How Does Lawrence make clear to the Reader the Difficulties in the Relationship Between Men and Women?

It is because of the absence of understanding between the two that Annie feels so hurt as to seek revenge in the first place; perhaps if she hadn't become more intense so soon then their relationship could have lasted longer. It is not entirely her fault though, John liked Annie 'more than usual', so he could have given her the wrong impression and misled her. Annie has observed his behaviour around other women and is aware of the fact that he moves quickly from one to the next - 'she watched him vanquish fist one girl, then another' - so she should have realized that he was likely to do the same with her.

John Thomas does not understand what is happening initially at the end - he doesn't realize that he has caused the girls to feel the way they do, because he expects them all to understand the short-term nature of a relationship with him. Annie has behaved so independently around others previously, as such a carefree wild spirit, that John Thomas cannot be solely blamed for not expecting her to feel so deeply and hunger for greater involvement. He is taken completely by surprise by the vicious attack made against him 'his blue eyes flamed with strange fear as well as fury', 'they were rather horrifying to him'. This is not the typical conduct of a group of young women, and it leaves him rather dumbfounded 'a strange, ragged, dazed creature'. Annie herself does not even really expect the course of events to follow the path it does, she does not plan for things to be taken as far as they are. It is the women that have the power at the end of both stories; the men, normally most dominant, have lost all control and shredded their masculinity. John becomes like a hunted animal, terrified of the women, who also take on animalistic characteristics, like vicious predators. This section of the story is full of sexual undertones, the act of the women tearing at John's clothes, dragging him to the floor, their panting and increased heartbeats all parallel the act of sex. In 'Odour of Chrysanthemums', the husband is obviously totally helpless now that he is dead, and there is even an ironic twist in the fact that Elizabeth said earlier in the story 'I won't wash him' when he returned home, yet now she does just that. She also says 'he can lie on the floor', and his body is indeed laid out on the floor in the parlour for her and his mother to tend.

At the beginning of 'Tickets, Please', Lawrence devotes the first two sides of text to a rich description of the tramway system. By personifying the tram-cars (they 'purr with curious satisfaction') and repeatedly writing in the first person plural 'we are in war-time', 'we are clear again', 'we're not coming out', the reader is made to feel more involved in the story, as if they are a part of it, right from the outset. This description of the tram ride parallels exemplifies the 'dare-devil', wild-spirited nature of Annie and the other girls. She is risky, and it is a risk to take an interest in her; the way all the girls manage the trams means that there is an element of danger in riding one. Everyone on the trams is aware of the possibilities, they are all aware that they are endangering their lives, but they challenge the risks. Annie and John Thomas both think that they understand each other, that they know the chances they take, yet Annie is taken completely by surprise when he leaves her, and he certainly does not expect the almost savage attack on him at the end.

The men in both stories are neglectful of the duties expected of them - John Thomas moves quickly from one girl to the next, breaking hearts in the process; in 'Odour of Chrysanthemums' the man has obviously made a habit of spending all his time and money in a pub on alcohol rather than being attentive to his wife and children. Both the main women feel shame - Annie for her actions, for the humiliation she has inflicted upon John Thomas - particularly at the end of the story, from the moment John Thomas chooses her onwards. Elizabeth feels shame for the shadow of a life she shared with her husband, Walter, for how little she felt she knew him as she washed his dead body, and for having her low expectations of him, almost hating him.

Jenny Rowan 11M 7 March, 2001