Essay1: the Minimization of Reason and Rationality in “Tickets, Please” and “the Horse-Dealer’s Daughter”

666 Words3 Pages
Essay1: The Minimization of Reason and Rationality in “Tickets, Please” and “The Horse-dealer’s Daughter” In both two stories, the author seems to depict the outburst of human emotions in an irresistible or even irrational way in order to reflect the irreversible psychological damage of industrialization or wartime, under the influence of which human relations are distorted into either a fiercely primitive animal revenge as in “Tickets Please” or an outrageous indifference and ineffectuality as in “The Horse-Dealer’s Daughter”. In face of catastrophic events in life, characters are unable to behave in a normal or “intelligent” way; instead they tend to follow their animal instinct that used to be confined or repressed by social manners or class distinction. Thus, life is shown in an intense and exaggerated reality under those specific circumstances. In “Tickets, Please”, it repeatedly appears the word “reckless”. All seems in a quick flow of movement—the trains is up and down, men aboard and disembark, and girls come and go—all seems to be out of control. “Outside was the lawless and darkness of wartime.” The chaos of the surroundings which is best personified by the depiction of the tram (the quick swing of directions by using opposite verbs and preposition, its dangerously excessive energy manifested in the use of adjectives like “perky” “jaunty” and “dare-devil”) reflects the irrationality of human psyche. Wars encourage irresponsibility and whimsical behavior since everything is temporary and people are more susceptible to their natural instinct. “What matter how they behave when the ship is in port? Tomorrow they will be aboard again.” Although the girls represented by Annie in “Tickets, Please” behave unusually masculine and vulgar since they feel an indescribable female superiority in replacing healthy men to drive the tram for the handicapped ones—“They

More about Essay1: the Minimization of Reason and Rationality in “Tickets, Please” and “the Horse-Dealer’s Daughter”

Open Document