: The train serves as a cramped, decaying symbol of the South African state. The physical state of the third-class carriages parallels the "moral decay" and exhaustion of the black commuters forced into these daily rituals of struggle.
The carriage exhaled. But it wasn't a sigh of relief; it was a sigh of exhaustion. The woman didn't thank her rescuer. The big man didn't look for praise. He simply sat back down, his face a mask of stone. Dube Train Short Story By Can Themba
Can Themba did not have a happy ending. His defiance of the apartheid regime (specifically the Immorality Act, which banned interracial relationships) led to his banning, his exile to Swaziland, and his death from alcohol-related illness in 1968. He was only 43. : The train serves as a cramped, decaying
Themba’s writing style in The Dube Train is distinct for its sensory density. He does not just tell us the train is crowded; he makes us feel the "sweat-slicked" bodies and hear the "screeching" of the wheels. But it wasn't a sigh of relief; it was a sigh of exhaustion
The protagonist is the moral centre of the story, yet he is defined by his passivity—at least initially.