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Vintage pencil illustration of a young boy riding a wooden rocking horse, illustrating D. H. Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Win

The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence | Fantasy & the Supernatural

$11.99Price

D. H. Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Winner

A complete literature teaching package for Grades 10–11

D. H. Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Winner (1926) offers students an engaging opportunity to explore how fantasy, supernatural elements, and psychological uncertainty can reveal the destructive effects of materialism, emotional insecurity, and the desire for wealth.

This ready-to-use teaching package focuses on three interconnected literary concepts: fantasy, the supernatural, and the uncanny. Through clear explanations, examples from well-known literary works, guided activities, and close-reading questions, students learn to recognize extraordinary events in fiction, distinguish supernatural occurrences from psychological experiences, and examine how writers transform familiar objects and settings into sources of mystery and unease.

Set in early twentieth-century England, Lawrence’s story follows Paul, a young boy who becomes convinced that he can discover winning racehorses by riding his wooden rocking horse. As his extraordinary ability appears to bring financial rewards, his determination to satisfy his mother’s desire for money becomes increasingly obsessive. Students examine how Lawrence combines a realistic domestic setting with mysterious events to explore the relationship between parental expectations, childhood innocence, materialism, and emotional neglect.

What Students Will Learn

  • Understand fantasy as a literary mode that introduces impossible or extraordinary elements into fictional worlds.

  • Recognize supernatural events, powers, and beings in literature.

  • Distinguish between fantasy, supernatural fiction, and the uncanny.

  • Examine how familiar objects, settings, and experiences can become disturbing or mysterious.

  • Analyze examples of fantasy and the supernatural in works by Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and Edgar Allan Poe.

  • Recognize how writers create uncertainty between supernatural and psychological explanations.

  • Understand the historical and social context of early twentieth-century Britain, including class expectations, materialism, and horse-racing culture.

  • Analyze the symbolic and supernatural significance of Paul’s rocking horse.

  • Examine how Lawrence uses the whispering house and Paul’s mysterious ability to explore anxiety, obsession, and the desire for money.

  • Explain how supernatural elements contribute to characterization, atmosphere, and thematic development.

  • Support literary interpretations with relevant textual evidence.

  • Develop an analytical paragraph examining the purpose and effects of fantasy and supernatural elements in the story.

What's Included

The downloadable package contains:

  • Understanding Fantasy and the Supernatural Worksheet: Clear explanations of fantasy, supernatural fiction, and the uncanny, supported by examples from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol, Hamlet, and The Tell-Tale Heart, together with guided questions and critical-thinking activities.

  • Story and Context Materials: Background information about D. H. Lawrence, early twentieth-century British society, social class, material expectations, and horse racing, together with vocabulary preparation and pre-reading discussion questions.

  • Annotated Short Story: The complete text of The Rocking-Horse Winner, with explanatory footnotes clarifying unfamiliar expressions, cultural references, and historical terminology.

  • While-Reading and After-Reading Activities: Guided reading checkpoints examining the whispering house and Paul’s mysterious ability, followed by activities exploring the relationship between fantasy and reality, supernatural power, and the destructive desire for money. Includes a 120–150-word analytical writing task.

  • Teacher’s Edition: Lesson objectives, a suggested teaching sequence, complete suggested answers, model responses, and instructional guidance for the activities.

  • Instructional Presentation: A 17-slide PowerPoint presentation in editable PPTX format introducing fantasy, the supernatural, and the uncanny through literary examples, historical context, vocabulary, reading checkpoints, and analytical discussion questions.

Designed for Classroom Use

Suitable for Grades 10–11 English Language Arts, this package combines explicit instruction in literary concepts with their application to a complete work of twentieth-century British fiction.

The activities guide students from recognizing fantasy and supernatural elements in familiar literary examples to developing more sophisticated interpretations of ambiguity, symbolism, psychological tension, and thematic meaning.

Lawrence’s story also provides opportunities to examine the relationship between wealth and happiness, the pressures placed on children by adult expectations, and the consequences of confusing financial success with emotional security.

The materials can be used for whole-class instruction, guided reading, independent practice, literary discussion, analytical writing, or homework.

Format: Digital ZIP download containing printable PDFs and an editable PowerPoint presentation.

Delivery: Instant digital download. No physical product will be shipped.

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