On the train the woman standing

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2014

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Transitional Movement as a Metaphor for Life

Rankine uses the movement of the train as a metaphor for how people move through their lives, particularly regarding their understanding of race and racism. While the train functions as a physical, concrete aspect of the poem, it is useful to read it as a metaphorical image each time it occurs. In the first line of the poem, the speaker says, “On the train the woman standing makes you understand there are no seats available” (Line 1). Immediately, the “woman standing” (Line 1) is positioned, through her behavior, as the director of the physical space of the train. This implies that the woman standing is white, in particular because of the power she carries “on the train” (Line 1).

The next mention of the train is in Line 12: “You sit next to the man on the train, bus, in the plane […].” The list continues, suggesting that the “train” is a space that reflects all public, moving spaces where people interact. Further, the speaker’s location as sitting “next to the man” (Line 12) reflects how the speaker feels kinship and protection in her relationship with this man. The implication is that both the speaker and the man are Black, as opposed to the woman mentioned previously.

The image of the train is repeated in several other key moments, indicating its central importance in the poem. When considered metaphorically, especially in relation to the relationships between the characters of the poem, the train’s movement becomes more important. A train is a place where people of many races interact, and public transit has frequently been the site of violence against Black people. Trains are also places where people bear witness to one another and choose to be in physical proximity with one another. Thus, the train becomes a metaphorical location for Rankine’s intentions: It is a public space where people of different races are forced to interact and see one another; thus, the train is also a place where any of us could stand up for another person or prevent violence, by seeing differently.

Darkness as a Psychological Mirror

The “darkness” (Line 11, Line 19, Line 21, Line 32) of the train’s tunnel is emphasized, primarily in reference to the relationship between the speaker and the man. Because the word “darkness” immediately follows mentions of the speaker’s attempts to relate to the man sitting down, it could refer to the characters’ psychological states. For example, in Line 11, “[the man] is gazing out the window into what looks like darkness”; this darkness could imply the man’s undefined emotional state because the speaker does not know exactly how he feels.

Later, the speaker describes the “slick darkness” (Line 32) of the tunnel, which is sometimes punctured by “a white light” (Line 33). The darkness and flickering white light are metaphorical reflections of the three characters on the train, even though their races are never directly stated. Rankine’s implication here is also important because of the way she uses language: Rather than name race as white or Black, she instead uses the space’s physical appearance to suggest that race is a factor in this interaction on the train.

How Black People Are Treated in Public Spaces

In Citizen, Claudia Rankine addresses microaggressions between white and Black people, often in public spaces. Several moments in the poem include jarring grammatical structures where there is missing punctuation or run-on phrasing; in each of these moments, the speaker describes her attempt to understand how Black people are treated in public spaces, and why.

An example of the altered grammatical phrasing is when the speaker begins defining the “space” next to the man, which she is “trying to fill” (Line 14) before she narrates that “the space belongs to the body of the man next to you, not to you” (Line 14). The run-on nature makes it so that the phrases layer on top of one another: “you,” “the space,” and “the body” (Line 14) are each repeated multiple times. This structure, as in other parts of the poem, develops the significance of Rankine’s argument in the poem: Public spaces only have room for some kinds of people, and other kinds of people are perceived as unsafe. By giving the man in the poem space that “belongs” (Line 14) to him, Rankine shifts the dynamic that is typical in public space, where Black people have been, historically and currently, viewed as less worthy of taking up space.