The story, “Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver” is in an idyllic rural setting in Wessex, which today is known as Dorset. Quote, ‘they talked on very pleasantly…..looked at the trees and beasts and insects and the ploughmen at work in the fields’. This quote describes a pleasant place. Tony is the son of a farmer. This is not directly mentioned in the passage but, quote, ‘he saw is father not far off in a field holding up his hand’. This is pretty obvious that his father is working in the fields, therefore is a farmer. There is no mention of industry in the story but it is similar to the other, “Tickets, Please” because they are both set around some sort of transport. The only difference is that one is based on a tram, “Tickets, Please” and a horse drawn-wagon, “Tony Kytes”
In the stories, the different dialect that is used, places both stories geographically and historically. In “Tickets, Please”, it is in a Yorkshire accent. Quote, ‘Why, tha does’, ’Tha knows as well as I do’. In Tony Kytes the dialect is in a Wessex accent. Quote, ’nunny watch’ which means tangled mess.
Also in both stories, they both have central male characters who are successful flirts. Tony Kytes is described like, quote ‘a little, round, firm, tight face with a seam here and there left by the smallpox’, ‘He was serious looking and unsmiling’. He was very conscious of his looks but the women always liked him. John Thomas, the main male character from “Tickets, Please” is described like, quote, ‘His face ruddy, his small brown moustache is weathered, he has a faint impudent smile, fairly tall and agile, even in his waterproof. The descriptions of both men have given the impression to readers that they were physically attractive.
Both Tony Kytes and John Thomas love women and enjoy having lots of girl-friends. Tony is serious and ‘unsmiling’ but likes to sing rude songs. Quote, ‘loved ‘em in shoals’. He can’t choose between his girl-friends, he wants to marry them all. His decision is swayed by which girl he is with at the time. He is confident that he can have the women he picks but I think that it is not all Tony’s fault because I also think that the women are stupid for not noticing him with other women and allowing themselves to be persuaded to hide in the wagon.
John Thomas loves girls but also his freedom. He has no intention of being tied down and goes out with one conductress after another. He is very skilled when it comes to the women; he knows how to flatter a girl. He dumps Annie when she becomes serious about them both in a relationship. John Thomas’s view of girls is that they are purely for fun, one night stands and casual relationships. I appreciate his opinion about not being ready for commitment and wanting fun, but if this is all he really wants, then he shouldn’t give the impression of loving the girls. But this is most probably his secret in succeeding with the women in the first place.
In ‘Tickets, Please’, the women are on the trams as the men are away fighting in the world war. They are a tough, aggressive bunch. They can clear a tram full of drunken miners and they earn their own money and that is what I think gives them independence. They wear rough ugly uniforms and they are all attracted to John Thomas.
In ‘Tony Kytes’, the young women are maidens and are, quote, ’much more girly’. They wear long pretty dresses. The difference from the conductresses is that they do not earn their own money, so the only way to survive is to marry. They are feminine and flirty. Quote, ‘they pout and scold’. They are all desperate to marry Tony Kytes. They also have traditional characteristics for a rural community.
One major difference in both stories is that there is a central female character in “Tickets, Please” called Annie. There is not a central female character in “Tony Kytes”. Annie is, quote, ‘peremptory’, ‘suspicious and ready to hit first’ I think that Annie is very proud of who she is and when she wants something in this case, John Thomas, she sets out to get him forever hers. Also she doesn’t take rejection well, but because Annie loves John Thomas, I think that is what every girl would do if they were put in a situation like that.
In the end of “Tickets, Please”, D.H. Laurence says, ‘Outside was the darkness and lawlessness of wartime’. I think this suggests that something tense is going to happen. On page 130, Annie attacks John Thomas with her friends. The attack sounds very vicious, quote ‘fear’, ‘fury’, ‘butted through’, ‘distinctively afraid’.
In Tony Kytes, the story ends in a kind of ridiculous comedy which is called a ‘farce’. Tony Kytes has gone to speak to his father and the horse runs off tilting the wagon with the women, Unity, Milly and Hannah tumbling out of it crying and screeching. Unity and Milly begin arguing. Tony finds he has to explain to them but just proposes to the women in which he preferred the most and is rejected. Tony looks really shocked, quote, ‘looking as if he had been struck by lightning’. This quote is a simile. I think that this story is a sad ending for Tony and the women as they all loved him but I think to refuse his proposals was for the best.
I think each writer, D.H. Laurence and Thomas Hardy have written entertaining stories but I feel they have tried to include a serious message of basically not messing women around because it will all conclude in tears. I enjoyed, “Tony Kytes-The Arch Deceiver” the most because I thought it was quite amusing how Tony thinks he can get away with having all three of his ex-lovers in the wagon and in their presence proposes to each girl to which he most preferred as his wife.
