D. H. Lawrence

The Rocking Horse Winner   與張愛玲「花凋」相像

※“There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck.”  (覺得自己沒有幸運)

※“Although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money. ”→ major conference”

Piano by D.H. Lawrence  (無法斬斷對母親的關連、困惑)

Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;

Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see

A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings

And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.

In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song

Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong

To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside

And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.

So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour

With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour

Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast

Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.

許多現代主義的作家透過寫作來療癒，整理自己的思緒

※“The failure made deep lines come into her face. Her children were growing up, they would have to go to school. There must be more money, there must be more money. ”(其實家裡滿有錢只是因為老了。文中一直重複此句話)

※“It came whispering from the springs of the still-swaying rocking-horse, and even the horse, bending his wooden, champing head, heard it. The big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly, and seemed to be smirking all the more self-consciously because of it. The foolish puppy, too, that took the place of the teddy-bear, he was looking so extraordinarily foolish for no other reason but that he heard the secret whisper all over the house: "There must be more money!”

木馬自動前後搖擺的聲音像是在說There must be more money.

※"Mother," said the boy Paul one day, "why don't we keep a car of our own? Why do we always use uncle's, or else a taxi?"   (keep a promise, keep a diary)

※ "Filthy lucre does mean money," said the mother. "But it's lucre, not luck."

lucre為雙關語，可當一片土地計量單位

※ "Now take me to where there is luck! Now take me!"(類似北歐神話中的青鳥)

※ But Paul only gave a blue glare from his big, rather close-set eyes. He would speak to nobody when he was in full tilt. His mother watched him with an anxious expression on her face. (藍眼睛→代表純真，甚至有點愚蠢)

Hester: Paul’s mom. 女人名，通常不好 The Scarlet Letter 裡的女人也叫Hester

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over forty novels, as well as a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. 典型美國夢的縮影─成長於紐約郊區的工人階級家庭

"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"是Oates最常被選入文集的一篇短篇小說，Oates把這篇作品獻給Bob Dylan，因為他的"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"那首歌，啟發她創作這篇關於15歲女孩Connie的故事。