What a mess

I did not like the story “Odour of Chrysanthemums” at all. It was too dark and sad for me. However I did like the story “The rocking horse winner”, even though it was a bit sad too. Why did I like it? because I found a lot of interesting topic to discuss about. The most interesting topic for me is the relation between love and luck. Paul love his mother, so he wanted to make her happy. He realized that they were having money problems because they did not have any luck. He manages to win some money, but neither the house nor his mom was happy, they wanted more. Paul get sick, the gardener bet for him and he won again. He gave the money to his mother. At the end of the story, before he dies, Paul says "I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure – oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!"
I think that Paul was trying to win his mother’s love. His mother was worried about materialistic things rather than her children. For Paul’s mother, luck meant money, and her husband was able to earn enough money for her. Paul feels that is his responsibility to help his mother to be happy, but all that pressure killed him at the end. I think it is not fair that children have those responsibilities. When they are young they are suppose to enjoy their childhood as much as they can. The main issue here was that Paul’s mother was absolutely out of focus. She loved money more than her own children.