Topic > Analysis of The Horse Dealer's Daughter

The Horse Dealer's Daughter is a short story written by DH Lawrence. In this story it presents the situation of a girl who is struggling with her inner self. Mabel Pervin, the protagonist of this story, lives with her three brothers. He lost his mother at the age of fourteen. Subsequently his family was in debt after his father's death. She seems to be in depression after the death of her parents and this leads to her relationship with his brothers fading away. They treated her without respect. To escape from all the suffering in her life and feel closer to her mother, she attempted suicide by drowning herself in the pond. But the situation of her inner world changes when she meets Dr. Jack Fergusson who saves her from drowning in the pond. She developed a feeling of being loved by someone. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay This story “The Horse Dealer's Daughter” uses interesting techniques such as symbolism and depicts themes such as love, family, death, and suicide. From the beginning, the author described that the condition of the protagonist of this story is due to her family. This family goes through a breakdown due to the death of the mother at an early age. The way three brothers look at their latest horses represents an emotional feeling for their family business. Mabel, the protagonist of the story, loves her father very much, as described in the story “He went to church regularly, took care of his father” (Lawrence 458). After the death of the parents, the children were supposed to become each other's strength but nothing of the sort happens and, in this story, this is considered a factor that promotes a feeling of loneliness and depression in the main character Mable. It is easy to see how the death of parents can destroy a family. Death is an important factor in this story because a happy and wealthy family was destroyed because of it. Children have lost their parents. At first Mabel thought that death was an evil thing because it takes away her mother and her happiness, but after some time, when she felt alone, she realized that it is a method to meet the people she loves more more and that's why she decides to escape from all the suffering of life and develops this idea of ​​suicide, in order to meet her parents. As it is mentioned that “For the life he followed here in the world was far less real than the world of death he inherited from his mother” (Lawrence 459). So, death and suicide are closely linked to each other in this story. Mable developed a feeling that she could only meet her mother after death. She went to a pond after cleaning her mother's grave. Here the pond is an interesting symbol used by the author. It makes it understandable to us that he wants to commit suicide by drowning in the pond. “Then he slowly entered the water” can be considered evidence that his goal was suicide. Dr. Ferguson followed her and thus the pond is also considered a life-changing symbol of two people in this story. The two actually met there and Mabel's life changed completely after that incident. Words such as “dead pond, cold, dark, clay” are used by the author as a symbol to describe death (qtd. in Lawrence 460). The love between the two main characters in this story is fully understandable. Dr. Ferguson feels attracted to Mabel when he sees her at her mother's grave. Sometimes love happens unexpectedly between two people depicted in this story. At first Mabel was an unromantic person, but we can easily observe the transformation of her feelings when she was naked in front of Doctor Ferguson. Here