D H Lawrence...reminds me of Porky Pig.

Discuss the use of language in this passage and its effectiveness as the opening of a short story




Tickets Please by D H Lawrence is a detailed opening of a short story, setting the scene of the short story that will unfold. The audience is brought on a tram, exploring the emotions that the physical settings that the industrious area invokes. The passage is filled with juxtapositions, long sentences, and unsteady rhythm. The story is told as if it is a commentary, with phrases such as ‘draws near’ and ‘in a few minutes’. The opening can be said to be panoramic, giving us an overview of how industrial society has developed in the midlands.
The passage has depressing and gloomy words, establishing a bleak tone and atmosphere. Lawrence uses words such as “ugly place of industry”, “cold town”, “gloomy country” to describe the physical attributes of the industrialised area. Lawrence brings out dark and depressing colours in his passage, such as a the ‘collieries’, and the ‘smokes and shadows’. Lawrence seems to be subtly criticising industrialization, as he points out the negative impacts it has had on a rural setting. This description is effective as the opening of a story as Lawrence has already established one of the underlying messages of the text.
The passage is filled to the rim with opposites and contrasts. A contrast can be seen in the way the passage begins and ends. It starts on a negative note, “ugly villages”, but ends with “green as a jaunty sprig of parsley out of a black colliery garden”, reflecting life amongst the dead. Perhaps Lawrence is trying to bring some optimism into the obscure context, showing that there is still hope. The city cars are said to be crimson and cream coloured, almost like blood on skin, a harsh image to describe cars.
The extract is structured like the journey of the tram – first there are seven lines, one whole sentence, showing the movement of the tram. Then there are two lines, another sentence, signifying the stopping of the tram, and then the tram begins to ‘plunge’ again, another sentence consisting of seven lines. This meticulous approach allows the audience to feel as if they are riding the tram themselves. The unsteady rhythm of the text – “plunges off into the black, industrial countryside, up hill and down dale, through the ugly villages of workmen’s houses” – also helps in creating the rickety feeling one would get when riding a tram. The vocabulary used, such as ‘boldly leaves’, ‘plunges’, and how the tram itself goes ‘up’ and ‘under’ or ‘in a rush’, how it ‘pauses’ and ‘purrs’ before there are more ‘reckless swoops downhill’ with ‘breathless slithering’. The ‘speed’ of the tram can be seen as a reflection of the speed of industrialisation in the area.
The journey of the tram is monotonous, just like the lives of the people living in the “long ugly village of workmen’s houses”. They are ‘cogs in a machine’, having to work in the “ugly place of industry” day after day, and going to the “rural church” every Sunday. Their lives seem insignificant, even pointless to an extent .Lawrence may be reflecting on how industrialisation has ruined the individuality of the people, perhaps the reason why he does not describe ‘people’ in the passage : they are all the same. The only way that they can perhaps be happy in this dreary atmosphere, is to fool themselves into thinking that each waking day, they start “once more on the adventure”.
The text is written like a commentary, in the present tense, bringing emotions to the reader as they are surveying the Midlands. One of the setbacks of this approach is that Lawrence does not allow the reader to form their own opinions about the scene. He uses vocabulary such as ‘ugly’ and ‘gloomy’, establishing an unpleasant image of the Midlands in the mind of the reader. However, Lawrence could be said to be using this technique effectively, as he puts the reader into the exact mood that he wants, in order for them to wholly understand the message of the text.
D H Lawrence wrote his text in the 1900s, when the industrial revolution was at full throttle. As well as bringing prosperity, the revolution also brought pollution, deforestation, and destruction in its various forms. Lawrence depicts in his text very effectively, rarely showing any natural life in his text – “factories”, “fat gas works”. The tram itself is a result of industrialisation. The “ash trees” seem to be a reflection of the pollution itself, “ash” being a dull grey colour of smoke. As Lawrence is so critical of industrialization, the story might concentrate on the negative aspects of industrialization as whole. However, as the text is full of contrasts, the story may unfold concentrating on a particular event or a character.
To conclude, the passage is extremely effective as the opening of a short story, as it sets the scene perfectly, creating a dismal atmosphere. We are given a pessimistic view of the Midlands, but with the “jaunty sprig of parsley”, we are given a ray of optimism, signifying that something better may unfold by the end of the story.