On The Subway Sharon Olds Analysis

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In “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds he talks about two different human races, describing them as two worlds into proximity. However, Sharon is contrasting the life of a white person and a black person. Using poetic devices like tone, and imagery to discuss the insight of the speaker's experiences. First of all, the author uses poetic devices like the metaphor and simile to express the differences between both characters. For example, when Sharon described, “We are stuck on opposite sides of the car..” here we know Sharon is referring to the two different worlds of how a white and black person live. Also, Sharon presents the stereotype of how people judge by looks. As described, in line eight when it says, “He has the casual look of a mugger…”, so the white person judged the black one without knowing any background of him. The white person was afraid of the black one because he had a mugged look. In addition, simile is presented in line twenty-five when the white person describes him as “black cotton absorbing the heat of the sun…”, which expresses the physical appearance. Later we …show more content…
Sharon Olds utilizes a lot of imagery in the poem, most vividly dark and light as well as animal imagery to contrast her two characters. In line nine and ten, it says, “He is wearing red, like the inside of the body exposed,” which represents our human body exposed to no coverage of skin, but rather pure muscle tissue. It shows the black man is vulnerable and how the white man has power since he is covered in “dark fur.” In addition, the shoes he is wearing are black “laced with white” (line 3). The speaker describes the white zigzags as “intentional scars” (line 4). The scars allude to the discrimination against the black man by white society. The adjectives “intentional” denotes that whites purposely harm blacks. The image contrasts whites with blacks: whites are superior to
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On The Subway Sharon Olds Analysis

In “On the Subway,” Sharon Olds brings two identities together. She develops their image by contrasting them. Through the use of imagery, tone, and organization, Olds is able to contrast the two people and come to a conclusion. Sharon Olds begins her contrast of the two characters through the use of imagery. She states, “He is wearing red, like the inside of the body exposed. I am wearing dark fur, the whole skin of an animal taken and used.” Through this contrast, we are able to tell that the boy…

Words 437 - Pages 2