It is clear from the story that what drives Paul to making
himself ill is his repeated riding sessions on his rocking-horse. Paul is driven to
finding out the results of the horse racing by his mother's greed for money, echoed in
the whispers in the house, "There must be more money!" One could argue that Paul does
this in an attempt to gain the affection of his mother as she is presented as distant,
aloof and someone who finds it impossible to love her
children.
When the chance comes to gain some serious money
because of the Derby, a very big horse race in England, Paul is determined to find out
the winner, even though he is obviously getting weaker. Note how he is
described:
The
Derby was drawing near, and the boy grew more and more tense. He hardly heard what was
spoken to him, he was very frail, and his eyes were really
uncanny.
You might also want
to trace the way that Paul's eyes are described through the story, and how the more he
uses the rocking horse to predict the winner, the brighter they blaze. Note the last
time he uses it, his eyes "blazed", before he crashes to the
ground.
Paul then dies because he gives himself over more
and more to the rocking horse and finding out the winners of races so that he can gain
money for his mother.
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