"The Horse Dealer's Daughter"

D.H. Lawrence, in his short story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," uses the elements of character, style, description and symbolism to present the thesis that love is an irrational force which imposes itself on human beings at the most unexpected moments. The characters in the story believe that they are in control of life and life's "situations," but in fact Lawrence shows this control to be illusory. The two main characters, Mabel and Jack, have adopted different ways of trying to control themselves and their lives, but when love intrudes with its irrational power, against their will they lose all semblance of control.

It might be argued that Jack and Mabel have not truly been overwhelmed by the irrational force of love, that they have merely shifted strategies in order to feel that they are in control of the "situation." It might be argued that Lawrence---through his characters, descriptions, style and symbolism---has written a story showing how people adapt themselves and their behavior in order to avoid reality. This position would hold that Lawrence has created a world of miserable characters who either numb themselves out (as with Mabel's brothers) or choose to hide in the pretense of love in order to escape the misery of their lives.

However, as this study will argue, Lawrence was an advocate of the irrational power of love, and he has created two characters in Mabel and Jack whose lives are turned upside-down as they lose control and fall in love. We do not know how

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they all might be, they are all at the same time not in control of their situations. Lawrence writes of the "helplessness" of the family and the "stupid bearing" of one brother. Of the horses, he writes: "Every movement showed a massive, slumbrous strength, and a stupidity which held them in subjection" (373). Again, the heart of these descriptions is Mabel's hidden sexuality, which will burst forth and draw in Jack in the concluding wave of physical and emotional love. Mabel and her brothers are described by Lawrence as strong but subjected animals. The author is using such description, and a patient style which takes its time and explores the same psychological territory repeatedly, to establish a symbolic connection between the family and the animal world. Lawrence uses the symbolism of horses throughout the story to show the physicalness of Mabel and her brothers, as well as the inability of both the family and the horses to intelligently respond to situations which bewilder them and over which they have no control. Both the strengths and weaknesses of animals are used symbolically to depict the nature of the characters of Mabel and her brothers: She had suffered badly during the period of poverty. Nothing, however, could

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