Tickets, Please by D. H. Lawrence
"Tickets, Please" by D. H. Lawrence is a short story that explores themes of unrequited love and the complex dynamics between men and women, set against the backdrop of World War I. In this unique environment, with many men away at war, the female conductors of a tram service navigate both their roles and their relationships with the male chief inspector, John Thomas Raynor, known as "Coddy." The narrative centers on Annie Stone, who initially maintains a distance from John Thomas due to her own relationship, but their unexpected romantic encounter leads to deeper feelings of possessiveness in Annie.
When John Thomas fails to reciprocate her desire for a serious connection and pursues other women, Annie plots a vengeful confrontation alongside Nora Purdy, a fellow conductor and former girlfriend of John Thomas. This culminates in a dramatic encounter in a tram depot, where the women confront and physically overpower him. However, the climax reveals a profound emptiness in their victory, as Annie realizes that her desire has been tainted by her actions, leading to a sense of loss rather than fulfillment. The story poignantly illustrates the emotional turmoil and psychological struggles inherent in romantic relationships, emphasizing Lawrence's belief in an ongoing "sexual war" between the genders.
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Tickets, Please by D. H. Lawrence
First published: 1919
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: World War I
Locale: The English Midlands
Principal Characters:
Annie Stone , a young conductor on a railway lineJohn Thomas "Coddy" Raynor , a handsome inspectorNora Purdy , one of several other women conductors
The Story
"Tickets, Please" is a story of unrequited love and the vengeance that it spawns. In its psychological depth and detail, however, it also reveals the sexual war that D. H. Lawrence believed always raged between men and women. The setting is of crucial importance to this story, for it reflects in several significant ways Lawrence's themes. The background is World War I; because most of the healthy young men are away fighting in France, the trains are being driven by "cripples" and "hunchbacks," and the conductors on this "most dangerous tram-service in England" are all women.
The chief inspector on Annie Stone's line is John Thomas Raynor (nicknamed "Coddy" by the women), who is young and good-looking and who takes full advantage of his situation. He flirts with the conductors by day and "walks out" with them by night, and not a few have been forced to leave the service in "considerable scandal."
Annie has kept her distance from John Thomas (she has a boyfriend of her own), but one night they meet unexpectedly at a local fair and spend an exciting, romantic evening together. With their continued intimacy, Annie becomes possessive. "Annie wanted to consider him a person, a man: she wanted to take an intelligent interest in him, and to have an intelligent response." However, here, Lawrence says, "she made a mistake." John Thomas has no intention of becoming an intelligent, serious person to her. He "walks out" with another young woman conductor on the line.
Annie is devastated by the rejection and vows revenge. She plots with Nora Purdy, another of John Thomas's former girlfriends, and together they round up half a dozen former conquests of John Thomas. One dark Sunday night, when Annie has again agreed to walk home with John Thomas, they all meet in the "rough, but cosy" waiting room in the depot at the end of the line.
When John Thomas comes into the depot, he apparently senses the situation and says that he is going home by himself. However, the girls insist that he choose one of them to walk with: "Take one!" They force him to face the wall and guess which one touches him, and then, "like a swift cat, Annie went forward and fetched him a box on the side of the head that sent his cap flying and himself staggering." All the other girls attack him now, and a game turns into a battle between the hunters and the hunted: "Their blood was now thoroughly up. He was their sport now." They beat and subdue him until he is on the floor "as an animal lies when it is defeated and at the mercy of the captor."
Even in defeat, however, John Thomas is clever, and when the women still demand that he choose one of them, he names their ringleader: "I choose Annie." Annie, however, no longer wants him—"something was broken in her." The women release him, John Thomas leaves in tatters, but there is no sense of triumph in the waiting room; the girls leave "with mute, stupefied faces." They have wreaked their revenge and defeated their enemy, but in doing so they have also somehow destroyed the object of their desire, and there is no satisfaction in this victory.