“The great train was rushing forward with such steady dignity of motion that a glance from the window seemed simply to prove that the flatlands of Texas were pouring toward the east.”

The train represents the inexorable transition from a wilderness frontier to a sterilized, urbanized environment. Progress, like the train, is going to be rapid, irresistible, and irreversible. The flatlands of Texas, comprised of frontier territory, are fated to be subsumed by the East.

“He pointed out to her the beauty of the car they were riding in. And in truth her eyes opened wider as she observed the rich sea-green cloth covering the seats, the shining silver and glass, the wood that shone darkly like the surface of a pool of oil.”

The use of imagery evokes the material comfort associated with the domesticated East. It stands in contrast to the West, which is far more austere and maintained by back-breaking labor. Although westerns typically idealize the lifestyle of the Wild West, the interior of the train car offers a glimpse into a new lifestyle that both dazzles and discomfits Jack Potter and his wife.

“To show surprise at her husband’s remark was part of her wifely duty.”

In Crane’s era, the necessity to defer to a husband’s authority and make him feel superior to the female was a common obligation among pioneer wives. Although the unnamed wife in the story speaks little, this detail reveals that she is aware of the cultural norms and expectations governing gender roles and intends to uphold them in her marriage.