Analyzing Olds 'Poem On The Subway'

Sharon Olds describes two people on the subway. She is comparing the two by how different they are. In the poem, Olds wonders about the difference between skins of both the people. Olds identifies the contrasts of both the persons through the use of imagery, organization of compare and contrast, and similes. Olds describes the way the boy is dressed.

This paper will discuss the motif of the double in Strangers on a Train. While the double is a recurring motif in Hitchcock’s work that he routinely employs in order to explore questions of moral responsibility, identity, and guilt, it receives its most overt and thorough treatment in Strangers on a Train. Studies of the film have consistently understood Bruno as a stand in for Guy’s unspoken desire, the chaos held at bay by societal order - Guy does indeed want to ‘get rid of’ his wife, but he transfers this responsibility (and associated guilt) to Bruno (Walker; Wood; Dellolio; Truffaut). As Walker notes, in Hitchcock’s films, the double most often serves as an ‘alter ego’ that enacts the repressed/disavowed/unpermitted desires of another character. Indeed, as Walker points out, There is little ambiguity that this is precisely what Hitchcock meant to communicate in the film, as he has formally stated this in correspondence with Francois Truffaut:

In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask” the speaker wears a mask to hide his internal suffering because he does not want the rest of the world to think he is weak. This poem relates the prejudice black people face against white people. The speaker starts the poem with the lines, “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” (1). Here he describes the kind of “masks” that he wears.

This red hair symbolizes the red anger that of the father if he found out that his daughter was seeing a black man. As the dark colored man hops into one side of a car and out the other it is symbolic of him entering a role in society. He is now an acceptable partner for this white girl. The author tells us that the girl is white in the poem when he writes, “Her back’s pale skin…” ().

Everyone has a journey of childhood some with more self-discovery and some with more self-doubt. The poem “Queries of Unrest” by Clint Smith is about a black author dealing with self-doubt and seeing joy in darkness. Furthermore the poem “Making a Fist” by Naomi Shihab Nye is about a whining child asking his mother about death. “Queries of Unrest” by Clint Smith and “Making a Fist” by Naomi Shihab Nye the poem that was more effective was “Queries of Unrest,” due to it having a more meaningful message of the relationship between self-doubt and trying to discover himself, and a more impactful tone of darkness. In light of this “Queries of Unrest” becomes the more impactful and effective poem.

You assume he is talking through a white person because he says, “You know, it’s mostly the dark ones” (6). He continues to call the man that is about to sit in the chair Indian, and talks about a black man. A lot of races are given in this poem, mainly minorities. Alexie chose to do it this way to show how the world really works. We block out that minorities are sometimes wrongly accused and Alexie is again, trying to open up to his readers, so they see how scary the world is.

In our society we are taught to differentiate ourselves from others. Whether it be economical or the color of our skin, we are sectioned off into specific categories. In her poem “On the Subway”, Sharon Olds uses different literary devices such as imagery, allusions, and symbolism to contrast two different characters. Old implements imagery as the main literary device to contrast her two characters, more specifically black and white, darkness and light.

In “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space”, Brent Staples explains the impact he has on other people just for being an African American man. Writing for an audience of black men who have experienced discrimination. With a wise, inoffensive voice, but somewhat of a neutral tone, the author uses figurative language, writing techniques and diction to explain his purpose of writing this essay to explain to his readers of his past experience of being a black man in public places and the effect it has caused in his life. Figurative language is seen throughout Staples’s essay. In the following quote ‘Her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny” the author uses a simile (Staples 1).

Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples discusses the relevant issues of racial bias and how prejudice against people of color has embedded minds, as it demonstrates the importance of being aware of how we conceive others. Staples uses a contrasting element of race by introducing a white female and a black male. He uses his experiences and other people of colour to display the struggles of racism they face everyday. Staples reveals how people are prejudice against appearance, despite the importance of individuality of people and being impartial regardless of someone 's skin or looks. The story begins with Staples describing his first experience frightening a white women due to the colour of his skin.

Throughout much of his poetry, Langston Hughes wrestles with complex notations of African American dreams, racism, and discrimination during the Harlem Renaissance. Through various poems, Hughes uses rhetorical devices to state his point of view. He tends to use metaphors, similes, imagery, and connotation abundantly to illustrate in what he strongly believes. Discrimination and racism were very popular during the time when Langston Hughes began to develop and publish his poems, so therefore his poems are mostly based on racism and discrimination, and the desire of an African American to live the American dream. Langston Hughes poems served as a voice for all African Americans greatly throughout his living life, and even after his death.

In Sharon Olds’s poem “On the Subway,” a white woman details her observations of a young black male as they sit across each other on the subway. Through her observations, she lists distinct differences between herself and the boy. Olds uses imagery, tone, and mood to identify the contrasts that develop the characters of the poem. Throughout the poem, Olds uses vivid imagery to create a reality of the appearance of the boy and the woman.

Throughout the poem “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds, the narrator contrasts the perceived differences between two people of different races. In order to achieve this, she uses complex imagery and an accusatory tone to show her insight on how people judge based on appearances. She is acknowledging her white privilege throughout the entire poem by bringing to light the dark and light contrast between the two people. While reading the entire poem, the narrator is portrayed as a white female that is apprehensive to a fellow black male sitting on the subway. Sharon Olds incorporates the many contrasts between light and dark imagery in order to show what goes through this woman’s mind and her perceived thoughts on different races.

In “On the Subway,” Sharon Olds compares and contrasts two individuals and their characteristics by using poetic devices, such as, imagery, appeal to pathos and strong diction. Sharon starts by using imagery to give details about each person in the poem. She states, “His feet are huge… he has the casual cold look of a mugger” in an effort to describe the male individual. She describes the other character by stating ”I am wearing dark fur,” suggesting that it’s a female.

How would you feel if someone could control what you were thinking? In “The Feed” written by M.T Anderson, everyone living in the community had a feed in their brain that was controlled by one large organization. Violet, the main character, suffers through a malfunction in her feed that changes the way she sees her society. Most people’s opinions can be changed when they have experienced the benefits and the disadvantages of something. Since Violet is aware of how life is with and without the feed, she becomes hesitant to believing that her community is being run efficiently.

Black Men and Public Spacing Since the dawn of time, colored people have always been treated unfairly. In “Black Men and Public Spacing”, Staples discusses the ongoing problem of being considered a possible assailant due to his race and appearance. He gets into the horrendous facts that “black people” face and that, unfortunately, remains part of our world. As he starts his story he says, "My first victim was a woman—white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties.