The women in Tony Kytes know that the men are in control and they get what they want. This is usual for them as their fathers own them and will give them away if he wishes.
It is also recognisable that the women in Arch Deceiver want commitment so badly that hey are prepared to go to any lengths for commitment from a man. The women in Tony Kytes really love men. They treat men very well and would do anything for commitment. They are very truthful to the men and upfront about their feelings. They all want courtship and would compete between themselves to achieve commitment from the men.
On the other hand, they are not as good as it seems. The women are hard to please, as they are always demanding for things such as commitment and favours so on. For example ‘Well aren’t you going to be civil enough to ask me to ride home with you’. This shows that they are bossy and they can get what they want. They are also very proud as they think they are the prettiest women alive. Additionally, they seem to have an attitude problem because they think that they are the most important things in Tony’s life. They are all also very manipulative and lead Tony in to one thing and another. Additionally their fathers’ influence can change their attitudes towards men and change the women’s feeling towards courtship.
An example of how desperate women are for commitment and courtship is at the end when Milly still goes back to Tony even after he deserted her three times!
In Tony Kytes it seems that Tony completely controls all of the women. He has all of them chasing him so he can do whatever he pleases and choose who ever he wants. For example ‘All three are in the garden…Now which would you marry’. This shows he is in control as he has options to which one to marry and he has all three women in his wagon and they do not know it. He even asks which one he should marry showing he does not know exactly what one he wants. At the end of the story he finally chooses a woman to be with. His first choice turns out to be Hannah. Strangely and unexpectedly he gets rejected. This happened because Hannah’s father was there and did not want her to marry him. In those days it was up to the father to decide whether a man marries his daughter or not. It is his choice to who she loves. His influence changed her mind. Next he chooses unity to be his wife. She rejects him straight away as she is too proud to accept second best. Third and finally he chooses Milly who was supposed to be his future wife anyway. Although the other women rejected him deep down they each hoped he would come after them. They were too proud to say yes. Milly was desperate enough to deceive herself that Tony really favoured her. She probably went with Tony because women needed a man to survive in those days and this was an opportunity for her. Obviously all the women wanted commitment and courtship and they all have a positive attitude towards love.
Obviously all the women wanted commitment and courtship and they all have a positive attitude towards love.
So what overall I can say about “Tony Kytes Arch Deceiver” is that Tony is a very selfish man in other words he was basically a male tart.
Now Spiv in Love was quite similar to The Arch deceiver the author uses the word Spiv which is a British slang word it describes a man who is a very flashily dressed or dishonest looking man.
The author uses a lot of colloquial speech, common to the time and the background: “Summink”, What”, “Was”, And “Bob”. A weapon that he mentions is a “knuckle duster” which was very common in gang fights.
The “Spiv in Love” is really about a man who wanted a relationship but didn’t really care what her personality was like. He really wanted to be with someone he could show off who was, of course, Eunice. But the person who he really got on with was Myra who was ideal for him, as he wanted someone he could treat like trash and she didn’t mind being treated like that for the most of the story.
The Spiv was quite obsessed with his clothes for example when he gets beaten up by a gang his friend says to him “Strewth, y’oughter see your eye!” Spiv replies “Never mind the eye, where’s my bleedin titfer?” and he cried for hours, he didn’t mind gangs using knuckle dusters or bicycle chains on him but ruining his clothes is what makes him emotional.
Spiv was a very confident, vain sort of man, for example, “But to get back to Myra .It was a fluke on her part that she struck up with me at all”.
The Spiv didn’t like women who always wanted their way and when Eunice wanted to watch a film he didn’t want to see, he told her to hop on a bus and leave him alone which she did as she wasn’t one to take any rubbish from men. This then leads to him going to watch the film with his second fiddle lady, Myra, and she, of course, didn’t mind.
Myra could almost be called his “slave” as she even did clothes designs for him. She would also try to get in his good books by designing collars that she knew he would like.
Spiv would always tried to reassure himself at the time of departing from Myra for example “I’m only passin my time on, until Summink better comes along okay!” This was such an obvious act of self-assurance.
He would also do the usual thing after a while of telling Myra that it’s over and that he has made up with Eunice. But he eventually goes out with Myra a few nights a week. The main problem was that he couldn’t stand another man being with Myra. She would also play part tempting him by saying things like “come if you want, I’ll be there waiting”.
After a week Myra says to Spiv “I’m not playing second fiddle”
Spiv replies “Second fiddle! Blimey you’re lucky to be in the band at all, you are. I’m only seeing you out of sympathy”. This is when he crossed the line and went too far. She knew what would hurt him most not a punch nor kick but the rip of his clothes and that is exactly what she did. He screamed “only if I could lay my hands on you”.
Eunice afterwards found out about Myra and left him but Spiv even after that could not face denting his pride, so he didn’t even ask Myra out again. In my opinion the word “spiv” suited the character perfectly. He was a very foolish man and deserved to end up with no one. Tony Kytes and Spiv would have probably been the best of friends but the difference was that Tony was looking for commitment and marriage whilst Spiv was just looking for someone he could show of with. But the major similarity between the two is that they just couldn’t choose out of the women in their lives also their way of treating women was very despicable and didn’t really care of the consequences.
