Two Trains Running by August Wilson
"Two Trains Running" is a play by August Wilson set in a small restaurant in Memphis during the late 1960s. The story focuses on the lives of African American characters, including Risa, a waitress who uses self-harm as a means to repel unwanted attention, and a group of men grappling with socioeconomic challenges. The cast features Sterling, an ex-convict struggling to find work; Holloway, a retired painter; and Hambone, a man with intellectual disabilities, each representing different aspects of the black experience in America.
The play delves into themes of economic injustice and the persistent struggles faced by African Americans, as the characters engage in lively conversation that captures the oral tradition of their culture. Despite the backdrop of significant historical events like racial riots and antiwar protests, Wilson emphasizes that the characters remain largely disconnected from these narratives, illustrating his focus on the ongoing issues of their daily lives. The dynamics of their relationships evolve, particularly as Sterling transforms from a reluctant partner to someone ready to embrace love and responsibility. Ultimately, Memphis finds resolution with the city's authorities regarding his restaurant, symbolizing a hard-fought victory for dignity and justice amidst systemic oppression.
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Subject Terms
Two Trains Running by August Wilson
First published: 1991, in Theater magazine
First produced: 1990
The Work
Memphis Lee’s small restaurant is the setting of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. Risa, a young woman who has scarred her legs with a razor to deflect the sexual interest of men, is the restaurant’s cook and waitress. The rest of the African American cast are male and include, among others, Sterling, an unemployed young man recently released from prison; Holloway, a retired house painter; and Hambone, who is mentally retarded.
The gossip, debates, philosophizing, and storytelling that take place in Memphis’ restaurant reflect the oral tradition of African American culture. Some critics note that the characters engaged in the talk seem detached from the racial riots, assassinations, and antiwar protests that marked the late 1960s, when the play takes place. Wilson responds by saying that he was not interested in writing “what white folks think of as American history for the 1960’s.” He was interested in making the point that “by 1969 nothing has changed for the black man.”
One thing not changed by 1969 was economic injustice. Holloway notes that for centuries blacks worked hard for free, enriching white slaveholders. Once blacks have to be paid whites deny them work and call them lazy. The characters in Two Trains Running are directly affected by the whites’ ability to make and interpret rules, to the disadvantage of blacks. When Hambone painted a fence, the white butcher who hired him offered a chicken in payment instead of the promised ham. When Sterling wins at the numbers, the whites who run the game cut his winnings in half. When Memphis’ restaurant is scheduled to be taken over by the city, the whites in charge invoke a clause saying they do not have to pay his price.
Hambone dies without getting his ham, but his persistence in demanding it for more than nine years moves Memphis to donate fifty dollars for flowers for his funeral and moves Sterling to break into the butcher shop and steal a ham for his casket. By the end of the play Sterling has been transformed from a man unwilling to pay the price for love (he is reluctant to accept responsibility for others) to one who is willing to make a commitment to Risa, who seems willing to have a relationship with him. In this he has the blessing of Aunt Ester, reputedly 322 years old and an important offstage character. She symbolizes the wisdom of black experience in America, the wisdom of a people who survived against the odds. Memphis, too, has been transformed. He was run off his land in Mississippi years before, and he vowed one day to return seeking justice. “They got two trains running every day.” By the play’s end he wins his fight with the city, which agrees to pay more than his price for his restaurant, and he declares he will now follow through on his vow because, as he understands Aunt Ester to have told him: “If you drop the ball, you got to go back and pick it up.”
Bibliography
Bigsby, Christopher, ed. The Cambridge Companion to August Wilson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Collection of scholarly essays on Wilson’s plays, including studies of Two Trains Running and other individual works, as well as broader discussions of the playwright’s overall project.
Ching, Mei-ling. “Wrestling Against History.” Theater 19, no. 3 (Summer/Fall, 1988): 70-71. Discusses how the characters Herald Loomis (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone), Troy (Fences), and Boy Willie (The Piano Lesson) must struggle with history and the reality of being African American in a white society. Ching argues that Boy Willie’s contest with a ghost is an exorcism that reconciles him with his sister.
Glover, Margaret E. “Two Notes on August Wilson: The Songs of a Marked Man.” Theater 19, no. 3 (Summer/Fall, 1988): 69-70. Examines the role of music in The Piano Lesson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Notes that though the plays’ songs represent a kind of personal freedom, the characters “must open themselves to be consumed by this music.”
Harrison, Paul Carter. “August Wilson’s Blues Poetics.” In Three Plays, by August Wilson. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991. Explores the role of the blues in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Fences, and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Claims that Wilson invokes the blues through such devices as anecdotes, “poly-rhythm and repetition, choric call ’n’ response, double entendre and improvisation,” and a “text that resists closure.” Harrison’s findings can be applied to all Wilson’s dramas.
Reed, Ishmael. “In Search of August Wilson.” Connoisseur 222 (March, 1987): 92-97. Provides important biographical material on the reclusive playwright. Places Wilson in the context of the African American literary and oral traditions.
Shannon, Sandra G. “The Good Christian’s Come and Gone: The Shifting Role of Christianity in August Wilson’s Plays.” MELUS 16, no. 3 (Fall, 1989-1990): 127-142. Contends that Wilson’s male characters have abandoned Christianity in favor of the blues as a means of communication and healing. Shannon asserts that the African American men in Wilson’s dramas have rejected the concept of God.
Wilde, Lisa. “Reclaiming the Past: Narrative and Memory in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running. ” Theater 22, no. 1 (Winter, 1990-1991): 73-74. Holds that Wilson uses language to reconstruct the past; through storytelling and memory, the characters reclaim the past from the pain associated with it. Liberation comes by way of a supernatural agency; in Two Trains Running, the agent is Aunt Ester.