue is illustrated by the fact that only at Christmas parties and birthdays, the house goes crazy and becomes haunted by the phrase. D. H Lawrence is actually intensifying the extreme contradiction between what characters are and what they do by delivering the binary opposition under the concept of attitudes. It sounds as a afflict moving from animate to inanimate ones.To add, the big doll sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram plays an important role in explaining the binary. Smirking is a sign in which the signified is smiling, and it also contrast reality with pretense. The denotation is to smile offensively with self-satisfied manner, and the connotation is abou t lettered the eerie truth of the house but not sharing it. It is the structure of the word that exposes unknown truths. Moreover, the puppy look s so extraordinarily ill-advised although it knows what the house breathes.That is related to another second-rate element in reinvigorated/foolish binary opposition. The idiotic acts of all residents of the house help them to exact pretense. Briefly, the binary isnt only engraved in humans, but also inanimate objects are affected by the ruined deception demonstrated by the house inhabitants. To conclude, the clashing attitudes which govern the relationship between family members, society citizens and non-living residents of the house add an emphasis to the inferior part of all binary oppositions accordingly they experience a deplorable end as a corollary for their un-approved choice. structural linguistics doesnt allow for a truth on boundaries but for a credible objective accuracy. What manipulates humanity is made by humans themsel ves. We create and dramatise it regardless of our understanding or ignorance, thus preventing ourselves from finding a more productive reality. Its Reality which is the privileged in Barthess methodology, but Pauls surroundings dont follow the center affecting him devastatingly. Back to Levys first-year quotation, Lawrences characters tries to misuse and abuse reality, but they cannot change it. Instead, they bury it and become ill-fated.