The Whispering of the House (Symbol)
The house in which Paul's family lives, or more specifically, the "voice" of the house, actually presents itself as a symbol. That is to say, it is not only something more than just a house, but also speaking for itself, as though it has some sort of spirit. "There must be more money!" whispers the house to at least Paul and his sisters, tormenting them with the greed of their mother and the obsessive materialism of the society in which they live. It is not just vaguely threatening, for it presents the anxiety in very specific terms.
Paul's Rocking-Horse (Symbol)
The rocking-horse which Paul rides in order to ascertain the winners of horse races is a mysterious object embodying many inversions of reality. The wooden rocking-horse is not an actual horse, and yet it represents a horse. Also, rather than racing forwards like a real horse, the rocking-horse can only rock back and forth in place. In that sense, it is perhaps more a symbol for race gambling rather than horse-riding itself. As such, Paul is not a jockey when he rides the horse. The horse does not take him around the racetrack to a successful finish line but rather further and further towards the gambler's self-destructive goal.
Paul's Mother's Bitter Remarks (Motif)
Paul's mother is characterized throughout the story by the acerbic sarcasm with which she views her own life and treats her children. We could even say that the tone of the story's first paragraph, in which she is introduced by showing that there is always something bad for everything which may seem good in her life, is written with her tone of voice. When Paul asks her about luck and their family's financial situation, she gives him no comforting answers, and instead presents everything in a starkly negative light.
Gambling (Allegory)
Paul's mother tells Paul that gambling has caused trouble in her family in the past, but we the readers know that her implication - that she herself is free from this problem - is wrong. Gambling represents the whole problematic life principles of the society in which Paul's family lives, which values wealth over all else and therefore allows for the pursuit of wealth, whether as a suppressed desire (Paul's mother) or blatant risk (Paul), to wreck families.
Stone (Motif)
Paul's mother is introduced as feeling "that at the centre of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love" due to her dissatisfaction with her life. And at the end of the story, after Paul has fallen sick, she feels as though she has turned to stone. Though they both refer to stone qua jadedness, these two situations are completely different; the former is due to self-centeredness, whereas the latter is due to care for another.
