A Critical Commentary on D.H Lawrence's 'Cocksure Women & Hensure Men'

'Cocksure Women and Hensure Men' is a best example of argumentative or persuasive essay in which Lawrence has taken a very strong position on a crucial aspect of modern life. His modern points assert that modern women are in general unhappy because they have in general attempted to play a masculine role in the society by leaving their natural ability. His main points are further clarified with the help of analogy between foul barnyard and human farmyard. For the rhetorical purpose of persuading its readers, when women attend to make their life visible in the public space. This essay presents that women who are giving up the biological ability of mothering are taking on masculine role are doomed to absolute tragedy.

In the opening paragraph, Lawrence distinguishes between two kinds of women. One is the "demure" (shy of fearful) and the other is "dauntless". He further suggests that most women especially modern women are dauntless rather than demure. But the writer takes the clear stand in the opening paragraph and doesn't make either of the two superior.

In the second paragraph, this writer moves from two kinds of women to kinds of confidence or sureness. Lawrence employs an old term, "Cocksure" and he coins a new one to balance it - "Hensure". In paragraphs 3,4,5,6 he describes chicken farmyard. The cockerel is cocksure. He leads all the hens out when they reach day light. The hens also follows him. In the morning, when cockerel runs proudly, The hens are also surer in their own field. Sometimes, Hens try to crow and the cock pretends to cackle. Just as a cock can cackle as if it had laid the eggs, So hen can crow. Though hens are trying to be more cocky, they cannot realise the danger, challenge, defiance, depth and destruction around them.

It seems same in the vast human farmyard. Nowadays, all the cocks are cackling and pretending to lay eggs and hens are crowing and pretending to call sun out of bed. Just like that, men are timid, tremulous, shy,soft and submissive. Women are also stepping forth with a loud cock-a-doodle-do. Modern women are becoming more cocky than men but the tragedy is like hens. They never realize the challenge.

So far as the personality of the writer and style is concerned, the writer in the essay does not seem to be naked and direct. But the uses of analogy between fowl barnyard and human farmyard suggests that is straight forward in his main argument. The tone of the writer is both aggressive and serious because he doesn't want women to be cocksure and men to be hensure which is detrimental to both the sexes.