Research Article

THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER

Volume: 9 Number: 1 March 31, 2026
TR EN

THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER

Abstract

This article examines how the maternal gaze, interpreted through Lacanian psychoanalysis, shapes ego formation and desire in D. H. Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Winner. Focusing on the child’s attempt to satisfy the desire of the Other, it argues that this pursuit produces compulsive behavior and self-destruction. Through close reading, the study analyzes the gaze embodied by Hester, whose emotional inconsistency and fixation on wealth deny symbolic affirmation. Paul becomes acutely aware of this lack and attempts to compensate through phantasy, believing that money and luck will secure maternal love. His obsessive betting functions as an effort to align his ego with the desire of the Other and to repair emotional absence through material success. The analysis shows, however, that such alignment is structurally impossible, since the desire of the Other remains unattainable within the symbolic order. Paul’s repeated efforts therefore trap him in a cycle of repetition, loss, and alienation that culminates in self-destruction. The article contributes to Lawrence scholarship by demonstrating how maternal desire, mediated through the gaze, produces a destructive psychic economy. By foregrounding the gaze as a central Lacanian mechanism, it highlights the value of psychoanalytic theory for understanding childhood subjectivity, desire, and trauma in modernist literature studies.

Keywords

References

  1. Asquith, H. (1938). Moments of memory. Charles Scribner's Sons.
  2. Ayvaz, Ö. (2016). D. H. Lawrence and patricide. COMU International Journal of Social Sciences, 1(2), 37–45. https://doi.org/10.31454/usb.378115
  3. Bailly, L. (2023). Lacan: A beginner's guide. Oneworld Publications.
  4. Banerjee, U. (2021). The voice and the gaze as "objet petit a." Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.67
  5. Ben Moussa, M. (2016). Connecting with the other: Empathy in Tom's Midnight Garden. Arab World English Journal, (4), 33–42. DOI:10.2139/ssrn.2872974
  6. Davies, R. R. (1983). Lawrence, Lady Cynthia Asquith, and the rocking-horse winner. Studies in Short Fiction, 20(2), 121–126. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3831106
  7. DeLia, D. (2016). Bridled rage: Preoedipal theory and the rocking-horse winner. The D. H. Lawrence Review, 41(2), 128–144. https://doi.org/10.2307/e26475524
  8. Fierens, C. (2025). A reading of anxiety: Lacan’s Seminar X (P. McCarthy, Trans.). Routledge.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

March 31, 2026

Submission Date

January 2, 2026

Acceptance Date

March 24, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 9 Number: 1

APA
Işık, Z. (2026). THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat Ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi, 9(1), 108-122. https://doi.org/10.37999/udekad.1855016
AMA
1.Işık Z. THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi. 2026;9(1):108-122. doi:10.37999/udekad.1855016
Chicago
Işık, Zeliha. 2026. “THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER”. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat Ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi 9 (1): 108-22. https://doi.org/10.37999/udekad.1855016.
EndNote
Işık Z (March 1, 2026) THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi 9 1 108–122.
IEEE
[1]Z. Işık, “THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER”, Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 108–122, Mar. 2026, doi: 10.37999/udekad.1855016.
ISNAD
Işık, Zeliha. “THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER”. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi 9/1 (March 1, 2026): 108-122. https://doi.org/10.37999/udekad.1855016.
JAMA
1.Işık Z. THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi. 2026;9:108–122.
MLA
Işık, Zeliha. “THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER”. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat Ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi, vol. 9, no. 1, Mar. 2026, pp. 108-22, doi:10.37999/udekad.1855016.
Vancouver
1.Zeliha Işık. THE GAZE AND EGO: A LACANIAN ANALYSIS OF D.H. LAWRENCE’S THE ROCKING-HORSE WINNER. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi. 2026 Mar. 1;9(1):108-22. doi:10.37999/udekad.1855016

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