Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Train Driver, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race and Empathy
Language
Helplessness vs. Agency
Names
Hope vs. Despair
Summary
Analysis
Simon Hanabe holds his cap in his hand and addresses the audience, using both English and Xhosa words. He introduces himself as “the one who puts the nameless ones in the grave.” He describes seeing a white man walking among the graves with names, which makes Simon warily curious. The man comes over and speaks to Simon, but his speech is unintelligible. The man returns to searching the graves until Simon takes pity on him and informs the man that no white people are buried in the cemetery. The white man explains that he is looking for “a black one without a name.”
Simon’s monologue establishes the significance of names in the story. He introduces himself by name, which immediately contrasts with his reference to “nameless ones.” He also foreshadows death’s prominence throughout the play by immediately announcing the setting––a graveyard––even before the physical set is revealed to the audience. Simon’s frequent use of Xhosa, and his description of a white man searching for a Black body in a segregated graveyard, also establish the racial and linguistic tensions that the play will explore.
Themes
Simon brings the white man to the nameless graves. The white man asks if Simon knows the names of the buried, and Simon says no––“these are the ones without names.” The man reveals he is looking for the grave of a young woman and her baby.
Simon continues to emphasize the namelessness of those buried in the graveyard. He does not describe them as unidentified or buried in unmarked graves––instead, he repeatedly insists that the people themselves have no names. This highlights the lack of identity and individuality afforded to the bodies in the graveyard.
Themes
