16 pages • 32 minutes read
Claudia RankineOn the train the woman standing
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Space Next to the Man
One of the most critical symbols in the poem is the “[t]he space next to the man” (Line 5). At different moments, this space is described as “the pause in a conversation” (Line 5) for the speaker, “more like breath than wonder” (Line 9) for the man. To the poet, the space seems to represent the “fear” (Line 6) the man brings to the white passengers, who avoid sitting next to him wherever he goes. The speaker, who is implied to be a Black woman, can sit “in proximity” (Line 13) to the man, reinforcing the meaning of the space as representative of white people’s fear. This is also affirmed later in the poem, as the speaker describes how “Where he goes the space follows him” (Line 15) and if the man left, the speaker could stop “struggl[ing] against the unoccupied seat when where why the space won’t lose its meaning” (Line 17). The attachment of the space as representative of fear is consistent for the man, who experiences this physical dynamic in all public places. The speaker’s “struggle against” (Line 17) the seat relates to the precise location of the man and the space; it is the public space and the white person’s fear that create the space’s meaning.
Tunnels
In one of the shortest lines of the poem, the speaker describes how she watches the man next to her through the darkness created by “[a] tunnel” (Line 20). The placement of this short phrase heightens the importance of the tunnel: It is the space the speaker and the other characters are moving through and is simultaneously a symbol for the society that they live in. The tunnel creates the “darkness” (Line 11, Line 19, Line 21, Line 32) yet allows the speaker “to look at him” (Line 21). While the speaker does question why she wants to see him, she also is the only person on the train to occupy the seat next to the man. The tunnel thus creates the conditions that allow the speaker to humanize and connect to the man, as reflected by their kinship in the final lines of the poem. Tunnels can also be interpreted as a womblike space; in that sense, the tunnel functions as the creative and protective location around the speaker and man that allows them to feel safe next to one another.
Questioning
A common pattern in the poem is the use of the speaker’s questioning to raise key ideas in the poem. Questions appear in the following lines:
“Is the woman getting off at the next stop” (Line 3)?
“Does he feel you looking at him” (Line 22)?
“What does suspicion mean” (Line 24)?
“What does suspicion do” (Line 25)?
“You sit to repair whom who” (Line 28)?
There are also moments where the speaker describes questions, such as “From across the aisle tracks room harbor world a woman asks a man in the rows ahead if he would mind switching seats” (Line 34) and “if anyone asks you to move, you'll tell them we are traveling as a family” (Line 39). The speaker describes moments in which two people are interacting and want to feel connected with each other. The tones of the direct questions, additionally, imply the speaker’s uncertainty about her position next to the man. Through these varied questions, Rankine creates a sense, in the poem, that each of us should question our positions in public spaces, and whom we do and do not see.
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By Claudia Rankine
