The Train Driver

by

Athol Fugard

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Train Driver makes teaching easy.

Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife) Character Analysis

Lorraine is Roelf’s wife. She exemplifies the racist prejudices of white middle-class South Africans, blaming Red Doek’s death on the drunkenness she associates with all Black people. She is preoccupied with cleanliness and order, and she complains that Roelf’s obsession with Red Doek has brought Red Doek’s “stink” into the house. Lorraine is unsympathetic to Roelf’s trauma, but her angry suggestion that Roelf swear at Red Doek instead of his family inspires Roelf to find Red Doek’s body.

Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife) Quotes in The Train Driver

The The Train Driver quotes below are all either spoken by Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife) or refer to Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Race and Empathy Theme Icon
).
Scene 2 Quotes

ROELF: All I could think of to say was, “What the fucking hell are you all staring at?” And Lorraine said, “These are your children, Roelf Visagie––go swear at your woman from the bush.”…When I heard those words it was like something just opened up inside me, because I suddenly realized you see that that is what I wanted to do! Ja! I wanted to take a deep breath and then load up my lungs with every dirty thing I had ever heard and then say them into the face of that woman, who still stands there waiting for me in my dreams. I wanted those to be the last words she hears when my train hits her…But the trouble was I didn’t know her name! I mean you know how it is. When you talk to somebody in your mind you think their name, don’t you?

Related Characters: Roelf Visagie (speaker), Simon Hanabe, Red Doek (The Woman), Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife)
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:
Scene 5 Quotes

ROELF: Sometimes I think…that for me you will forever just be Red Doek standing there on the tracks, and that for you I will forever just be a white man staring at you in the few seconds before you die. But…it can’t be as simple as that!...You see, I don’t really know what your story is––who you are, where you come from, what’s your name…But now, thanks to all I’ve seen and heard in the past few weeks…I got some sort of idea, some sort of feeling about your world. You see, Red Doek, most of us white people got no idea about what it’s like because our world is so different! We always think we know––like Lorraine my wife––she thinks she knows everything about you people…and I did as well…but the truth is we don’t.

Related Characters: Roelf Visagie (speaker), Red Doek (The Woman), Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife)
Page Number: 38
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Train Driver LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Train Driver PDF

Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife) Quotes in The Train Driver

The The Train Driver quotes below are all either spoken by Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife) or refer to Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Race and Empathy Theme Icon
).
Scene 2 Quotes

ROELF: All I could think of to say was, “What the fucking hell are you all staring at?” And Lorraine said, “These are your children, Roelf Visagie––go swear at your woman from the bush.”…When I heard those words it was like something just opened up inside me, because I suddenly realized you see that that is what I wanted to do! Ja! I wanted to take a deep breath and then load up my lungs with every dirty thing I had ever heard and then say them into the face of that woman, who still stands there waiting for me in my dreams. I wanted those to be the last words she hears when my train hits her…But the trouble was I didn’t know her name! I mean you know how it is. When you talk to somebody in your mind you think their name, don’t you?

Related Characters: Roelf Visagie (speaker), Simon Hanabe, Red Doek (The Woman), Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife)
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:
Scene 5 Quotes

ROELF: Sometimes I think…that for me you will forever just be Red Doek standing there on the tracks, and that for you I will forever just be a white man staring at you in the few seconds before you die. But…it can’t be as simple as that!...You see, I don’t really know what your story is––who you are, where you come from, what’s your name…But now, thanks to all I’ve seen and heard in the past few weeks…I got some sort of idea, some sort of feeling about your world. You see, Red Doek, most of us white people got no idea about what it’s like because our world is so different! We always think we know––like Lorraine my wife––she thinks she knows everything about you people…and I did as well…but the truth is we don’t.

Related Characters: Roelf Visagie (speaker), Red Doek (The Woman), Lorraine Visagie (Roelf’s Wife)
Page Number: 38
Explanation and Analysis: