Quote:
Originally Posted by davew
this was a 'compulsive gambler' movie. A couple others with the same theme were Bad Lieutenant with Harvey Keitel and the 1999 movie The Runner with John Goodman. The main character was driven by their compulsion.
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i'm making a bit of a stretch in genres here depending on your mindstate and perspective
"they don't know
(and now this is the disturbing point)
It's too late!
Paul is ruined. He dies at the end of the story. He's got no no idea.
Of course he's a very young boy. Adult readers (as you are) of this story, will see through the fact that Paul doesn't know that he's killing himself to try to appropriate some money for his mother so she will be happy.
He doesn't know that. He can't verbalize that. He just recognizes she's unhappy. She wants money. He discovers that when he rides his rocking horse, the names of horses come to mind who are the next winners, and he can bet on those winners, and he can make money. Malabar is the last one. The biggest race of them all. He will come to the name Malabar, but in the process of doing that, he's destroyed. His health is ruined, and he dies."
somewhat interesting take from Dr McGee lecture
