Views on "The Train from Rhodesia"

The Train from Rhodesia

The train from Rhodesia stops briefly at a station, its wheels are checked and bread is delivered to the station master’s wife and handouts are given out to the local poor and various artisans circle the bogey to sell their crafts.

The story then focuses on a young woman who is looking out of a window of the train admiring a beautifully carved lion. The lion is described to its last detail and it shows the care and love the artisan put into the making of the lion. The woman who is the wife in the story is joined with her young husband in admiring the lion and they enquire the price and decides on the fact that the price is too high for them because of all the other crafts she purchased on their trip.

She goes back inside the compartment and soon is in deep thought of the lion with the real fur mane and the black tongue. However, soon she gets immersed in deeper thoughts. It becomes apparent that this train ride is the end of their honeymoon trip and this trip to all the foreign places becomes unreal to her. She wonders about what she will do with all the craft items and how the memories and memorabilia would fit in with her life. She also realizes the fact that her husband is not yet a part of her.

The story was based largely on the authors own life and depicted a white girl who attempts to escape the racism of a small-town life. In this novel, Gordimer studies the master-servant relations characteristic existed in South African life, spiritual and sexual tendencies of colonialism, and the political responsibilities of privileged white South Africans. “The Train to Rhodesia” is a short story which talks about the racial discrimination in the African Sub-continent during 1950’s.Setting of this story plays a key role in illuminating the theme. The story begins by describing the atmosphere surrounding the Railway Station. Station made of bricks, station master’s barefoot children, the mud huts in the surroundings, the domesticated animal flocks roaming around, piccanins(black African child): the deeply examined settings discussed in the story as mentioned above display the rural

and poor people of the African locals.

Train is described as a luxurious thing in the story. The Train indicates the separation between the upper class whites and the poor lower class blacks of Africa. The second part of the story in the train compartment pops out the attitude of upper class towards the poor blacks. The writer explained the racial discrimination by pointing out the atmosphere in the compartment which gives a terrible look at black women who tries to sell the wooden lion statue.

In this story she uses distinct and minute imageries accompanied by use of symbols and metaphors to describe about each character and gives us insight into their lives. Thereby she draws our attention into the history of an oppressed community and how they react to their current life situations. By utilizing the characters in the story, Gordimer is able to express how powerless in society the natives are in addition to their severe living conditions.

The short story represents two world inside and outside the train, both literally and metaphorically .Life is a struggle for the people on the platform where it’s a luxurious one for the people inside. The train and the platform even though it is connected to each other, have no similarities or factors which make them similar. Outside the train we see poor vendors who survive by selling toys, starving kids, skinny animals etc... Whereas inside the train, we see a world of luxury with people throwing out food , people trying to purchase goods from vendors because they can afford to. For the rich the wooden toy is a luxury and for the poor, it’s a means of their survival. The vendors are not motivated to sell the toys out of greed but their desire to survive. At the end of the story, we see that the young lady feels guilty that the vendor was paid less for his hard work. She recognizes the humiliation and her husband taking advantages of the vulnerability of the poor vendor. The story revolves around the idea of dehumanization, alienation and colonialism

Gordimer’s story deals with political issues existed, as well as the moral, mental and emotional tensions of her racially divided home country. Most of Gordimer's works deal with themes of love and politics. Her story is more concerned on race in South Africa. She possesses a writing style that always questions power relations and truth. Her stories are about common and marginalized people, revealing moral inexactness and choices. In the story she is completely able to covey her ideas to the readers through her characters and the decisions that her characters make. Even the names of the characters possesses so many ideas.

Characters - 

❖ The Old Man:

The Old Man is generally impoverished and in dire need of income in order to satiate his hunger and satisfy his needs. His Demeanor towards the young couple show the above, from the lines, “The old man held it up to her still smiling, not from the heart, but at the customer”, “ breath visible between his ribs”. Towards the end of the story, we see the man sell the lion idol for a measly 1 shilling and six pence, a fraction of the original price he initially sought after. He is desperate to get money and feels happy that he got something at the end. Not much is given about his physical description besides the following 2 lines, that indicate the general impoverishment of the man and his senility: “breath visible from his ribs” and “as old people repeat things to themselves.”

❖ The Station Master:

The Station master is a minor character seen at the start of the play. His introduction and description is used to highlight the poverty of the village. “The stationmaster’s barefoot children wandered over”,”From the grey mud huts with the untidy heads that stood within a decorated mud wall, chickens, and dogs with their skin stretched like parchment over their bones, followed the piccanins down the track”. He is dutiful as a stationmaster, although he feels discomfort and uneasiness with the job thrust upon him.

The young Couple:

❖ The Young Man:

Unfazed by the situation of the village outside the train; Seems content on haggling with the poor villagers and shows no care and Displays cruelness when he throws the money outside the window, at the old man, after accepting the lower price offered by the man.

❖ The Young Woman: Is seen as more caring and concerned about the wellbeing of the villagers, as evident from the fact that she was shocked by the incredulous behaviour of the young man.

1640101 | Abhisekh P | 4 CME
1640104 | Davis Sojan | 4 CME
1640105 | Gauri Shankar | 4 CME
1640110 | Naived Eapen | 4 CME
1640111 | Naveen Shaji | 4 CME
1640115 | Rohan Zachariah | 4 CME
1640117 | Vishal S | 4 CME
1640125 | Tania George | 4 CME
1640173 | Tom Thomas | 4 CME