“Not enough to hurt his looks in a woman’s eye”
He is an egoist as he asks all the girls to marry him and then all three women, two of them hidden in his cart and he still thinks he will be able to untangle the situation that he has brought upon himself. He flirts with Unity when she asks for a lift,
“ That I will darling”…“You don’t suppose I could refuse ‘ee?”
He shows his naivety when Unity persuades him that she is the woman for him “…is she better than I? I should have made ‘ee a finer wife”… and then uses the fact that hey have known each other for so long “ever since we were children almost” to emphasise they have had a relationship for a long time and encouraging him to believe that marriage would be a natural extension to their relationship. Tony shows his naivety when we see he is “struck with he truth” of what Unity is telling him. His inexperience makes him unable to think through how he is being manoeuvred by Unity.
This contrasts with Ethel who is much more sophisticated and does not succumb Jackson’s persuasion. His is shown when Ethel takes tea to Jackson and he “grips” her wrist Ethel totally ignores his approach by saying
“You want you egg and chips don’t you Jack”
Having seen Unity play with Tony’s ego when Hannah rides with him. A “dim sort of sweat rising up inside his clothes” shows his true embarrassment when Hannah asks him for a ride home, but his ego once again takes over when he foolishly agrees to her request. Further evidence of this is when we see Hannah declaring “I like riding with you” and Tony answers “and I with you…”
His naivety changes to a childish arrogance when he asks his father which girl to marry because he has got himself into a “nunnywatch”. His father wisely answers Milly because she did no ask for a ride but Tony turns this round and thinks to himself “here is nothing so powerful as his fathers recommending her” to “wean him” from Milly.
Bill Naughon’s “Late Nigh On Watling Street” is the second comparative story about deception. The main character is Jackson, a lorry driver, and he story revolves around “Lew and Ethel’s Café”
The story follows Jackson and his love for Ethel, who is married to Lew, and Jackson’s hatred for he Law. Jackson has been caught speeding by a policeman named ‘babyface’ on numerous occasions, and does not want to face a fine or loose his licence. He plans early revenge on he policemen, by provoking an accident that results in their death, but he looses the friendship of the drivers and most of all Ethel.
Jackson is portrayed as an arrogant, self opinionated, working class man who hates any form of rule. This is shown when he enters the café and Lew politely asks if he has ordered, Jackson arrogantly answers, “I am not getting measured for a suit”. Jackson is described as having “a dark chin, pale face, black hair”. I think hat Bill Naughton is trying to portray to the reader by using these descriptions that he is a suspicious character with a dark side that hides a lot of anger and aggression. Small signs of this can be seen throughout the story. One noticeable incident is when Lew plays the jukebox and dances with his wife Ethel. At this point Naughton describes Jackson’s face as “dead poisonous” and then Jackson’s aggression is seen when he walks over to the juke box and gives it “a back heeler”. This shows Jackson’s nastiness, which is then used to build the plan of the police running under the trailer of his lorry. Lew is annoyed because Jackson is trying to stop him from dancing with his wife, but uses the excuse that he “put his money in he box”. Jackson being an arrogant and cunning character twists the statement as a way of getting himself out of a self created situation by saying “why didn’t you say I was the money that was troubling you”. Jackson’s character is revealed as the story progresses. Firstly he tries to manipulate Lew and Ethel and then we see his nasty nature develop as his deceptive thoughts plan the ‘murder’ of he policemen in order for him to avoid prosecution. Thinking this is just one stage of an evil character, but to plan it and to execute the plan shows extreme deep and cold heartedness. He then continues his deception about blatantly lying about his actions in the death of babyface and his mate to the policeman taking a statement. He then proceeds to Lew and Ethel’s café, thinking that he’s got one over on the law.
“Nothing I like better than getting one across the law” and believing that Ethel will perceive him to be strong and protecting, and that he would receive great praise for his wrong doings, convincing himself “…your trying to do me, but I’m going to do you instead”. This is a prime example of his arrogance especially as he is telling it to Bolton (who is the narrator of the story), which is a way of bragging about his actions rather than being ashamed of his actions. On entering the café, Ethel ignores him and the other drivers too who are disgusted at what he has done.
“They were putting the poison in for him”
Jackson’s wrong doings had avoided a fine, but he had lost he respect of his “mates”, which is emphasised by he last sentence
“and his driving days on Watling Street were over”
Certain parallels can be drawn between the two main female characters- Ethel and Milly. Both women are portrayed as been honest and to have a very open nature.
“ ‘Milly, would you do me a favour-my coming wife-as I may say?’
‘Certainly, my dear Tony’”
In Ethel’s case, when Jackson asks her to leave Lew and the Café that evening and go off with Jackson in his lorry, she says she will not leave Lew as he has always given her security and treated her with respect. Her ‘plain talking’ shows her straight forward character, however, Ethel comes across as a more dominant character through this plain talk. This domineering nature is also emphasised in the story by Ethel’s hard working nature. Throughout the story we hear of her cooking meals, making tea and clearing up for the drivers. Milly too can stand her ground and protect herself, which is seen when she says to the other two women when discovered on the cart,
“I am engaged to be married to him”… “What right have you, I should like to know”…”what Tony says to other women is all meer wind…”
From this evidence we are shown their honest, steadfast nature.
Hannah and Unity are more self opinionated, as has already been shown in Jackson’s character. Unity shows this when she says ‘I would have made a fine wife’ and she also says ‘and-can you say I’m not pretty, Tony?’. Hannah too shows this characteristic when it says ‘she tossed her head a little disdainful, as Tony approaches on the cart’ and like Unity is brash enough to ask for a ride home.
Both stories are set in a working class environment, and this is emphasised by the narration-which uses colloquial language.
Tony has a farming way of life, which shows the simple code by which they live their life. In late nineteenth early twentieth century, when a man asked a woman to marry him, this was seen as their engagement, and his was then their ‘legal’ agreement, that would not be terminated. Similarly for a woman once she had been asked and had accepted, then it was a great humiliation for her and her family if she was then passed for another woman. This is why Hannah’s father would not consider his daughter marrying Tony.
“My daughter is not willing, Sir” he says
Therefore Milly will still marry Tony although his actions are extremely dishonest, but this is better than ‘loosing face’.
The truckers show a great social bond and working class ethic.’ Lancashire helps Lancashire’ indicates that they look out for each other on the roads. The food they eat in the transport café e.g. egg and chips also reflects a working class status. The banter between them,
“‘That’s Jackson now’ says Willie”
This shows that they are common enemies are the police. The story also reflects the hard work and long days of the working man- they are in the café late in the evening. However one of the facets of working man is not just their sticking together and hard work, but integrity, a basic honesty. Thus we see ultimately that when Jackson’s actions cause death to the policeman, although they will not ‘tell’ on Jackson, as he is one of them, they will ostracise him because he has used their honesty. In the other story Tony shows deceits, but Milly still marries him to maintain her integrity and keep her reputation undamaged.
