A Stylistic Analysis of D.H. Lawrence's Short Story "Ticket's Please"

Abstract

Tickets Please" is a short story that points out the condition of masculinized British women by assuming the jobs of men thanks to the human resources during The First World War. With a stylistic analysis of the short story, this paper aims to reveal David Herbert Lawrence's dissatisfaction with industrial environment and his observation on the fact that employment of women in men's jobs during The First World War is not a social progress, but a social degeneration. The paper also emphasizes that for Lawrence it is because those women are promoted only in their business life not in social life and reveals the author's implication that whereas men assert their long-established economic superiority, women still resume their passive attitude in the daily life. The paper also attempts to dispute the accusation of Lawrence for being a sexist in his reflection of the absurdity of women's employment in men's jobs. Through a stylistic analysis of the story, this study examines psychological consequences of the change in women's status and the battle between sexes embodied by the characters Annie and Thomas.