“The Train from Hate” by John Hope Franklin

People were more self-centered at the beginning. According to John Hope Franklin’s novel, The Train from Hate, superiority and inferiority complexes became the order of the day. John Hope Franklin was an African-American who was born in Oklahoma in 1915. Franklin’s father and mother were both lawyers and teachers, and he had one sister, whom he described in his novel. Along with publishing The Train from Hatred, he has created great works of literature such as From Slavery to Independence and A History of African Americans (Moss 23). He was more focused on the southern history of the African Americans as well as racial politics (Applebome). In his life time John Hope Franklin was beyond just a literature author, having served as a leader in the National association for advancement of colored people (NAACP) coupled with being a renowned public speaker.

The article of The Train from Hate is based on the true life experiences of John Hope Franklin. Franklin speaks from first-hand experience the aspects of inferiority and superiority complexes that he got from the Midwest state, which in his books is among the first cases. This is unique considering the fact that his previous publications were only based on the struggles that the African Americans were experiencing in the earlier years. The story is outstanding, because the author states from the experience he got to change his perspective towards life and people, thus making him a better person. A general theme of discrimination is identified through the eyes of a young African American. Alongside the segregation, wisdom and strength is also portrayed as subjects of interest especially from Mrs. Franklin. The aspect of overcoming hate is also highlighted and is of significance to the readers (Franklin, 221).

In the world of literature, discrimination is neither foreign nor new, as a matter of fact many authors from various backgrounds have used the theme of discrimination as their center pieces of literature. The society tends to view alienation as a thing of the past, but in reality, it is as alive today as it was many decades ago. When Franklin brings out the aspect of discrimination, he highlights his personal reflection in addressing the issue. In the process a unique setting is inflicted in the literature making it stand out from the rest. In many ways during our childhood, we tend to have memories that influence how we perceive and view life, this is what Franklin based his story on. Franklin brings out through illustration an important moment in his life when he experiences hate and outright discrimination.

Franklin could not understand why so much hatred could exist especially towards them. At this point he makes the audience walk down memory lane to have a feel and understand that some of the childhood experiences could have either influence them positively or negatively.

When harassed by the white conductor on the train, Franklin could not have a better understanding for the maltreatment. The experience could have impacted his life in a negative way. Instead Franklin noticing his sadness from the incidence of being commanded off the train, took the opportunity to impart into her son knowledge that appertain personal decisions about perception (Franklin 223). This in a way helps open up the mind of the reader to focus more on what matters in their life positively than what derails them to have negativity.

The audience of The train from hate are able to empathize with the author by relating to his personal feelings. In the story, discrimination is heightened when Franklin, his mother and sister were denied a chance to travel by train to their destination. “From the beginning, having boarded the wrong coach in the train without noticing and Franklin’s mother acknowledging it was the starting point of segregation. She accepted her mistake and requested that the train be stopped so that she and her children could safely transfer to the black coach. The white conductor could hear no of it, but eventually the train stopped. But instead of being transferred to the black section, they were ordered off the train before reaching their destination” (Franklin John Hope, 223). This was a moment of plain confusion on the author, as he could not understand why they were walking all the way and it was the first instance when he came face to face with racial segregation, which makes a reader empathize, in order to have a better understanding of the situation as well as a sense of insight.

The young seven-year-old African American boy was left wondering why the white man in the train was so mean and they could not be allowed to reach their destination, and instead they were heading back home without their daily supplies. While crying his mother explains and gives him a new perception of how people and society act. Mrs. Franklin was brave enough not to have clouded judgement from the incidence and thus took the opportunity to teach her children better in order for them not to continue hating. From then hence forth Franklin took a new perception on people especially on the issue of superiority and inferiority complexes.

Racial segregation is the center of the argument which the author focuses on. Discrimination seems to have taken most parts of the world in the early twentieth century, the self-centeredness was clear through how the people would carry themselves around and relate with each other. To Franklin’s mother it was not a bother that part of the society would openly segregate another person on the basis of color. But she took it upon herself to educate her young children on the importance of not taking it too personal from the incidence from the train. From this the author brings in the aspect of third person, in the sense that in as much as it hurt his mother, ”Mrs. Franklin took it upon herself to make it clear that no man was greater than another despite the differences in skin color or race” (Franklin John Hope, 223).

Symbolism is used by the author on various occasions for the reader to be able to follow the arguments in the text. For instance, ”the train” was a symbol of hate. John Hope Franklin assigns the train hate because it was on it that discrimination and segregation took place. Being the most common mode of transport between places and towns it was only logical that at the time most of the people would use it. From The train from hate, the train had different sections that separated the whites and blacks. During this time the whites considered themselves more superior to the colored people thus they would not share facilities especially the public ones such as transportation. In accordance to the author the ”train” was a symbol that promoted the aspect of superiority and inferiority complexes in the society (Allan and Missy 169). For instance, when the conductor man walked to Mrs. Franklin to make her leave the white people section and head to the black coach. Without even putting into consideration that she has two young children that could be at risk of an accident should they cross over to the black coach when it was in motion. The mode of transport helped the author bring about the effectiveness of his argument on segregation and discrimination. Symbolism allowed Franklin to capture the mind of the audience allowing him to drive home the main points of his argument.

The uniqueness of his arguments is brought forth when Franklin evokes questions on the audiences’ side on how they would have reacted were they in the same situation. In this piece of literature, Franklin articulates his good command and fluency in English as well as participation on the readers’ side. The Train from Hate by John Hope Franklin clearly outlines discrimination and racial segregation as one of the drawbacks in the American society as a whole in terms of cultural growth (Allan and Missy 168). He brings up the fact that his mother has earned his admiration, by the way she takes life and how she handled the racial segregation they faced while going for their daily supplies. Through this admiration for Mrs. Franklin the author gets to communicate to the readers her teachings on leading a life free of discrimination (Franklin 223).

Irony is also employed by the author when he outlines the amount of ignorance portrayed by the conductor on the train. From a young age we are often told to respect our elders and often seek counsel from them. For Franklin, this was not the case as the conductor was so ignorant to the point of out rightly scolding a woman with kids to vacate the train before reaching her destination. When the author was a child he looked up to older people for wisdom coupled with admiration, but with the incidence on the train, he learns that wisdom and age does not necessarily correlate. He however acknowledges the teachings of his mother in his childhood. Mrs. Franklin was kind enough to not let the actions of the conductor cloud her judgement on how she would teach her children regarding racial segregation. She explained to young Franklin that the society has set rules that required racial separation but in so doing that that not mean that neither they (blacks) are inferior in any way nor the whites superior. Mrs. Franklin goes ahead in the text to state that ”under no circumstances should you be upset or distressed because someone sought to demean you” (Franklin 223). From these wise words, the author learnt the greatest lesson of his life and got to have a positive attitude towards people, by becoming a better person in society.

The effectiveness of these arguments is brought forward when the reader can empathize the effects of ignorance, discrimination, racial segregation and how the society at large perceives some of the most crucial aspects. There is also a deeper understanding of why some people get to suffer from superiority and inferiority complexes and the ways through which one as an individual can deal with it. The connotations of how some of life issues are handled is all based on the society and its perception coupled with people’s attitude towards one another. When Franklin talks about his childhood experiences most of the readers get to relate with reference to their own memories when they were kids. This in turn makes all the arguments made in The Train for Hate effective.

The techniques employed by the writer tends to bring out the most essential aspects of humanity and how people get to respond. The use of symbolism, irony bring into light the main factors that most societies use to get away with some negative actions. Discrimination and segregation was not only an issue of long ago it still is alive today (Moss). This article gets to point out that, in spite of it being so old there are still instances in today’s world that can still relate to the same issue. Franklin brought to life the history of African Americans of how people would deal with issues of discrimination and segregation and how after a long time struggle the laws were made to accommodate all the people in the country.

Work Cited

Moss, Alfred. From slavery to freedom: a history of African American, McGraw-Hill, 2000 pp 20-30

Franklin, John Hope. ”Mirror for Americans: The train from hate”, Upper Saddle River, NJ 1980 pp. 220-223

Allan, Merickel and James Missy. ”John Hope Franklin’s, The Train from Hate”, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 2002 pp. 168-169

Applebome, Peter. ”John Hope Franklin, Scholar and witness: the train from hate”. New York Times, 2009