TRAIN

Critical Analysis:

Train is a yet another short story by Alice Ann Munro. She is a renowned

Canadian contemporary fiction writer whose splendid work is appreciated

from around the world. She is a Nobel Prize winner in Literature for her work

as “master of contemporary short story”. Her stories have revolutionized the

architecture of short stories. Her stories have said to “embed more than

announce, reveal more than parade”. Much of her work often exemplifies the

literary genre known as Southern Ontario Gothic.

The story Train basically revolves around the protagonist of the story,

namely, Jackson. It starts in a very unusual way as Munro’s stories are mostly

quite straightforward. It begins with Jackson jumping off a train and though it

was moving quite slowly, it ended up hurting him more than he expected.

After his disappointed landing from the train, he picks up his bag and starts

walking back in the direction he just covered on the train. He then realizes that

he is closer to a civilization then he realized, indeed, there is a woman out

milking a cow whose name is Margaret Rose. The woman turns out to be

Belle.

Their first interaction goes pretty well even though there were so many

different ways their interaction could have gone wrong. Instead, it is not even

all that awkward because Belle is a sweet, almost naive, woman.

Belle lives by herself, although that is a recent development. Her mother

passed away a few months ago after decades of needing a lot of physical help.

Her father has been dead for many years because he was hit by a train. He

used to take care of Belle’s mother, but once he died, the responsibility was all

hers.

She was also more or less supported by the Mennonites who live up the road.

The introduction of them is wonderful, as it is how Jackson sees them: “Over

the hill came a box on wheels, being pulled by two quiet small horses…. and in

the box sat half a dozen or so little men. All dressed in black with proper black

hats on their heads.”

Of course, these little men are the Mennonite children who look after her.

Jackson pities Belle, although she neither seeks it nor really deserves it. She

seems quite content with her situation. He decides to stick around and fix up

her house for her which is in bad need of repair. He imagines that he can work

for her for a few months and then maybe help the Mennonites a bit and then

continue on his way.

After several years, Jackson and Belle have settled down like brother and sister

which is pretty much a purely Platonic relationship. Interestingly enough, we

don’t really learn all that much about either of them. Although we certainly

learn more about her as she is the more talkative of the two, but there is

virtually no explanation of Jackson’s past.

Then, Belle finds a lump. Jackson convinces her to have the cancer taken out.

And they drive together to Toronto. On their way, Belle freaks out by the

highway and all of the city changes, from the time she used to live there, and

even Jackson is surprised by how much has changed since he was there last.

Someone tells him they ought to see Chinatown! Belle is nervous about the

operation, but he sits with her and tries to take her mind off of things which

works for a while.

But when she wakes up after the surgery, she seems different. No doubt it is

from the medication, but she is a little less proper, her reserve is down

somewhat. And she tells him what she believes is the real reason for her

father’s death.

This moment of bareness freaks Jackson out. And the rest of the story shows

just how much of a coward Jackson really is. The jump to the next section is

practically unfathomable as Jackson begins to make a new life in the city. It is

true that Jackson and Belle never had any kind of formal agreement and he

always planned to leave her, but it is shocking that he considers it.

After about two third of the way into the story, a new character is introduced.

And it almost feels like a new story. Until, that is, Munro links this new story

with the main story and it flashes out Jackson’s past and gives the whole story

an amazing amount of depth.

The story is really wonderfully told. It is a really strong short story. And the

title, which seems a little generic, really play a large role in the story overall.

Bibliography:

Pandey, Dr. Sanjay Prasad. “Beauty: Illusion or Reality.” The Achievers Journal 1.1. (2015) .pag. web <theachieversjournal.com>

By Rudhir Shubhro 
Reg. 11406011