Tess' relationship contained no love on her behalf, and although Alec hints at his love for her frequently, he never actually declares it, merely implies it by scolding her for not loving him, "don't you love me ever so little now?"
There is deception in their relationship. Alex deliberately misleads Tess into thinking they are related by calling her "Coz". Tess is also very wary of him, perhaps even scared: "I don't want anybody to kiss me, sir!" Hardy portrays this fear with his eerie and confusing descriptions, leaving the reader unsure as to exactly what has happened, "everything else was blackness alike, and upon her eyelashes lingered tears."
Hardy avoids details of the tragic rape, by using metaphors, for several reasons. Firstly, he wants to leave some details to the readers' imagination, thus not dispelling the air of mystery that he created with his narrative. Secondly, he wishes to protect the dignity of Tess, with whom, during the writing of the book, Hardy seems to have fallen in love, so that she remains pure and unsullied in the eye of the reader. Finally, the simplest, yet probably the most influencing reason is that if the author had included graphic descriptions, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the book would have been banned.
The heroine's reactions to pregnancy are almost impossible to contrast, as we know little of Tess during her confinement, only that her own family feel that she has sullied their name, which is ironic, as it is clear that her mother's intentions were for her to be with Alec. Due to Doherty's original style of narration, however, with Helen's letters to her unborn child, "Dear Nobody", and Chris' account, the reader experiences the feelings of the people involved first hand.
Helen's initial reaction after suspecting that she might be pregnant, is anger and coldness towards Chris: "You don't own me you know, just because of what we did together", she seems to undergo a complete personality change, making Chris' life miserable. In the same way, Tess is angry and cool towards Alec the morning after: "How can you dare to use such words?", as he refers to his love for her.
Similarly, both Chris and Alec react in the same way, wishing to provide for their partners, as Alec says, "I am ready to pay to the uttermost farthing."
Helen and Tess both refuse this help however, but for different reasons.
Tess refuses because she wants nothing to do with Alec: "I have said I will not take anything more from you, and I will not." She is also very proud and stubborn, so once she realised that Alec has not only lied to her but also abused her, she would rather die than take anything from him. Helen refuses, however, out of her love for Chris, not wanting to ruin his chance in life.
Helen seems to become very depressed during her pregnancy, denying it to start with, then resorting to drastic measures, trying to kill the baby by throwing herself off her horse: "My arms and legs flung about, loose and useless. The base of my spine buffeted the saddle. My ribs felt as if they had burst apart. The only thing in my mind was Chris." This senseless but touching act of devotion to Chris is emphasised by Doherty's portrayal of her terror, and the first person account of Helen's thoughts at the time. This action also brought about the first person's guessing of her pregnancy, which she had been keeping secret until then.
All that Hardy says of Tess' behaviour during her pregnancy, is that she goes into a long period of seclusion, which is not surprising, considering the attention an unmarried, pregnant woman would have drawn in that period of time. It appears that the only time she ventures out is to go to church, at which Tess feels uncomfortable and conspicuous, as if everyone there is laughing at her. Although not during pregnancy, it is apparent after the birth that Tess also wanted to rid herself of the baby, "she wishes the baby and her too were in the churchyard". However, when faced with the reality of losing their babies, both girls undergo a dramatic change of heart, Helen before the birth and Tess just after.
Helen, following her first crazy attempt at losing the baby, then tried a more conventional method: abortion. It was when at the abortion clinic, that Helen was forced to rethink her, up until then, firm decision: "….and when I was lying there, in all that silence, I felt as if I had become two people." Helen seemed to bond with her baby there and then, as is apparent from her "Dear Nobody" letters. Their content before and after the episode of the abortion clinic changes dramatically: before, she wrote as if "Nobody" was the enemy, something to struggle against. Afterwards, however, it seems as if they have joined forces, Helen and "Nobody" against the world. Doherty uses the irony of this sad statement to portray not only her dire situation, but also the confusion both "girl-mothers" were feeling.
For Tess, however, it is not until after the baby's birth that she realizes that she loves it. On the night of "Sorrow's" illness, Tess becomes distraught at the thought of losing him, "O merciful God, have pity, have pity on my poor baby.", and more importantly to her, because of what Christians believed at that time, that her baby might die unchristened, and therefore be destined to spend the rest of eternity 'in limbo' between heaven and hell.
This is one period during the novel where Hardy questions the morality of society, and the influence it has over people like Tess: "Alone on a desert
island would she have been wretched at what had happened to her? Not greatly." Hardy criticises the hypocrisy of the people around Tess, pointing out that although they are perfectly happy to entertain themselves with gossip about her, and use her as a "moral warning," feeling themselves to be superior to her, they can also condemn a new born baby to becoming "an offence against society" just because of the way in which it was conceived, and then deem to call themselves moral and just.
This area is also one in which the two author's style differ majorly.
Hardy's omniscient narration allows him to imprint on the reader his own questions and outrages, the reader hearing his thoughts expressed almost as a soliloquy, "But, might some say, where was Tess' guardian angel?", whereas Doherty uses Chris and Helen as puppets, to say what she wants to say through them, in a form easier to identify with.
Another significant difference between the girls was the fact that Helen had people she could talk to about her situation. She had the obvious option of her best friend, Bronwyn, on whom she seemed to rely quite heavily during the tough times. Although she didn't necessarily always want him, Chris was always there for her if she needed him, as was her mother, even though it may have been difficult for both of them to talk about it, she would have been there to support Helen had anything bad happened. She also had Jill, who although was an adult, had a good attitude towards the situation, and helped Helen a great deal.
Tess on the other hand, had none of this support to fall back on. Her mother was much more distant from her than Helen's mother, to such an extent that they hardly spoke. Tess' father was so ashamed that he wouldn't even let the priest in to baptise the child as it was dying. She also had no close friends that she could tell all her problems to. It appeared in fact that she only had her religion to rely on, but it seemed that God wasn't listening to her either. In the end, she had no one, which certainly must have made her ordeal so much worse.
Almost as important as the reaction of the main characters to their troubles, is the reaction of the people around them. Both Helen and Tess were hurt and disappointed by their mothers' reaction, which was one of anger and disgust. Helen's mother scolded her for having sex, "after all I've told you", whereas Tess reprimanded her mother for the opposite reason, "if only you'd have told me." In both cases, mother and daughter outwardly tried to shift the blame onto each other, although all of them almost certainly blamed themselves inside.
In both novels, the general reaction from people not close to the girls is one of interest, as Doherty says, "They regarded [her] as somewhat of a curiosity", and as Hardy says, "she was the most interesting personage in the village to many." The crowds of schoolgirls around Helen were content to sit back and snigger at Helen's trouble, none attempting to hide what they thought of her. The workers around Tess seemed to admire her courage, even though they still did this behind her back, as they didn't appear to want Tess to know that they didn't think badly of her. They would rather Tess suffered, thinking that everyone hated her, than give the impression that they condoned her actions.
Just as their mother's reactions differ, so do their final relationships with them. Hardy attributes much of the blame for Tess' ruin to her mother portraying Tess' reluctance to go to Alec overpowered by her mother's persuasion. It is therefore not surprising that Hardy chooses to leave their relationship broken until Tess' unfortunate death, when it was too late to resolve, thus making her mother seem even more hateful in the reader's eye.
Helen and her mother, however, after the initial coldness between them, grow closer towards the end of the book, after Mrs. Garton reveals to Helen that she herself was illegitimate, and therefore knew the hardships involved.
Conversely, she realized that in today's society, it matters very little if a baby is born out of wedlock, being a far more accepted common occurrence rather than an ostracised sinful deed. Doherty does this to show that single mother's these days can survive, as long as they have support from their families.
"Dear Nobody" also ends happily in the fact that Helen and Chris, although not becoming a couple again, do share the birth of Amy, and are both a part of her life. On the contrary, Tess, as well as ruining her short-term life as he rapes her, Alec is also the reason for her ultimate demise, as she is hanged for his murder.
In conclusion, coming from different eras, one might not expect Hardy and Doherty's main moral messages to be the same. Most are however, and the two writers are in agreement as they say that both mother could have and would have survived with a baby in their worlds, had it not been for the attitudes of the people close to them. Indeed, Helen does survive, with Amy becoming "a fine thread being drawn through a garment, mending tears."
Hardy also makes it clear that Tess would have had a wonderful new life with Angel, had his timing been different. So, although both pointing out the sometimes terrible consequences of having a baby without a husband, neither writer condemns it. Rather they condemn society for exacerbating the inevitable struggle of being a single mother.
