The Train From Rhodesia

The train’s arrival at the station represents a collision of worlds: the impoverished and isolated world of the native villagers, and the sheltered, privileged world of the passengers on the train. The contrast is made especially stark by the fact that the passengers never leave the train as if they fear being abandoned in the village or being contaminated by the poverty of the residents. Their only contact with the native villagers is through the train’s windows, reinforcing the social gulf between them.

Yet, there is desperation on both sides of this gulf. The passengers reach out toward the native people and shout as much as the native people hold their wares up at the passengers. The passengers want to see and acquire these wares, but there is also a sense that they want to broaden their experience and make a human connection. They do not know how to do so other than through haggling. When the passengers who have reached their heads outside the windows look back at the passengers who have remained in their seats, the latter look sealed off and distant: “Those sitting inside looked up: suddenly different, caged faces, boxed in, cut off after the contact of outside” (44).