To read "The Dube Train" is to hear Can Themba’s voice—a sophisticated blend of standard English, township slang, and jazz-inflected rhythm. He writes in long, breathless sentences that mimic the lurching of the train itself.
At first glance, “The Dube Train” is exactly what its title promises: a story about a daily train ride. But within the cramped, rattling carriages of the train connecting Dube (a township in Soweto) to Johannesburg, Themba constructs a microcosm of a fractured society. It is a story of survival, social performance, and the breathtaking capacity of the human spirit to find beauty in a steel cage. Dube Train Short Story By Can Themba
The story follows a narrator on his daily journey, describing the "shoving savagery" and "sour-smelling humanity" of the overcrowded train. The routine is shattered when a young thug ( tsotsi ) begins to harass and assault a female passenger. While most commuters remain indifferent or fearful—acting as "train-using, bus-boarding philosophers" who avoid intervention—a large, muscular man eventually confronts the tsotsi . The confrontation turns violent; the tsotsi stabs the big man, who responds by throwing the tsotsi out of the moving train's window. The story concludes with the train continuing its journey as if nothing significant had happened, underscoring the desensitization of the public to violence. To read "The Dube Train" is to hear
: Much of the story focuses on the "indifference" of the crowd. Passengers initially turn a blind eye to the tsotsi’s violence, reflecting how systemic oppression can paralyze a community. The eventual intervention suggests that unity and resistance are the only ways to defeat such "thuggery". But within the cramped, rattling carriages of the
The climax of the story often hinges on a confrontation—either a physical fight over a seat, a sudden police check for passes (the "dompas"), or a moment of unexpected tenderness when a stranger offers a cigarette to a crying child. Themba’s genius is that the "plot" is merely the rhythm of the rails: acceleration, the screech of brakes at the station, the heaving of bodies.
: The train is described as smelling of "sour-smelling humanity," symbolizing the physical and moral neglect of black South Africans under the regime. A Mobile Microcosm