Story Analysis of DH Lawrences The Horse Dealers Daughter

The Horse Dealers Daughter In D.H. Lawrences short story The Horse Dealers Daughter, the author tells the tale of a young womans desperation to find some role in life when the world as she knew it was taken away from her. Her entire life has been spent as a well-to-do young lady on her fathers land, helping him rear and trade in horses but mostly focusing on taking care of the house and serving as hostess following the death of her mother. After the fathers unfortunate death, the strongest part of the young womans identity is taken away from her. She has defined herself as the hostess of the home and as caretaker but she must now discover a new identity. This is a psychological issue which is compounded by the grief she feels for the loss of the familys home and business. By the time the action of the story begins, the female at the heart of the story has lost all the markers by which she has created her individual identity and thus she sees no point in furthering her existence on the planet and decides to die . The main female character, Mabel Pervin, loses her family home as well as the family business because of a lack of financial success following the death of the family patriarch. Without him, the family falls apart completely. Mabel personifies women in England, particularly in low or medium income areas such as Nottinghamshire whose options in life were limited both by their gender and by the social classes into which they were born as well as the identity