D.H Lawrence’s “Tickets Please” Essay

In tickets there are two main characters, these are John Thomas and Annie. Annie works on the trams and girls are only chosen to work on the trams of they have a confidant nature and a certain no-nonsense approach to men. And this affects her relationship with John Thomas. There are many ways how Lawrence shows how Annie and John Thomas are attracted to each other. The first example of this is on page eighty three paragraph two. † She could tell by the movement of his mouth and eyes, when he flirted with her in the morning in the morning, that he had been walking out with this lass, or the other, the night before. A fine cock-of-the-walk he was. She could some him up pretty well.† The part where she says she could tell by the movement of his eyes and his lips show that she must have some interest in him because she must have studied his movements; this shows at the very least she is interested in him. Another example that shows that they are attracted to each other is the fact that Annie says that she keeps John Thomas at an arm length away from her but John Thomas keeps coming back to try and win her over. Just to show that John Thomas is attracted to her he goes out with another girl after she turns him down as if just to spite her. This also shows more than a passing interest in Annie. On page eighty three we see how Annie and John Thomas react to each other. In paragraph three Lawrence shows and tells us how they react to each other † In this subtle antagonism they knew each other like old friends, they were as shrewd with one another almost as man and wife.† This tells us that when they flirt with each other they are like old friends, it is almost like a routine they both know of-by-heart but carry it on none the less. An example of how John Thomas reacts to Annie is on page eighty four where Annie meets John Thomas at the fair. The example is on the fourth paragraph. â€Å"John Thomas made her stay on for the next round. And therefore she could hardly for shame repulse him when he out his arm around her and drew her a  little nearer to him, in a very warm and cuddly manner. Besides he was fairly discreet, he kept his movements as hidden as possible.† This shows us that John Thomas is reacting to Annie less in the capacity as her friend but more as her boyfriend. We can also tell how Annie reacts to John Thomas in the extract above. In the quote above Annie tells us that John Thomas puts her arm around her and she says he did it in a very cuddly manner and that he was fairly discreet. It is almost as if Annie is trying to convince herself that there is nothing wrong with what she is doing and feeling. Annie is rapidly forgetting that she has a boyfriend and is becoming ensnared in John Thomas’s ploy. In the end Annie decides to get her own back on John Thomas for rejecting her and she goes round her work place subtle suggesting to the other girls that he had dumped that it would be a good idea to get their revenge on him. In the end I think John Thomas â€Å"wins† because he is completely humiliated by been beaten up by the girls and yet when he is forced to choose which one of the girls he is going to stay with he chooses Annie. Annie seems horrified by this because the very thought revolts her due to what he is. In John Thomas’s humiliation it is almost as if the humiliation that has been inflicted upon him has been traversed to Annie as she begins to realise the full consequences of hat she has done. She has cheated on her boyfriend and she herself also feels humiliated by inflicting pain and taking her revenge too far.