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Poem Analysis Of Sharon Olds On The Subway

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In On the Subway, Sharon Olds expresses the differences in a white man’s life as opposed to a black man’s life while riding the train. However, the poem starts off just describing how the main character viewed the black man. Based on his attire and “look” he was profiled to be a mugger; of apparent lower class. While the main character talks about his fur coat and how the “mugger” can easily steal it from him. As the poem progresses the main character change his tone of fear to questioning and insightful; compared to his original thoughts of him amounting to nothing but a mugger, he begins to realize their lives (including their challenges) are different. For example in the poem he acknowledges that the man in front of him could be struggling

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