The Sense of Touch: A Common Theme for Several of D.H. Lawrence’s Short Stories

D. H. Lawrence was a very well known, all-around, popular man in the early twentieth century. Not only did Lawrence write a great deal of short stories, but he also created novels, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, and literary criticisms. Lawrence was obviously a unique individual, and this is reflected in his short story writing. Many other authors of his time wrote with a common characteristic, passion, or setting; but Lawrence uses his unique personality to write with a common theme of intimacy, emotions, and instinct. More specifically, in D. H. Lawrence’s short stories “Tickets, Please”, “You Touched Me”, and “The Blind Man”, Lawrence reflects the characters’ level of intimacy with the sense of touch. In “Tickets, Please” D. H. Lawrence tells the story of a young boy, unfit for war and “crippled”, who tries to win over as many girls as possible. John Thomas was the only decent looking boy left at the tramway system during the war, and he used that to his advantage. Every night, John Thomas would “walk” a girl home; however, he never came close to an actual relationship. Eventually, John Thomas had been with every single girl at the station, and by that time, his girls were fed up. The ladies were tired of being used and treated poorly by John Thomas, so they all got together and came up with a plot for revenge. The girls decided that they would make him choose just ONE of them to be with. When they asked him upfront, he didn’t give an answer, so they tried something else. The girls have John Thomas turn and face the wall; then, each girl was supposed to touch his back. When the one girl that John Thomas wanted to be with touched his back, he should say their name. Lawrence uses the sense of touch here, as a way of identification. Even