"Dube Train" has had a lasting impact on South African literature and continues to resonate with readers today. The story has been anthologized in various collections of South African short stories and has been widely studied in schools and universities. Themba's work has inspired generations of writers, including notable authors such as Nadine Gordimer and Athol Fugard.
Published in the 1950s in Drum magazine, “The Dube Train” is shockingly contemporary. The trains in South Africa today (the modern "Meteor" or "Mphela" trains) are still overcrowded, still late, and still the site of vibrant, dangerous social interaction. Dube Train Short Story By Can Themba
: 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. "Dube Train" has had a lasting impact on
Philemon watched, his stomach churning. He saw the woman’s shoulders hunch, her eyes darting around for a savior who didn't exist. The other passengers suddenly found the floorboards or the passing blurred landscape incredibly fascinating. Published in the 1950s in Drum magazine, “The
The fragile, depressed silence of the carriage is shattered when a tsotsi (a violent township thug) boards the train. The thug singles out a young, defenseless female passenger, subjecting her to vulgar verbal harassment and physical intimidation. What follows is the core tension of the story:
The journey is a brutal ritual: