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The Red Line

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The Red Line

Three individual persons are traveling in the underground tube in London – seemingly, they have nothing in common except for being at the same place at the same time, but somehow they influence each other, and one of them ends up being stabbed. That is what this realistic short story written by Charles Higson in 1993 is about – it draws attention to and questions the daily prejudices, misunderstood intentions, and their consequences.
In order to give an adequate interpretation of this story I will focus on the main characters, the shifting narrative point of view, the title, the symbolism, and the theme of this story.

The three main characters Berto, Denise, and an unnamed man are on the black line in the tube. The Italian, Berto, can't remember which line to take to get to the English girl, Cathy, who he is visiting. He is scared to ask anyone for directions because of the language barrier, but when he finally gets the courage to ask Denise for directions, she runs out of the train. Denise is scared that Berto might be a rapist and is taking the run to save her life. Now Berto has to ask the unnamed man for directions, but when he approaches him the unnamed man stabs him. Berto then realizes that he has to take the red line to get to Denise's.

The first main character being introduced in this story is the unnamed man with a face like an angel. He removes all of his body hair and showers twice a day to be perfect. I will define him as a narcissist, “They knew they had seen perfection. […] standing in front of the mirror for hours […] looking at his reflection […] he was the most wonderful thing you could imagine.(p. 63, l. 13, p. 66, ll. 30-34) And he hates ugly, hairy, dirty people, and he hates changes. The unnamed man is on the train to do something about the changes, and Berto is the victim. The unnamed man is sure that Berto features everything he hates; he's ugly, hairy, dirty, and listens to black disco music. However, Berto is just an insecure Italian visiting London. Berto doesn't speak or understand English, and the few times he has tried to speak English, he was laughed at. This has made him so insecure that he is scared to ask for help, but he is also a proud man, “A man shouldn't be like this, helpless.” (p. 68, ll. 2-3)
Berto is the only one who develops. When he finally gets the courage to ask the unnamed man for help, Berto faces his fear. There's actually a bit of relief when he realizes that he finally understood what Cathy's boyfriend had told him earlier about following the red line.
The third passenger in the train is Denise who is having a hard time living in the city. She is paranoia; “Nowhere was safe. A plane could fall out of the sky. She could be blown apart by the IRA. The escalator could burst into flames. The ticket collector could be a rapist...” (p. 72, ll. 17-20) She's sure that every man has an agenda about raping her, and because Berto looks at her she's also sure that he is a rapist. It's ironic that she is scared of the man who only sees good things in her, while the man she sees as soft is the one she should be scared of.

What makes this story a bit special is the narrative point of view shifting between the three main characters. Because of the omniscient third person narrator, the reader is very aware of the main characters' feelings, thoughts, fears, and we know their intentions. Therefore the reader also knows how they all misjudge each other, and how filled with and controlled by fear they are.

The whole story takes place on a train, and these settings are important because the train symbolizes change – if they'd been on a train station, it would've meant that the main characters were in a position in their lives where they needed to make a decision that could go one way or another, but because it's on a train and not a station, the decision has already been made; there's only one way to go, and it's the same way as the train's moving. No matter what, something they can't prevent, is about to happen – in this case Berto is going to get stabbed.
Berto tries to find his way home to Cathy by following the black line on the tube. This turns out to be the wrong line, but he realizes this too late, “He fell to the floor and lay there watching a trickle of his blood edge across the floor. […] Of course: the red line – from left to right – the red line on the map. […] All he had to do was follow the red line as it slowly made its way across the carriage floor.” (p. 73, ll. 26-30 + ll. 36-37) You could say that the black line symbolizes death while the red line symbolizes life/love. When this story is titled The Red Line instead of the black line, the author is sending a message that we should choose life and not let anyone or our own thoughts limit our self.
The three main characters are all very limited because of their own thoughts and prejudices – Denise is limited because of her paranoia, she's so scared of the world because she convinces herself that the world is a scary place. If she'd stayed on the train, she'd might have prevented Berto from getting stabbed, maybe Berto would've asked her for the right directions and gotten on the red line to find Cathy.
If the unnamed man hadn't been so obsessed with himself, his appearance, and the changes in society, he wouldn't even have been on the train, and Berto could've been on the red line – or could he? Berto is so limited by his insecure attitude and lack of confidence. He wouldn't have been on the wrong line if he'd just asked someone at the train station. They're all so prejudiced that they can't live life to the fullest, and they're all held back because of their fears and prejudices. That is also the theme of this story. How bigotry damages ourselves and other people, and how we misunderstand each other's intentions. In this story they're all afraid of each other, but in fact it's themselves who create their fears and they are controlled by their fears – they should be afraid of themselves.

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