Due: Thursday before 8:30 a.m.
Please read this story and be prepared to discuss it.
You can download the story by clicking the link below:
Short Story 2 – The Rocking Horse Winner – Story
Answer the following questions in paragraph form (350-400 words) by typing your response in the comments section below.
§ a) What is the lesson of this story?
§ b) Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
You will be marked on the quality of your 1) response and 2) reply to your classmates:
9-10: Excellent and insightful; response shows superb understanding and critical analysis; contains great details and responds to complex ideas
7-8: Good; response shows thoughtful understanding; contains good details and responds to ideas
5-6: Satisfactory; response shows a basic understanding; contains basic details and responds only to major ideas
3-4: Unsatisfactory; response shows some misunderstanding; contains insufficient details and does not fully respond to the main ideas
1-2: Poor; response shows poor understanding; contains no details and does not respond to the task
EAP 300 
A)What is the lesson of this story?
I think the lesson of this story is a warning that money and material things can not replace love. In this story, the family lives in a very nice house with a garden, hires servants, and gives their children a lot of expensive and wonderful toys. However, the parents do not give their children love which is the most necessary for children. Although Paul’s parents pretend to be good parents in order to maintain their social status, the mother can not love her children because she feels as if she is forced to take care of her children and that the children look at her coldly. They just want money. In addition, although Uncle Oscar and Bassett are cooperative with Paul, they also have no love for him as the same as his parents. Uncle Oscar seems to only want to make money by using Paul’s superpower. I don’t think there’s any friendship or love between Bassett and Paul as well. Paul made a lot of money, and eventually, he died crazy, but everything he did was for his mother. All the main characters in this story are looking for money and things, and there are no good relationships between them. If there had been even one person who loved Paul regardless of money, he would not have died.
B)Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
I think his mother is especially responsible for Paul’s death. In this story, Paul earned a lot of money because he wanted to show that he was lucky unlike his father, and he also wanted to help his mother with giving money. His mother says that she and her husband are unlucky. She also spent a lot of money, and always lamented that they had no money. The mother’s worries and expectations about money and luck may not have been for Paul, but I think he tried to respond to them. The parents’ excessive expectations for their children could sometimes cause their children to suffer. This is because children have a strong desire to be admired by their parents and try to please them, and this expectation will be a huge burden to them. In addition, even though Paul’s mother had a huge responsibility to take care of her son, she had little interest in him, and did not know that he was trying to make money for her. For these reasons, I believe that Paul’s mother is the most responsible for the son’s death.
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Hello, Daisuke! I’m Kanon. Thanks for sharing your opinion. It is true that love cannot be replaced by anything. Parents have to pay attention not to their states but to love for children. I believe that it can make children live their own lives. From your comment, I could learn the importance of love in this story! Thanks!
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a. What is the lesson of this story?
The lesson of this story has two main points such as parents’ values and a truly happy life. In this story, the family only care about how others see them. They cannot care about what the son is thinking about. This story is related to recent society. Nowadays, some parents force their children to study hard in order to enter a top-level school or to get a good job. Children sometimes try to study hard just because they make their parents happy. A truly happy life depends on an individual. Children should live their own lives without being swayed by their parents or environment. From this story, we can learn two points. First, parents should not force their values on their children. Even if they are family, parents cannot control their children. Second, a truly happy life is not related to money. It is connected to happiness from the bottom of the individuals’ heart. We have to think about what a truly happy life is for us.
b. Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
The responsibility for the son’s death is his family and the society. This family strongly wants to be regarded as rich by others, which makes the son try to get money. His uncle, Oscar values money above all else and even tries to use the son as a tool to get money because he has a special ability to be able to guess the winner of a horse race. And the son’s mother, Hester tries to keep her rich appearance and says that she has to get more money. There behavers or words of this family make the son be addicted to horse race. This family cares about how others see them too much to care about the son. He may want to get money voluntarily in order to support his family. However, this family has the unusual obsession with money that is spent only to look better for themselves, which may make the son feel that the family does not really love him. And also, the society also has a responsibility for this. Almost all people tend to worry about how they look like too much. If everyone can live their own lives, they will not care about their appearances anymore. It is difficult for most of the people to live freely in this society. Therefore, the responsibility for the son’s death is related to this family and the society.
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Hi, Kanon! Thank you for sharing your opinion.
I completely agree with you. The idea that society is also responsible for Paul’s death never came up to me! When I read your idea, I realized that there is an impact of being worried about what other people think. Recently, there are many people who criticize others, and some people are concerned about it, but I think it is important to have our own values.
Enjoy the rest of your day!:)
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a) What is the lesson of this story?
This story teaches us that “it is important to know our place in the world” and “luck is all around us. At the end of this story, Paul, the son of the beautiful woman who is the main character, is dead. The reason for his death was brain fever, which was triggered by a nervous breakdown. The reason he had such a nervous breakdown was because of his mother. He wanted to give his mother a nice gift for her birthday, but she spent the money on parties and other things that were not appropriate for her. Paul was always obsessed with the phase “There must be more money”. And even though he earned his money by winning at horse races, he died without reaping the rewards. This story is a tragedy that happened because of obsession with money. They seek luck only in money and fail to notice the happiness that exists in small, but common, ways. Essentially, money is a tool to make our lives better, and it makes no sense to seek only that. We can learn from it that money is not everything and that it is important to know your place in the world.
b) Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
I think that the mother is responsible for the death of her son, Paul. Because she knew they were poor and did not correct their behavior. The money that her son earned from winning the horse race was also scattered through parties. In my opinion, she was using the fact that she was not lucky as an excuse. But I had plenty of opportunities to improve my behavior, and she herself was aware of her poverty. Nevertheless, she did not put them into action, and eventually Paul died. Thus, she was very foolish. Paul’s death could have been avoided if she had reflected on her actions and faced her family. I am sure it was due to her lack of effort. Therefore, I would argue that the mother is responsible for her son’s death.
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Hi, Sou. thank you for sharing your opinion.
I agree with you that the story wants to tell us that luck is all around us. I also think it is difficult to notice a small of peace around us. especially, when people don’t have money. I sometimes thought where is a luck, why I don’t have. However, when I read it, I realized that I just didn’t notice and couldn’t see. This story was so meaningful for me.
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a) What is the lesson of this story?
I guess that this story wants to tell us two things. Firstly, how important parents are to children. Children who don’t be cared from parents want their parents to be attentive to them. I know money is also important to live, and sometimes less money makes people unable to afford it. However, it doesn’t matter for a kid. He could catch their feelings, even if he doesn’t know about the economy of his family. So, he thought the only thing that the mom be attention to him is to be a lucky person. He didn’t have any choice. Secondly, when people are going to go the wrong way, it is difficult to know and fix them by themselves. They need some people who tell them that it is wrong. In this story, the mother thinks that she was not lucky because of her husband, but I think she could choose the way and change her life by herself. However, I can understand that if people start thinking that, recovering their thinking is so difficult, and they can’t see other opinions. So, this story wants to say that how important parents are for children, and people who can advise them are.
b) Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
I think the person who has to be responsible for the son’s death is the mother. For children, parents are everything for them. I worked at a place that took care of disabled children after school. The kids don’t have a physical disability, child who is sometimes restless cries easily, and looks like any other child. Of course, some kids have serious problems. However, even if most of them are almost the same as other children, why they are in such a facility. There is a complicated problem. The facility is almost free to take care of children because the government can pay for them. So, some parents want to do it because of free. I met one child who was often running around, screaming, and out of control. When I met him for the first time, I thought that he just has a problem himself. However, I realized it is because of not only him but also the environment of his house. His parents didn’t have much money, and they were always busy. So why the child often plays pranks because he just wanted to be attentive from parents. I think that the environment of them makes their personality. He was always spoiling us. I hope the place was that he could rely on for him. as a conclusion, and back to the story. the mother made him do so.
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Hello,Taeko. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I totally agree with you. I have no experience to work at a place that took care of disabled children after school. You claimed your opinion based on your experience. So it is very persuasive and made me understand easily.
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a) What is the lesson of this story?
This story is about a family that substitutes love with money and things. In the first place, the wooden horse is a symbol of parental love for their child’s growth, but in this story, the wooden horse is a tool that drives Paul to his death. Paul died trying to bring luck into his mother’s hopeless life. Paul, the son, tried to fill his mother’s heart, but in the end he could not. Money is an inorganic substance, a tool to bring happiness to a family, but Paul’s mother was never satisfied because she simply wanted money. The lesson of the story is that desire for inorganic things cannot make you happy. Inorganic is something lifeless and cold as iron. To use an abstract expression, a child will not grow up healthy in a family that seeks cold things and has no dreams and hopes.
b) Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
In my opinion, all adults are responsible for Paul’s death, including his mother. Especially his mother. She wanted to satisfy her own needs, so she became obsessed with money and no longer wanted children. Naturally, Paul, her son, wanted her love, but since her heart was not satisfied, her love for Paul was depleted. I also felt uncomfortable with his mother’s selfish comments about luck. When the children asked her why there was no money in the house, the mother replied that the father had no luck, but that was not a concrete answer. I don’t think the lack of money in the house has anything to do with the father’s lack of luck. Furthermore, I am not certain that my father is unlucky. Sometimes the unsubstantiated and selfish comments of adults can ruin a child’s life. Other adults also took advantage of Paul’s purity and talent for gambling. It is not responsible for an adult to use a child of lower social standing than himself for profit. In addition, the fact that the adults around Paul took everything away from the pure Paul and eventually drove him crazy and led him to his death would never be forgiven. If Paul’s family and the adults around him had not been filled with unfulfilled desires, he would not have gone mad.
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Hi Miumi. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I read your opinion and agree with you. All adults include parents need to be role models of children and support them, but this story’s adults are not like that. I also feel like his mother just complain about her situation which is a lack of luck without her effort to be a better family relationship. I think he is just a boy who wants to be loved by his mother, so I feel tragedy about this story.
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§ a) What is the lesson of this story?
In my opinion, there are related two things to the lesson of this story. First, it always exists and shows the huge love that children have for their parents, especially for their mothers, even if the children reject their parents. Despite the fact that Paul’s mother is cold and uninterested in their children, Paul was attempting to make her happy by winning the hose race. He never forgot his mother’s criticism about his father or herself for their bad luck. He cares about his money till the very end, proving that “he is lucky.” Second, people must be concerned with what is most essential in their lives. Of course, money is an important aspect of our lives. Everyone should think about what is most essential in our lives. In this story, as I said above, Paul decided to raise more money for his mother, despite the fact that he is ill. In this case, if his mother had cared more about her children than money, she would have been able to early find his unusual situation. If it is so, I’m sure that this horrible end might not be. To sum up, the lesson of this story is that children’s love is unconditional, and pay attention what is the most important things.
§ b) Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
I believe Paul’s parents and uncle Oscar are to blame for his death. First, his parents are unconcerned about their children. Before his death, his mother suddenly cares about her son’s circumstances, but his father still doesn’t care about his son. Paul shows his luck to gain the attention of his parents. This action is complete negligence of the child, and it is not exaggerated to say that they killed their son. Then, talking about uncle Oscar, he is the only person who knows Paul’s situation that he wants to admire from his mother by getting money. And also he knows Paul’s auditory hallucination from his house “there must be more money!”. If uncle Oscar cared about this circumstance and say to someone, Paul’s mental could be not broken and be cured. So I think all of Paul’s family is responsible for this happening.
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Hello,Nami. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I totally agree with you. After reading your opinion, I realized that his uncle Oscar is the most important person to change Paul’s situation because he is the only one who knows about Paul’s need for recognition from his mother by getting money.
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a)What is the lesson of this story?
I learned two things from this story. The first is that love is an important thing that cannot be replaced by any other thing. Paul’s house has a garden and servants. To the people around him, there is no doubt that they are a rich family. However, Paul’s parents wasted their money because they were very conscious of what people thought of them. So, Paul’s parents only thought about money and did not love their children. Paul loved his mother, even though she was a bad mother. So, when he found out that his mother needed money, he became addicted to horse racing. He thought that if he gave the money to his mother, she would love him. However, Paul dies in the end. If his mother had given him the love, Paul might not have died. In fact, studies have shown that even in the real world, babies die if they don’t receive affection for a certain period of time. From this, we can understand that love is a very important thing. The second thing is that environment around you is very important. Paul’s uncle and Basset used his talent to make money, even though Paul was still a small boy. If these two men had made the right decision and told Paul to stop racing, he might not have died. We are influenced by the people around us. Therefore, it is important to be involved in a good environment and with good friends, not a bad one.
b)Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
I think everyone around Paul is responsible for his death. If one of the characters in this story had done the right thing for Paul, he might not have died. I think everyone is responsible, but if I had to pick one person, it would be Paul’s mother. If his mother hadn’t lived a life of wasting money, if his mother had loved her children from the beginning, his death might not have happened. In addition to that, in the middle of the story, Paul sends money to his mother. If his mother had changed her mind at this time, the tragedy might not have happened.
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Hi, MASATO. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I also know of experiments where babies were treated without affection. I think the fact that many of the babies who were cared for without any love as a result died has something to do with the death of Paul in this story.
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a) What is the lesson of this story?
The lesson we can learn from this story is that money cannot fulfill the relationship and love of a family. Paul grew up with a father who refused to work and a mother who was extravagant. One day, when he was at home, he began to hear the words “There must be more money! There must be more money!”. This shows that Paul’s family is obsessed with money. In a conversation with his mother, he is told that “luck will get you money” and he believes in his luck and tries to get money from horse racing. Mysteriously, he was able to hear the names of horses that would win in horse races, by riding a rocking horse, and he made money one after another. He sent the money to his mother. However, his mother just wasted the money, and his family never got out of poverty. After all, no matter how much money he made, the underlying problem was not solved. In other words, money could not improve the relationship between the family. In the end, he became so addicted to making more money that he became mentally ill and lost his life. He struggled desperately to please his mother. However, happiness could not be bought with money.
b) Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
I believe the responsibility for Paul’s death is on his family and the adults around him. His mother blamed luck for his poor home and poor relationship with her husband, and let her son Paul take the responsibility for the fact that the family was poor. In addition, his uncle and the gardener were using his magical powers to make money, even though they were aware of his family’s situation and Paul’s circumstances. Even though adults like them had to save Paul who was still a child, as a result, they let him go through a mental breakdown. He won the horse race and a lot of money, but he could never receive any real affection from anyone. If only the adults had been there for him, he would not have died. This means that the blame for his death can be held on his family and adults who were haunted by money and vanity.
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Hi, Daiki.
I completely agree with your opinion. Paul’s parents and the adults around him should have noticed something wrong with him sooner. Also, after reading your opinion, I again realized that it is important to build the relationship with family. Thank you for sharing your opinion.
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a) What is the lesson of this story?
I think the lesson of this story is that love is an essential part of people’s lives. As you can see at the beginning of the story, Paul’s mother did not have any love for him. Bassett and Paul’s uncle Oscar also seem to love for him, but they are just using him and did not love him. In addition, his mother often said “There must be more money” despite of the fact that they had money to live generally. As a result, the adults around him ruined his life. Receiving love from parents are important for child because child can turn the love into strength. However, in the case of Paul, the silent pressure from his mother was tormenting him. If he had received love not only from his parents but also from those around him, he would have contributed to his mother in a different way. Therefore, I believe that love is important for us, and it cannot be changed into money.
b) Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
I think that all adults involved with Paul are responsible for his death. The reason is that if the people close to Paul had taken care of him, he would not have died. Needless to say, his mother is the one most responsible for his death because she was not taking care of him, so her attitude eventually related to his death. It can be also said that his action is his own intention, but it is definitely due to pressure. His father also did not have interest for his son. Moreover, even though it is too early for child to start thinking about money, Bassett and his uncle Oscar did not stop the horse racing of him. I understand their feeling to help him, but their action was not for Paul. In general, it is the role of adults to support the family, not the responsibility of the children. I felt that they abandoned the responsibility to support from their attitudes. Therefore, all adults have responsible for his death.
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Hello, Mr.Kitasuga. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I can agree with your opinion. It is true that children who have not received parental love can become delinquent. On the other hand, children who grow up with enough love from their parents often grow up to be good children. I also think it is good to point out that love cannot be bought with money.
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a) What is the lesson of this story?
I think the lesson of this story is that don’t be blinded by money and the most important things
are realized after we are lost. The story is mainly about a boy named Paul who earns money from horse racing, which he has always been interested in, to cheer up his mother. The mother says that her husband and she are out of luck, and she also hears voices from somewhere in her house asking for money. This led Paul to think that since he had luck, he could make money as well. Horse racing was chosen as the means to do so. However, Paul’s passion for horse racing grew and grew, and by the second half of the story, he didn’t even listen to his mother’s worries and stillness and seemed to have nothing but horse racing on his mind. Finally, he fell ill and died. What struck me about this story was the contrast between Paul’s addiction to horse racing and his mother’s in the first and second half of the story. I thought there was a lesson there. From the son, don’t get carried away with money and gambling. From the mother, I learned that you don’t know what is important to you until you lose it, and that love is more important than money.
b) What do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
I think Paul’s death involved all the parents around him, but I think it was his mother who triggered it. The idea that Paul started racing was that he wanted his mother’s approval and that he needed to prove to her that he had luck. It was the adults around him who encouraged him to do so. Bazett, the gardener, initiated the horse races, and his uncle Oscar offered to gamble for larger amounts. Normally, adults would stop a child from gambling if he or she wished to do so. However, the two of them formed a group with Paul and started doing it together. This made Oscar more obsessed with horse racing. I also think that mothers and fathers are responsible for watching from the sidelines until their children end up like this. Based on the above reasons, I believe that the adults around Paul are responsible for his death.
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HELLO, Kento. I agree with your thought.
Paul changed motivation which is becoming lucky person into addiction to make money at horse racing. However, probably he wanted to get his mother’s love. I feel him…
Thank you for sharing your opinion!
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What is the lesson of this story?
I think this story has two meanings. Firstly, children’s life is connected with their parents greatly. In this story, apparently, Paul, who is protagonist of this story, spent nice life with his beautiful mother and handsome father. It seems like an ideal family. However, it is not true, and actually he was not loved by mother because his mother felt anxious and unpleasant for her children. Children is sensitive, so they can easily understand what they were not loved by parents. Even if some children hate their parents, actually they want their parents to love them carefully. Thus, if there is not loveless feeling into parents, children deal with that problem unconsciously. Paul also wants to show that he is the lucky person for mother. As a result, he was getting strange. Secondly, sometimes motivation change strange feeling. As you know, motivation is good effects on your achieving or materializing, however it has potential to trigger some problems. As I said before, Paul lived up to his mother expectation to become lucky person, so he tried to make a money with his uncle. At that time, it is motivation to become the person, but he came to persist in becoming lucky person. He spent large amount of money on horse race. Finally, he died. As you can see, motivation sometimes makes people crazy and strange.
§ b) Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
Of course, his mother caused his death. First of all, she didn’t love her children, including Paul. I never tried to take care of children, so I don’t understand her feeling. Although, it is difficult and exhausting, parents should not abandon their children. Even if children look at them coldly and children think fault is because of them. Moreover, I think Paul has respect for his mother because he was affected by her word “lucky”. Though he mistakes the way of becoming lucky person, he tried to materialize the person. His mother had to compliment him on his effort. If she had done that, he would not have died.
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What is the lesson of this story?
In my opinion, the lesson in this story is about abundance in life. Paul’s mother was blessed by nature, but she had never satisfied with the state. She is always obsessed with being vain. She lives in a house that she does not deserve, does things that she does not deserve like hiring servant, so she feels that no amount of money is enough. The obsession is unhealthy. Also, she had a problem that she cannot love anyone, even her children. So there is a cold relationship but only the appearance is good between her and her children. She said to her son that their family is lack of money and she and her husband is unlucky. She also said she is not unlucky before marriage. He is also obsessed with unhealthy belief that weather he is lucky or not. When people are obsessed with something, people can be blind for what people around them are advising. In the last part of story, he was dead after he proved that he was lucky one. It can be said that his motivation to live was just to show her mother that he is lucky person. Does this story’s title “The Rocking Horse Winner” means real winner? I think this “winner” has strong irony.
Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
His mother is responsible for the son’s death. This story is about child who was born from mother who does not love her child. She is always concern about her looks, status, reputation. She told her son that people can be divided to 2 types: lucky people and unlucky ones. He was always obsessed with weather he is lucky one or unlucky one. He had to prove that he is the lucky one because he wanted to be required by his mother. He suffered from the voice he can hear in his house, that comes from his unconscious feeling. When he won at horse racing, he felt serene rather than exciting.
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Hi, Kohei. Thank you for sharing your opinion.
I also agree with your opinion that his mother is responsible for his death. I think that the obsession from our own mother is stronger than one from the others. I wonder if Paul was also in this situation in the story.
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a) What is the lesson of this story?
In my opinion, the lesson of this story is that ignorance of yourself causes bad influences on the environment or people around you. In this story, some adults such as Paul’s parent, his uncle, nephew did not think about what kind of impacts they have on him before contacting with him. The normal interaction does not matter, but especially in gambling, they have should think of the way of teaching him about that. Perhaps, they should not have taught about them more. In regards to his mother, she never noticed that her way of communicating with him is bad for him and actually it has been influencing badly for a long time. If she noticed her own problem and try to change it, he could get family love and would not do such a strange behavior. Though there was the serious environment which the family always worried about the lack of money and they had no love between them, the parents didn’t try to change the financial life somehow. Perhaps, they thought how people looked at them is more important than what they really need to live comfortably together in the future. As a result, being unaware of the situation they were in lead the death of him. In this way, this story showed us the lesson that ignorance of yourself influences badly on the environment or people around you.
b) Who do you think is responsible for the son’s death?
I think all of adults around him are responsible for his death. In this story, the all adults did not think of the future of Paul. They were thinking just of things they want to do, or are interested in then. They including Paul might have be happy or comfortable when they were talking about gambling, but these imprudent behaviors finally caused the death of Paul. He was still young and has not ever gotten any family love. In addition, his mother was cold to him and the amount of interaction was also small. In this situation, why could he notice that he was becoming crazy and the relationship between his parents and him was also strange. Such a young boy could never notice that unless some adults make him notice about that. The basic education and enough love when child is young are very necessarily. Therefore, I think the adults who never gave these essential things have a great responsibility for his death.
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Hi, Kurara. Thank you for sharing your opinion. My opinion is similar to yours. I think the adults around him are responsible for the death of young Paul. I think it is essential for him to receive a good education and love. I totally agree with you.
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Hi, Kurara. Thank you for sharing your opinion. My opinion is similar to yours. I think the adults around him are responsible for the death of young Paul. I think it is essential for him to receive a good education and love. I totally agree with you.
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