A Study on Characters’ psychology in “Tickets, Please”
摘要：戴维·赫伯特·劳伦斯作为美国历史上最杰出的小说家之一，其作品毁誉参半。“请买票”完美诠释了劳伦斯的战争观，爱情观和两性观。这篇文章旨在从心理学的角度分析对比文中男女性之间的差异，并试图解释埋藏在这种现象之下的原因。
关键词：两性 冲突 占有欲 战争受害者 Introduction
“Frailty, thy name is women!” This well-known saying of William Shakspeare best expounded D.H. Lawrence’’s novel, “Tickets, Please”. Criticism said differing from the traditional “masculine ruling” mode in Lawrence’’s most works, this short novel was an exception as “women’’s rebelling” consciousness was considered to revive. But actually, women in this story are still the losers in this battle of the sexes.
The story is quite simple. It mainly tells about a couple’’s affection entanglement. John Thomas is a young inspector of the tramway system who has a history with almost all the girl conductors. One of the “Thomas victim”, Annie, united other five abandoned girls to take revenge on him by beating him and coercing him to choose one girl for marriage. After abreacting resentment, they let Thomas go “with mute, stupefied faces”.
Victims of the war
The protagonist of this story, Thomas, is a playboy who doesn’’t want a serious and stable relationship. He pursues freedom without restrict of moral regulations instead of settling down. He “flirts with girl conductors” who are all “sufficiently attractive” and “quite comely”. Though “some of the girls quit the service frequently”, it has no influence to Thomas of flirting and walking out with the newcomers. After all, most of the girls don’’t reject walking out with Thomas not only because he is “good-looking” with “a faint impudent smile” but also the influence of the whole social ethos and war-time background.
Another reason is because all the people living in this environment has already lost themselves, both men and women just want to indulge themselves temporarily. At the beginning of the story, Lawrence displays readers a desolate and gloomy natural surroundings. What the author wants to reflect from this living environment is actually the living state of people at wartime. “One solid mass of living people” are reluctant to dismount even the car is on fire. “From village to village the miners travel” just “for a change of cinema, of girl, of pub”. The development of industrial civilization has severely distorted people’’s body and mind, torn up human being’’s soul and turned them into numb, mechanical and shallow “dead person”. Gradually they ceased dreaming and lost themselves in the desolate environment.
The possessive femaleHowever, “there is a certain wild romance aboard these cars--and in the sturdy bosom of Annie herself.” Annie’’s attitude towards Thomas was very clear. She “had always kept him sufficiently at arm’’s length” because she knew Thomas’’s trick so well. “She watched him vanquish one girl, then another.” But she didn’’t abominate him, instead, “she liked him all the more: for he always came
up smiling, with impudence.” Annie proudly considered herself as an intelligent outsider and looked coldly from the sidelines at all these for she believed herself never stepping into his trap and that she would never be vanquished.
However, everything changed after a fair. After all, women are sensitive and sentimental animals. They are too easily to be moved, to unpack vigilance, to surrender. Annie fell in love with Thomas at last. She “liked John Thomas a good deal” and “John Thomas really liked Annie, more than usual.” Annie was sure to feel that as women always feel by breast instead of thinking by brain. She sensed that she was different from other girls Thomas dated. She thought she was an exception for Thomas that she deserved to be treated as special. So “with a developing acquaintance there began a developing intimacy.” Pathetically, women always think feelings can make everything work out, contrarily, men don’’t think so. What men consider is far more than these irrational factors. Thomas didn’’t want to settle down. He just enjoyed this procedure. Pleasures is what he pursued, thus he would never be responsible to any of these girls he played with. Here the diversity between men and women arouse. Annie thinks she is special for Thomas and wants to prove it. She has been conquered by this man and conversely she wants this man also to be conquered by her. Women always do good to men and want the equal goodness being paid back. Annie is the best example. She is no more content with just walking out with Thomas, She wants more. “Annie wanted to consider him a person, a man; she wanted to take an intelligent interest in him, and to have an intelligent response. She did not want a mere nocturnal presence.” This “possessive female was aroused in Annie”. Men like Thomas hated to be bound, freedom is their best lover, therefore, Thomas abandoned Annie.
Conclusion
This is actually a story about love and freedom, possessive and anti-possessive. Lawrence wants to tell us that love should never include obligation or responsibility. Ostensibly, women won this battle. Actually, man left in triumph. The strong female possessive was defeated by freedom. As Lawrence said in “Sons and Lovers”, “Love should be giving a sense of freedom, rather than being imprisoned.” After all, women like Annie are merely victim of possessive and the pathetic weak.Reference:
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A Study on Characters' psychology in -Tickets, Please-
