‘…Would have kissed all three of them…’
Whereas John Thomas uses them for his own pleasure. Tony Kytes wasn’t a philanderer but he was still the ‘woman’s favourite’. He is more boyish looking and doesn’t have the manly features like the moustache, which John Thomas has.
‘…There was no more sign of a whisker or beard on Tony Kytes face than on the palm of my hand…’
Another thing the both of the men have very much in difference is that John Thomas is only interested in short-term relationships whereas Tony Kytes wants commitment and marriage. Overall both men enjoy their success with women.
Women find Tony very attractive, despite his scars from smallpox - which he had as a boy. He was a very serious youngster, though you wouldn’t know it by reading the story. Tony, as a man, is very scandalous and facetious, in the way that there is more humour rather than deceit when he shifts between women. He is an unfaithful, indecisive man whose “shaven-face and charms will get him anywhere.
Hardy begins with a description of Tony Kytes: -
‘Twas a little, round, firm, tight face, with a seam here and there left by the smallpox, but not enough to hurt his looks in a woman’s eye, though he’d had it badish when he was a boy.
He looked very hard at a small speck in your eye when talking to ’ee’
He quickly establishes that Tony is a womaniser.
‘He was quite the women’s favourite and in return for their liking he loved them in shoals’
John Thomas Raynor is an inspector on the trams during wartime along with the ‘comely’ women conductors and the ‘delicate young men’ who could not go to war. (There is no mention of why John Thomas didn’t go war, and his description mentions no physical flaws.) He is an egotistical, uncaring tram inspector, who is very much a coward under the tough exterior.
Lawrence is just as skilful in showing his readers that John Thomas is also a womaniser.
‘He flirts with the girl conductors in the morning and walks out with them in the dark night … He flirts and walks out with the newcomers’
Although, neither man is ever ‘in love’ with any of the women. Tony Kytes ‘loved em in shoals’, which meant there wasn’t any true love on his part. He knew that he was quite the woman’s favourite and used this to his advantage. Tony was very easily led, and his feelings for the women tend to change faster than the wind. Likewise John Thomas like meaningful relationships with women, and liked to remain a ‘nocturnal presence’.
Both men manipulate the women to their advantage, leaving a trail of broken hearts behind them, as, unfortunately for the women, for them it is true love- although for the men they were just an afterthought, the women hate being rejected or even rejecting.
Tony is cautious when it comes to the women- he shows concern for their feelings, or perhaps, just his own, when he hides them from view so as not to upset other people:
‘…Now dearest Unity, will ye, to avoid all unpleasantness, which I know ye can’t bear any more than I…’
He is just manipulating Unity’s feelings, and using it to get his own way by telling her things that he knows she wants to hear:
‘…Will ye lie down in the back part of the wagon and let me cover you over with the tarpaulin…and perhaps I shall put a loving question to you after all…’
Victorian women are meant to be reserved, for example, it would be scandalous for them to ask for a lift:
‘…My dear Tony, will you give me a lift home?…’
Unity is a very up-front women, who has no trouble at all in complaining to Tony about Milly, to whom he is engaged, or persuading him that she is prettier than Milly:
‘…In fact, I never knowed you was so pretty before!…’
When Milly arrives, Tony tries to stall time to think up an excuse as to why she shouldn’t ride with him:
‘…I was thinking that you might be going into town to meet your mother. I saw her there- and she looked as if she might be expecting ‘ee…’
When all else had failed, he had to take her home, meeting Hannah Jolliver on the way.
He uses the same method with Milly that he used with Unity:
‘…I’m rather afeared of her temper if she sees us together. Now, Milly, would you do me a favour my coming wife, as I may say?…Then would you creep under the empty sacks just here in front of the wagon, and hide there out of sight until we pass the house?’
By calling her his ‘coming wife’ he is implying that he will marry her rather than Unity. As women of that era were ‘intent’ on marriage Milly readily agrees to almost anything he asks of her.
Hannah feels no guilt when Tony decides that he wants to abandon Milly to marry her, saying:
‘…Throw over Milly? -All to marry me!…’
Hannah is described as being bossy and having an attitude. She tells Tony ‘how can you be so stupid’ she is also manipulative, flirtatious and rather forward.
Hannah is the most spirited of the three females, by tossing her this makes her more manipulative towards Tony than the other two females:
‘…I like riding with you…’
Hannah flirts tremendously with Tony and he immediately flirts back with her:
‘…And I with you…’
This proves just how disrespectful he is towards women as he flirts openly with Hannah whilst his wife to be is listening from the back of the wagon. This also shows his lack of commitment.
John Thomas is the main male character in the story ‘Tickets Please’. In tickets please john Thomas is an inspector as he is an inspector he has a clear sense of power. John Thomas has much more power than Tony.
John Thomas is slightly different to Tony Kytes, as he does not betray his women. John uses his women and later disguards them like rubbish. John dates the newcomers as the newcomers are most vulnerable and do not know what sort of person John really is. He seduces them and then abandons them and then moves onto his next victim. Annie is introduced into the story. Annie is an important character in ‘Tickets Please’. Annie works on the trams as a ticket conductor and John, her supervisor, Annie is aware of his reputation, as she has seen the girls come and go. However John Thomas still tries to manipulate Annie and succeeds.
In contrast with Tony Kytes this is different, as Tony didn’t go for the ‘hard to get’ girls, he went for Milly who was easy to get. If Tony liked the hard to get girls he would have gone after Hannah or Unity.
‘…What you wont have me Hannah?…Well will you Unity dear be mine?…’
John Thomas seems to find the carefree life that the women lead, extremely attractive, and almost always has a woman to go home with, once, Annie being one of them. Like Tony he is very flirtatious and facetious, and receives many flirtatious signals back:
‘…“Shut the door, boy”, said Muriel Baggaley
“On which side of me?” said John Thomas
“Which tha likes”, said Polly Birkin…’
John Thomas has the same conniving nature as Tony Kytes, but useless ‘direct’ methods to get what he wants. He gets the woman’s trust before approaching them with sexual intent:
‘...He put his arm round her and drew her a little nearer to him, in a very warm manner. Besides, he was fairly discreet…’
Tony isn’t so intent on the sexual side. But takes marriage in his stride. He acts as though marriage is an everyday occurrence and so do the women.
Although John Thomas doesn’t find his women so quickly interchangeable compared to Tony. He does like to swap them around almost every night. He probably has more women than Tony, though he isn’t prepared to marry any of them. John Thomas likes women when they play hard to get like Annie.
‘…And John Thomas like Annie, more than usual…’
This makes them seem like more of a challenge.
Tony doesn’t like challenges, even though he seems to put himself into all sorts of situations that require careful thought to sort them out! He doesn’t like it when women play hard to get otherwise he would’ve followed Hannah Unity at the end of the story! He finds some excuse to save him from the women, some as unbelievable as he is.
‘…But Hannah, I’ve really a couple of ferrets in a bag under there, for rabbiting, and they quarrel sometimes. I don’t wish it knowed, as ‘twould be called poaching. Oh, they cant get out, bless ‘ee-you are quite safe! And-and-what a fine day it is isn’t it, Hannah, for this time of year?…’
John Thomas is a similar man to Tony Kytes. He is popular with women and has the ability to manipulate them. Both men see women as being beneath them. They have a demeaning attitude towards them and only see them as objects of affection rather tha n human beings. John Thomas is daring and notorious, as there is:
‘…Considerable scandal about john Thomas in half a dozen villages…’
His flirtatious behaviour is well known. He is a good-looking man who enjoys moving from one woman to the next. The idea of being restricted to one woman doesn’t appeal to him. John Thomas is a daring and attractive young man. Because of this he finds himself in a number of different relationships with different women. However in contrast to Tony Kytes he refrains from being in a deep and intimate relationship.
Tony somehow ends up with Milly. The other women in tony Kytes story rejected tony at the end so as to keep their dignity-but they still wanted him:
‘…“Never-I would sooner marry no-nobody at all!” she gasped out, though with her heart in her throat, for she would not have refused Tony if he had asked her quietly, and her father had not been there…’
Tony is shocked that Hannah wont have him:
‘…“What, you won’t have me Hannah?” said Tony his jaw hanging like a dead mans….’
After being rejected, tony decides hat he will ignore his fathers advice, along Milly’s continual sobbing, and ask Unity to be his:
‘…“Take her leavings? Not I!” says Unity “I’d scorn it!” and away walked Unity Sallet likewise, though she looked back when she’d gone someway to see if he was following her…’
Unity, like Hannah, wants tony, but refuses him, partially to keep the etiquette, and to see if he will still want her after being rejected.
Finally, he turns to Milly, though unwillingly, and contrives some tale about fate bringing them together! Milly believes what he says and agrees to be his wife, after being assured that she was the only one he wanted.
Tony doesn’t really want Milly. He out the idea across by making her the first and yet last person that tony asks to marry, but as time suggested that women should marry. Milly took the opportunity and married him. Their wedding was to be very soon so that Tony wouldn’t be tempted by any other woman.
Throughout the story john Thomas is undoubtedly in control of the females he dates. His sense of control over the females is greater than we think as his control over women affects them not only while they are dating but also at work as he is their boss. This is where Tony Kytes is different to john Thomas as Tony Kytes has a lack of control over all three females as you can see below:
‘…The more he looked at her the more he liked her!…’
The end of ‘Tickets Please’ has similarities in plot and character development to Tony Kytes as John Thomas is also faced with an ultimatum as like Tony Kytes. John Thomas was invited into a room full of females who work for him and whom he dated. When John first enters the room he is pampered with tea and compliments. This makes him feel superior to the women.
‘…He seemed to be sunning himself in the presence of so many damsels…’
This quote from ‘Tickets Please’ explains exactly how smug john Thomas feels in the comfort of so many females but John Thomas’s attitude rapidly changes:
‘…“I’m toddling,” said he, rising and reaching for his overcoat…’
John Thomas starts to feel uneasy and wants to leave as he can feel an atmosphere between the girls and him.
‘…Laughing uneasy…’
The actions of the women scared John Thomas. The atmosphere had become tense very quickly. The women asked John which one of them he was going to marry. He tried to leave the room but the angry women wouldn’t let him leave which led to violence.
‘…pulling and tearing and beating him…’
There is a lot of animal imagery of the women attacking John.
‘…They pounced on him…’
This animal imagery shows that the women were like animals, as we understand they stalled their prey and pounced on him when the time was right just like an animal and its prey.
The females in the room have lost control of themselves and others. They have lost their temper just because John will not choose one of them to be his wife. Annie is the ringleader and so everyone is deeply hocked and upset when John regains his control and announces he chooses Annie to marry him.
‘…I choose Annie…’
In just three words John Thomas manages to regain control and this is good for him, as the beating has stopped. All the women are upset, as he did not choose them. In contrast Annie is also not happy or joyful but angry. Annie is angry, as she did not want to be picked.
‘…I don’t want him…’
This shows exactly Annie’s Feelings. John only chose Annie as he knew Annie would say no as she would not give him a second chance no matter what. This makes John Thomas seem clever and makes John Thomas the most controlling person in the room and story.
The writers have similar yet contrasting endings, although the women reject both men in both stories ‘john thomass women’ use aggression and violence to have victory over him. ‘tonys women’ are much less impetuous and want him more than anything.
Milly is the only one to get what she wants in Tony Kytes, as tony wanted Hannah or unity, all the women wanted tony and she ended up with him.
John Thomas seems to be the only one to get what he wanted in ‘Tickets Please’ as all the women either wanted him or commitment and he wanted a carefree life, which he got.
In conclusion in ‘Tickets Please’ the man was stronger even though the women beat him up, he proved to be stronger as he put them in the spot and they were all guilt ridden. In ‘Tony Kytes’ the man was also stronger as they all wanted him but only one of them got him. Even though the two stories are written at different periods the two stories are very similar. Both men in each story both end up in control and dominating the females around them as they both finish victorious.