Thomas Hardy’s story starts with little description about the setting compared to D.H. Lawrence’s. It is almost as though the setting of ‘Tony Kytes’ is unimportant to the story whereas in ‘Tickets Please’ the setting reflects the main characters and gives the story a good beginning.
The first difference we spot is within the plot of the stories and of its characters. The main male character in ‘Tickets Please’ is called John Thomas. He is in charge of the tramlines and also in control of the women working on them. He is known to be very popular and is spotted most nights walking out of the tram station with a different woman, ‘walks out with the newcomer’. He is a philanderer and enjoys playing the field. John Thomas is very manly compared to Tony Kytes. He is a man anxious to settle down and marry. He is deceiving his apposed wife without realising so.
Both men differ in the way they treat their women. Tony Kytes shows some form of commitment towards his women whereas John Thomas just seems to be working his way through all the women working on the tramline without a care in the world. Tony Kytes generally likes all three women he is seeing, ‘would have kissed them all round’. John Thomas just used the women for his own pleasure. They were also similar in the way that they were both the women’s favourite.
The behaviour of the characters is mainly to do with the period in which it is set in. In ‘Tony Kytes’ the women depend on the men to go out and work whereas in ‘Tickets Please’ the men are all away fighting so the women had many more opportunities, they were almost masculine. They were described as ‘fearless young hussies’ compared to ‘small tender little things’. The women in ‘Tony Kytes’ are very feminine, the only plans they had for the future were to settle down as soon as possible and have children this was certainly not the case in ‘Tickets Please’. Marriage was less important because of the war.
Tony Kytes is polite and respectful in the way he addresses and talks to his women. Using phrases such as: ‘darling’ and ‘dear Hannah’. He is a lot more ‘tender’ in his words compared to John Thomas who comes over as abrupt and brash. He shows no respect towards women whereas Tony would have been brought up to do so.
The male characters in the two stories are not the only people to have differences and similarities. The females do aswell. Annie Stone from ‘Tickets Please’ and Milly Richards from ‘Tony Kytes’ differ tremendously.
Annie is very independent not having to rely on men to get on with her life. She is well built and manly, strong and powerful. She is not there to be messed about, she shows in depth knowledge into the way men behave and is always ready to ‘pounce on youths’ and ‘push of men’. Millie however is the complete opposite. She relies on men a great deal and shows no from of independence. She is feminine and obliging towards Tony, ‘I don’t mind to oblige you, Tony’.
The women in ‘Tickets Please’ all work together to get their revenge on John Thomas. They all realise what he’s been doing and work together to get back at him. In ‘Tony Kytes’ they all compete against each other when Tony is caught out. This is mainly because of the importance of marriage. In ‘Tony Kytes’ the women didn’t bother much about the man they were marrying, marriage was the key issue whereas in ‘Tickets Please’ the women show ‘intelligent interest’ towards their men. Although they do want to move their relationships further they really aren’t that bothered if it doesn’t happen, they’ll simply move on.
The women in ‘Tickets Please’ worked a lot harder for a living. They were forceful and could control a whole tramcar of people. In ‘Tony Kytes’ the women simply worked on the farm and in the house for their husbands.
The main similarity between Milly Richards and Annie Stone is that they both end up being chosen. Milly of course accepts the offer even though it may seem pathetic after Tony first proposing to the other two women before getting to her. Annie stands her ground and once again shows independence. She doesn’t need this man whereas all Milly wants to do is find someone suitable for marriage. She had no other decision.
Again, the characters are not the only things that differ in these two short stories. The overall text and structure does. In Tony Kytes the story ends with happiness. We see Milly being chosen by Tony and she accepts marriage. We are left knowing that the couple may have gone on to get married. ‘Tickets Please’ however ends very abruptly. Has John Thomas learnt his lesson? Will he finally settle down into a permanent relationship? These are questions left un-answered.
Both stories are not written in Standard English. They both introduce dialect within their text and also into the characters. The way the characters speak reflects with the area that they live in. This gives the story character and when reading them you really feel the emotions and parts of the characters more so then you would if it was in a simple English text form.
As mentioned before the two stories both start of very differently. In ‘Tickets Please’ we get a real flavour for the surrounding area and the beginning text gives a great start to the story. We are being taken into the story through a ride on a tram, describing many sites along the way. The sentences are long relating to the length of the tramline. In ‘Tony Kytes’ the story jumps straight into a description of the main character, Tony Kytes. I think ‘Tony Kytes’ shows a humorous plot to the story compared to the more serious and abrupt message portrayed in ‘Tickets Please’.
Overall, the two stories show how dramatically the roles of men and women changed in a small period of just 25 years during the Industrial Revolution. This is mainly to do with the outbreak of the War that changed the characteristics of the women completely. Having no men meant they had to take charge themselves.
As a modern day male reader I much preferred Tony Kytes, as there was a strong sense of humour throughout the story. I felt that the character of ‘Tony Kytes’ was what made the humour in the story run smoothly.
If I were to re-write ‘Tony Kytes’, as a male writer and reader I would not change a thing! I think these two stories are directed towards male readers because of the way the men treat the women. This may offend women readers.
Stuart Small.
11-OD.
