In the short story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" by D. H. Lawrence, Mabel Pervin feels as though she lives in two opposite worlds. The fantasies and thoughts of her long time dead mother seem to her more real than her home life and brothers. Before Mabel fell in love with Jack Fergusson, she believed that taking her life would be more beneficial than continuing to live her routine life. To die, she was convinced, would reunite her with her dear mother, the only person Mabel ever truly loved. This paradox inspired Mabel to try taking her own life.

As defined in some poetry books, a paradox is "an apparent contradiction that, upon deeper analysis, contains a degree of truth." ( Stott et al. 1236). In the short story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter", Mabel was convinced that she would rather die than live unhappily in a world which seemed unreal and dismal to her. This is a contradiction due to the fact that if Mabel took her life, one cannot conceive or believe the idea that she would enter a world more real than her current life on earth. However, there is a slight amount of truth in Mabel's belief; for the only time she is ever truly satisfied and content is w

Still in mourning thirteen years after her mother's death, the only time Mabel ever felt satisfied was when she was near her mother's grave. This is because "she felt in immediate contact with the world of her mother." (Lawrence in Cassill 535). Mabel suddenly came alive in her fantasy world with her mother. However, in her life away from the graveyard she seemed almost dead, heartless. Utterly fulfilled cleaning and tidying the grave and it's surroundings, Mable "went through the park in a state bordering on pure happiness, as if in performing the task she came into a subtle, intimate connection with her mother. For the life she followed here in the world was far less real than the world of death she inherited from her mother." (535). Mabel needed to feel loved and needed. Near her mother's grave is the only place she could experience a sense of these things.

hen she is at her mother's grave where she feels closest to her mother. Mabel's life at home is emotionless and routine. She simply goes through her every day activities as though she were a machine, showing no expression or empathy. The only place that Mabel is ever content and full of life is at the graveyard, surrounded by death. Because of this, she believes that if she dies, she will be encompassed by death all the time, therefore, she is convinced that she would be contented in this other world all the time as well. Mabel is motivated to commit suicide by her understanding that her death would unite her with a world that is fulfilling and true.

In conclusion,

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Approximate Word count = 1036
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)