On The Subway By Sharon Olds

In On the Subway, Sharon Olds brings the world of a black man and a white woman into proximity. The demeanor of the white woman helps develop both portraits in the poem. The life of a white woman seems to be sweet and easy, but according to her, there are still reasons to feel scared, and threatened. In contrast, the life of a black man is painted as nothing sweet or easy. A black man faces more disadvantages than a white women, which makes his life more challenging. He’s seen as a threat. Moreover, the author brings insight to the racial tension between the two races by using simile, imagery, and tone. Through the author’s literary techniques, the reader can vividly see how this racial tension leads a white woman to view a black man. Sharon

Olds’s use of imagery paints a vivid picture of how she sees the black man, which therefore leads to such racial tension.

She states, “{the black man} has the casual look of mugger, alert under hooded lids.” The look of a mugger is very unpleasant; it’s displeasing, and troublesome. it’s even more threatening; it makes one feel uncomfortable, and scared. Someone has the look of a mugger when they are dangerous or have a lot of anger in them. She also describes his look as vigilant, and suspicious. This makes it even worse because it makes her feel like a prey being watched by its predator. Just another reason why she feels scared. The author’s imagery of a black man is what causes her to feel threatened by him, this is one of the reason why there is such a negative tension. According to her, the look he gives is not a look she would want. This look does not put her at ease because she feels so much anger coming from it. A passionate anger that only wants the worst for her. For that reason, the white woman sees the black man as a mean giant. she does not feel safe, and all that does is bring more negativity to this tension between the two. Through her tone, Sharon Olds emphasizes just how different the life of a white woman compared

to the one of a black man.

She has a cocky tone, which hints that she feels superior to black men. This is another reason why there is so much tension between the two race. She states, “{she} looks at {the black man’s}raw face, he looks at {her} fur coat.” There is a sense of arrogance here, she feels as if she is better than him. Her appearance is fancy, but the one of the black man isn’t. She goes on to say “or if {the black man} is in {her} power, the way{she} is living off his life, eating the steak he does not eat, as if {she} is taking the food from his mouth.” Once again, she feels as if she is on top of him. The reason why only she can eat the steak is because she is wealthier and more powerful. She feels powerful to the point where she feels as if the life of the black man is in her hand. She feels as if she can control. By the way, only someone who is more powerful than you can take something from you. So the fact that she feels she can take food from the black one, just show how powerful she feels. This explains her cocky tone. The tense relationship between the two is due to the author’s cockiness;a healthy relationship is one in which the two see each other as equal. In this one, that

is definitely not the case. Among the literary devices Sharon Olds used, imagery helped get her point across. That was just another reason why the relationship between the two races is bad as it is now. She wrote, “There is no way to know how easy this white skin makes my life, this life he could so easily and break it across his knee like a stick the way his own back is being broken.” The author for one is admitting how sweet life is for, and the reason behind that is her skin colour. She likes this easy, sweet lifestyle, so she fears it can be taken from her by someone who has it worse. The simile she uses compare how white folks used to break black folks’ back to how black people can now also break the prestigious life of a white person. This scares Sharon Olds. The world of a black person is totally different from the one of a white person. One has it easier than the other. There has always some tension between whites and blacks. In this poem, Sharon Olds paints that picture. She does so by using imagery, tone, and simile.