Mother's Affection
...t that fails. She has three wonderful children, but resents them to some extent “when her children were present, she always felt the centre of her heart go hard”(225). The mother explains to her son that the reason they have no money is because they have no luck. The story implies that no matter how much money she gets, it is not enough. As seen when she goes to ask for the whole five thousand pounds for her birthday instead of just settling for the thousand pounds she receives. Even when she receives this money she is not frugal with it. She buys new furnishings, sends the children to an upscale school and even hires a tutor. By doing this, she further stretches their living beyond the families needs and therefore requires even more money to keep this standard. Then there is Paul, the mother’s only son. Paul talks to his mom about why they have no money and how come they are unlucky. He proclaims to his mom, “I’m a lucky person”(226). Paul believes that he is lucky and wants to use his luck to fix the families lack of luck. He does this by riding his rocking horse that he received one year for a Christmas present. He rides the horse paying no mind to anyone until the horse takes him to where there is luck. On one occasion, his uncle happened into the room and saw Paul riding his rocking horse furiously. When his uncle asked Paul the name of the horse, he told him that the horse had different names. The last name of the horse happened to be the big winner of the last week’s horse race. Curious to how the boy knows about horse racing, the uncle asks Basset, the gardener, who admits telling Paul about the horse racing. The uncle asks Paul about the horse racing and Paul admits to and betting on the horses. Paul tells his uncle about the money that he has made by betting on the horses. He tells of how he hears the house whisper. Paul explains that he did it for his mother. He says, “I started it for mother. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought that if I was lucky, it might stop whispering”(230). Paul thinks that by winning all the money and giving it to his mom that the house would stop whispering and therefore gain her ...