The Train from Rhodesia

Anthropomorphism is the ascribing of human attributes to inanimate or non-human objects. In this story, both the train and the carved animals that the vendors sell are depicted as if they are human. The train is described as “gasping” as if it has lungs, and as dragging its “dwindling body” into the station (43). As the train pulls away at the end of the story, the carved animals are seen “questioning for the last time at the windows” (46), as if they are selling themselves.

Conversely, the vendors selling the carved animals are compared to “performing animals,” while the mute staring passengers on the train evoke the faces of animals. These metaphors express the dehumanizing effects of capitalism, along with the disproportionate value that a capitalist society puts on machines and objects.

A close omniscient perspective is both wide-ranging and limited. The story is told in the third person, implying an all-seeing observer; yet there are narrow limits to how much the observer knows.

We do not have access to the thoughts and feelings of most of the characters. We see them as we see people in real life, through their actions and appearances.