Narrative

"The Train from Rhodesia" begins and ends with the symbol of the train. Gordimer structures her story around this metaphor and uses limited third-person narration to tell it. The narrator reveals only the thoughts of the young woman, thus focusing the story around her perspective, even though the stationmaster and his family are introduced to the reader before the train arrives. The woman's thoughts are conveyed through interruptions in Gordimer's detailed narrative. These interruptions reveal her moral questions about her husband's bargaining for the carving: "Everything was turning around inside her. One-and-six. One-and-six." That no one else's thoughts are revealed by the narrator further emphasizes the psychological distance between the woman and the other characters in the story.

Symbolism and Imagery

In a story so short, images and symbols must be chosen carefully and used efficiently if the story's themes are to be presented clearly. In "The Train...