Paul is a remarkably sensitive and almost supernaturally perceptive child, but his personal development is derailed by a fierce desire to assuage his mother’s insecurities. Paul’s mother’s inability to love her children is her deepest, darkest secret, but Paul perceives this at an early age and seeks to earn his mother’s love by making her happy. As a result, Paul internalizes his mother’s anxieties over money and becomes obsessed with finding “luck.” Paul begins to act strangely, frantically riding his rocking-horse until he enters a trance, but none of the adults intervene, underscoring the extent to which Paul’s psyche has been damaged by absent parenting and neglect. 

Paul’s mother’s inability to love him and his father’s absence motivate Paul to develop a maturity and self-reliance well beyond his years. But his obsession with money and horse-racing goes beyond precociousness and is noticeably inappropriate for his age. His negotiations with Uncle Oscar and Bassett reveal these concerning developments in Paul, and these traits soon become damaging and even life-threatening. The intensity with which Paul pursues gambling is too much for any adult, let alone a child such as Paul, and the result is physical exhaustion. Paul’s exhaustion does not stop his obsession, however, and with no one to intervene, Paul succumbs to a death that is reminiscent of an adult who works himself to the grave.