he would ask again?. Even in Tickets please all of the women ?hoped he
would look at her?. They all secretly wish to be chosen. Milly accepts however
Annie declines. It would be humiliating for Annie to accept as she feels she
has to decline for the girls as the whole point of beating John Thomas was so
they could prove a point to him and to accept John Thomas would undermine it
all.? Whoever
John Thomas chose, they would have to refuse. They knew that nobody would marry
him and still they made him ?choose?? The only reason why John
Thomas chose Annie was so he could get himself out of the situation. He knew
that by choosing Annie he would gain a victory and from his vulnerable position
he chooses Annie. He knows that she will never accept as he chooses her in
?malice?, Annie immediately let go off him like he was a ?hot coal?. She felt
?a kind of agony in her? as ?something was broken in her?. The girls have lost
control and are ?stupefied? by their ?unnatural behaviour?. Even after all the
taunting, tormenting and goading John Thomas they make him chose: ?Coddy, you?ve got to
choose? John
Thomas asserting his authority while being cornered like an animal gets him
nowhere but by choosing Annie he turns the tables. Despite the sheer violence
they thought would ensure a victory, they are very wrong. This leads Annie to
feel very undermined. John Thomas?
uniform is something he takes pride in. When his ?tunic was torn? and his
?jacket was stripped off?- so was his authority. Tony
Kytes has no violent behaviour or mass hysteria????? whatsoever. The climax in the text is well organised and the
tension is of a much different order. For example the tension in Tickets
Please is what is going to happen to John Thomas when he is being beaten up
whereas in Tony Kytes we want to know how he is going to explain himself
to all three women. Hannah
and Unity do not want revenge on Tony – and the way in which they show their
fury is by not going to Tony?s wedding. Milly is asked last by Tony and when
she is finally asked she responds by saying: ?You didn?t really mean what
you said to them? Tony declares ?not a word of
it?. Once again he is deceiving Milly and his charms get the better of her as
she accepts him. But we know the circumstances forced her to that decision. Tickets
Please is
left open-ended. The reader is shocked by the immense violence and we are left
wondering if John Thomas has learnt his lesson and will he resign or maybe
settle down into a permanent relationship. The women proved their point and
they feel they may have tamed him but because he has always been a philanderer
he may never change. In Tony
Kytes we are satisfied with the closed ending, even though the modern
feminist reader would pity Milly?s decision we are left knowing that they did end
up getting married. There is a bit of poetic justice as he didn?t get his first
choice but as he is genuine to all three of the women he would?ve been happy
with either women. Dialect
is used throughout Tickets Please. It shows the typical early 20th
century working class Nottinghamshire people and their identity. The narration
in Tickets Please is Standard English but the characters ?start lapsing
into dialect? when they are in conversation with one another. For example ?why
tha does?, ?Ay, he will? and ?come on me old duck?. In Tony
Kytes we are given the rural class dialect. It is not Standard English and
is much less formal. For example the narrator describes Tony Kyte?s facial
features in dialect: ?twas a little round face? This is the cart driver
speaking and he would have been using dialect because he would have not been
educated. He said Tony Kytes had small pox ?baddish?. It is 19th
century West Country dialect, when Tony says that he doesn?t want to ?kick up a
bit of a miff? the modern day translation would be to ?break out into a
quarrel?. ????????? Even though both authors Hardy and Lawrence are educated
they use dialect in their texts. They do this so they can add authenticity to
the story. The cart driver in Tony Kytes would have not been educated,
so Hardy needed to give us a real feeling to the characters. It makes them
sound more genuine and real to the period. We can clearly visualise the
characters and it gives us a local flavour. ????????? In both of the texts there are many individual and unique
features that are worth commenting on. In Tickets Please the long
sentences at the beginning of the story mimics the journey and the movement of
the tram. We feel we are being taken through the journey ourselves. We pass
through the regional landmarks such as the ?Co-op?, the ?market place? and
there are many more throughout the passage. By mentioning these, we feel a real
sense of place. There are several of commas, colons and semi-colons to break up
the passage and to fix it into place. When the ?patients halt at the loops?; it
creates a sense of impatience. The use of ?wee???hurray? increases the reader?s
participation. The tram drivers, ?rush? at the ?reckless swoops? and ?to ride
on these cars is always an adventure? because the drivers have the ?spirit of
the devil? in them. They have this attitude because they are loosing out in the
excitement and participation of the war so they want to feel some sort of
satisfaction. At
the start of the story it is all in the present tense. This creates a sense of
timelessness as the ?workmen?s houses?, ?cinemas? and ?fat gas works? will
always be there. It will always be a feature of life. There is no consistency,
whereas the story of the characters is told in the past tense. It gives us a
sense of their fleeting lives. ????????? In Tony Kytes the scene is set in a very different
way. Straight away we are introduced to the eponymous hero. We start off with
the narrator?s point of view and we immediately feel that the narrator is
indulgent and lenient towards Tony Kytes. Further on in the story we know that
he is indulgent towards Tony Kytes because he still gets a wife at the end. A
feminist writer in favour of the women would have ended it much more
differently by being less light-hearted towards him. ????????? The story in whole is light-hearted and there is no moral
to the story. We are not meant to feel any anger towards Tony Kytes. It is
meant to be humorous. We should treat him like a rogue and forgive him. Female
readers in general would feel a slight annoyance, whereas the male audience
generally would go along with the writer?s point of view and enjoy the humour
of these typical 18th century women falling for all of his lies. ????????? In Tickets Please there are many groups of metaphors
that Lawrence uses, for example he compares the women to ?reckless sailors?. He
uses navel ship images and descriptions: ?Careering vessel of a tram car? They are in ?peril, rocking
on the waves of a stormy land? and ?live abroad gives them a sailors dash?.
Because they are compared to sailors it gives us the impression that they
indulge in casual sex, like sailors having ?a woman at every port?. Sailors in
general are ?reckless? like the girls in Tickets Please and they have
the bouched attitude. The tram car is the ship and the depot is the port.? ????????? The women have a carpediam attitude. Unlike the women in Tony
Kytes who need to think about their future and not have the ?live for the
day? attitude. It was the war that allowed the women like Annie to have these
attitudes.??? ????????? Throughout the text
there are also many wartime references, which include: ?Outside was the darkness and lawlessness of
war-time? Lawrence
mocks the characters by comparing Annie to a ?tartar?. A ?tartar? was a warrior
figure of the Mongolia race who were famous for conquering many lands, whereas
Annie was just a working class Nottinghamshire ticket collector. The only
similarity Annie could have had with a ?tartar? is that she turned the tables
on John Thomas. Similarly a ?tartar? turns the tables on their assailant. ????????? There is also another reference: ?thermopylae?. It was a
pass between the sea and the mountains where a famous battle took place. Again
there is a mocking tone as the tram car step isn?t a place where something
famous had taken place like a great battle. ????????? Lawrence also uses many metaphors to describe John Thomas
and the women, which are linked with animals. The women are ?predators? whereas
John Thomas is the ?prey?. Annie was a ?swift cat? and John Thomas was now
?their sport?. We visualise hunting images as John Thomas lay ?like an animal?
as he ?was at the mercy of the captor?. The women were ?wild creatures? and
John Thomas ?started to struggle like an animal might?. The girls had a
?supernatural? strength but as soon as he chose Annie she became a ?dazed
creature?. The women get hysterical with their ?wild frenzy of fury?. They are
very vicious and have lack of control. They are acting on their instincts
because they had ?mute stupefied faces?. They couldn?t believe the
?supernatural? strength they had. An animal would act on instincts – not
humans. ????????? When Annie and John Thomas share their first kiss Annie has
to keep justifying her behaviour. There is a repetition of ?after all? several
times: ?After all it was pleasant? John Thomas? kisses were
?soft and slow and searching?. This uses the rule of three and the ?s? sounds
represent the movement of the kissing.? In Tony
Kytes Hardy uses rural metaphors to describe Milly and Tony?s reactions.
Milly was crying in ?watery streams? and Tony looked like a ?tree struck by
lightning?. ????????? As a modern day feminist reader I much preferred Tickets
Please, as there was a strong sense of sweet revenge. I felt Milly from Tony
Kytes was too pathetic and passive for her own good. Her life is worthless
and has no meaning to the feminist reader. But while reading the story we have
to constantly keep reminding ourselves that Milly needed to be passive and
obliging so she could secure herself a husband. If Milly was living in Annie?s
time or in the 21st century, then she too may have been forward and
liberated like Annie. If I were to re-write Tony Kytes, as a female
writer and reader I would make sure that other female readers would not respond
to the text with annoyance just because the narrator has been indulgent towards
Tony. Tony would get his full poetic justice, like John Thomas got his.???