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Children are greatly affected by the unresolved issues of their parents.

The story puts forth the idea that parents who are plagued with unresolved issues are destined to pass those issues down to their children. Paul’s mother has three healthy children and a fine house, but the shame of not being wealthy prevents her from enjoying the relative comfort of her life. Her worries over money and social class fill the house and every moment of the children’s lives with the refrain “There must be more money!” The children may have first overheard their parents speaking this sentiment aloud, but over time the voice metaphorically interrupts any opportunity the children have for joy. When the house fills up with gifts, the children hear the voice louder than ever, signaling that even though the gifts are the parents’ way of covering up their money problems, they make these problems worse.  

Paul internalizes this need for wealth, which is why he turns to gambling on horses as a way to procure money for the family. Despite the boy’s many successes picking winning horses, his desire for more money is never satiated, mirroring his mother’s own pathological relationship to wealth. His mother’s brother Oscar is also a gambler, which signifies how this pathology has been passed down to young Paul. Whatever the mystery of Paul’s rocking-horse, it’s clear that the boy is doomed to suffer the way his mother has suffered. In the end, Paul dies for the sake of accumulating wealth, the very goal that eluded his mother and made her heart “into a stone.”

Greed makes people unhappy and inhumane.

Through the examples of Paul, Paul’s mother, and Uncle Oscar, the story illustrates the idea that greed for money makes people unhappy and ultimately inhumane. Every time Paul’s mother reaches one financial goal, more distant, unattainable goals appear. Even when she earns money at a job, she can’t be happy, comparing herself to the boss who earns more. Instead of being happy for what she has, Paul’s mother is unhappy about what she doesn't have, blaming her unhappiness on luck and God, thereby deflecting blame from herself. As a result, she is totally distracted from the needs of her family, and especially Paul’s worsening mental and physical health. Hence, greed has drained the love from Paul’s mother’s familial relationships and made her not only unhappy, but also inhumane. Uncle Oscar is warmer and kinder to Paul, enthusiastically helping young Paul place bets, but this only encourages Paul’s destructive and inappropriate behavior. Blinded by greed, Uncle Oscar uses Paul to make more money for himself, rather than noticing and putting a stop to Paul’s decline. Bringing the inhumanity of the adult characters to a horrifying climax, Oscar even seems to rationalize Paul’s death as necessary for the family’s financial success.  

Luck is a matter of perspective.

At first glance, Paul’s mother’s lamentations over her bad luck ring true, and Paul’s uncanny ability to pick winners seems like an incredible stroke of luck. However, on closer examination, luck in the story is a matter of perspective. Paul’s mother identifies “luck” as the thing that dooms her to a life of want, but from an outside perspective, she appears to want for nothing. She has a handsome husband whom she married for love, a nice home, and beautiful children. She even began life with beauty and privilege, which an outside observer might call exceptionally lucky. The problem isn’t that Paul’s mother has bad luck but rather that she has good luck and refuses to see it.  

Paul appears to possess a tremendous gift: an ability to predict the result of horse-races, a sport that typifies the notion of luck. Uncle Oscar reinforces the assumption that Paul is lucky by encouraging his horse-race betting and by financially profiting from Paul’s winning picks. But as the story progresses, and Paul’s obsession worsens and his health declines, it becomes clear that Paul is not such a lucky boy after all. Paul thinks he has found luck, and Uncle Oscar thinks Paul is lucky, but in the end, Paul is still a boy with an absent father and a mother who does not love him, and he is surrounded by adults who encourage his unhealthy behavior. The absurdity of the characters’ skewed perspective of luck is on ghastly display in the final scene when Paul feverishly and excitedly tells his mother with his dying breath that he is lucky after all. Paul perceives his winning as luck, even in the face of his fatal illness, because the adults in his life have taught him that good luck is equal to wealth. His mother’s emotional detachment during Paul’s death, when she learns that his efforts have brought her a large sum of money, suggests that her perspective on luck remains intact despite the tragic loss of her child.

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