Rocking Horse Winner

The rocking horse winner is a story about a boy who is born to "unlucky" parents, and determined to be "lucky", is able to determine the winner of a future horse race if he rides his rocking horse to the finish.

1) What does the boy ride?
2) Why does the boy finally die? Is he lucky or unlucky?
3) What does it mean to be lucky? Why is it important that "luck" extends beyond wealth?


The Rocking Horse Winner has a theme of luck and one's drive for wealth. The boy, who claims to be lucky, comes from a family of people that claim to be unlucky. The theme of the story is essentially the drive to be wealthy. The boy confuses luck with wealth... and the mom's description of the fact that "luck" is what brings you wealth is to blame. The boy was brought up in a family without love- his mother didn't love him, and he knew this. The family was also brought up without money, so the boy felt that if he were lucky enough to bring in wealth, the family would be saved. However his drive for luck got mixed up with his drive for wealth- one can't make himself lucky, but one can make himself wealthy. He essentially drove away his entire family when he was on his rocking horse trying to see the finish- but he totally neglected that there is a lot more that his family needed then just money. Therefore in the end he was not lucky, but unlucky, for he was only looking for the finish.