A clash of cultures

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A clash of cultures

The two main stories which have a negative end are “The Train from

Rhodesia” and “The Gold Legged Frog”. Both of these stories include

the aspect of “a clash of culture” which acts as a catalyst for the

negative endings.

“The Train from Rhodesia” incorporates the aspect of two cultures from

different parts of the world coming together. This story is an

allegory and outlines the clash of cultures when white people come

into black people’s land and exploit them. The story is about a young

couple who are on holiday and they have bought lots of souvenirs. At

the platform the young women is attracted to a skilfully carved lion.

The young woman doesn’t buy the lion since she thinks that the price

is too high. When the train starts to leave the platform the old

black man comes running after the train and sells the lion to the

young man at half the original price. The young man tells her wife

about his success and tries to please her but the young women reacts

differently; she is furious at her husband.

The young women is angry at her husband for humiliating the old man

and making him run after the train, on top of that giving him less

than half price for the lion. She feels that the price paid does not

reflect the creativity and time spent on carving the lion. An

alternative interpretation of this situation could be that the young

woman was actually angry at her self.

“The heat of shame mounted through her legs and body and sounded in

her ears like the sound of sand pouring”.

This quote could mean that the woman was actually angry at her self

for not buying the lion at full price in the first place, after all

her husband was only trying to please her and didn’t think how he was

exploiting the poor black man.

In this story symbolism is also a main aspect;

“…, and the lion, fallen on its side in the corner.”

The lion symbolises the exploitation of black men, emphasises how

inferior black man are thought of and that at the end of the day

skilful work created by black men is just thrown aside.

The writer presents the details of the surroundings and the black

people living in poverty through the young woman’s eyes;

“Out of the window, on the other side, there was nothing; sand and

bush; a thorn tree.”

This strong imagery which we discover through the woman’s eyes means

that we feel even more sympathetic towards the black and poor people

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