"The Train from Rhodesia"
The Train from Rhodesia, a short story written by Nadine Gordimer, takes place during a brief stop in an impoverished African village. The story concerns a young married couple, in which the young woman is interested in a carved lion an old native has to sell but claims the price is too high. Her husband later bargains with this old native and obtains the lion for an unfairly low price, which causes his wife to feel isolated and confused towards this complex society regarding racism. At first the story did not seem to deal with racial problems, but with the use of symbolism and imagery Gordimer was able to illustrate the racial discrimination and the social divide between middle and upper class citizens and the poor African natives in South Africa.
In the short story, The Train from Rhodesia, the title is very important in symbolizing and taking part in converting the theme of this short story. The train being the main symbol in this story takes place both in the beginning and end of the story. The title is refereeing how a train form Rhodesia, a place where the white class is in control, show that the wealthy and superiority are in the train. This leads us to realize from the beginning of the story that there is going to be a social barrier between the rich and poor, or better yet between the whites and the blacks. The title is very important and has important meanings when dealing to portray the issue of racial discrimination, which the natives constantly received from the whites, in many different aspects.
At the beginning of the story Gordimer emphasizes the social divide between the rich and poor. Nadine Gordimer symbolizes poverty in many ways throughout this story. Having the ch...
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...he old native man. The starving old man was made to beg for a few coins in return for a valuable and very skilled sculpture of the lion (Gordimer 53).This conflict between the couple portray how the young woman was affected with the complex in society that she was stuck in.
The story The Train from Rhodesia portrays to be a very interesting short story that depicts the racial discrimination and the social divide between middle and upper class citizens and the poor African natives in South Africa. With the use of symbolism and imagery, Nadine Gordimer is able to portray the issue of racial discrimination, which the natives constantly received from the whites, in many different ways and illustrate how impoverished the African's lives were.
Work Cited
Gordimer, Nadine. Selected Stories. The Train from Rhodesia.
New York: Viking Penguin Books. 1976
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