Poem Analysis: On The Subway By Sharon Olds

As a target of racism and prejudice, Brent Staple wrote Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space. Throughout this essay he explains his personal experience in public spaces and the stereotypes he has faced. Since society has deeply embedded their views of “blacks,” just their presence induces fear and causes unnecessary feelings and emotions to arise. Staples presents no anger in his decision to alter his actions and his appearance to ease those around him despite his skin tone. Societal views on blacks are based on reputations as a whole and not on each individual person, Staples presents this through the uses of point of view, ethos, and pathos.

Brent Staples’ essay “Just Walk on By” informs readers of the corrupt stereotypes and social standards that still exist in modern day society. Every person carries a stereotype whether it be positive or negative, and for most, there is an unspoken assumption that everyone is paired with. Many times people are associated with specific things because of what their physical appearance dictates towards other people or which racial group they belong to. In ”Just Walk on By,” Staples uses rhetorical strategies to convey his message that unconscious racism and stereotypes still exist; he uses diction and pathos to create a frustrated persona while also inspiring the audiences’ apprehension.

In the present scenario, the main challenge of our society is the stereotype that exists. One of the common stereotypes is that we deem black men as dangerous. Most people grow up with such a perception and feel it be true. In ‘Just Walk on by: Black Men and Public Space’ Brent Staples describes the way black men are perceived as dangerous individuals to society by his own experiences. He rightly acknowledges the occasional hatred that black men are subjected to in everyday social situations. Staples begins his writing with an anecdote using an ironic tone, describing the concerns successfully with emotional and logical appeals in chronological order. He aims to see the problems from the white American perspective and he makes efforts so as to clear their concerns with ease through the use of diction, ironic tone, ethos & pathos.

People are shaped in all different sizes. Men have this symbol or meaning being presented to women. Fear is filled in the air as a woman sees a man approaching them. In “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” written by Brent Staples, explains how society works when there a woman all alone at night sees a colored man near her on the streets. Throughout the essay, the reader can indicate that women are easily scared when a man approaches them thinking that they will be attacked at any point or something awful will happen to them. Staples uses personal anecdote and allusion to prove his point that people judge others by appearance and not for who they are.

Interpretive Analysis Essay Rough Draft In “Black Men and Public Space,” Brent Staples addresses the difficulties of being a black man and how it affects his daily life. He stresses that the presence of black people in public spaces frightens white people because white people are not able to differentiate between a black person from a mugger or a thug. After years of fighting over the meaning of race in our country, many may think that it is not as relevant of a problem as it once was, yet this essay expresses how one must change the way he carries and presents himself due to the way that society subconsciously reacts to a man of color. Staples convinces the readers to question how their actions may contribute to this issue.

An African American writer for the New York Times, Brent Staples, in his article in Harper’s Magazine, “Black Men and Public Spaces”, elucidates the stereotypes and racism that he endures out in the public. Staples’ purpose is to inform his audience of events that he has encountered regarding his race in public areas, In his essay, he uses juxtaposition and imagery to address the uncomfortable situations he had to face.

In this poem, “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds the person is being racist. The poem has no other insights apart from the various racist remarks it makes. The author uses a very linear progression of events to describe the story he is trying to tell. Firstly, the author uses imagery to give a negative connotation to the other individual riding the subway.

What would it feel like to walk into a room and be mistaken for a criminal based solely on race? This is a normal occurrence for Brent Staples, an African American author and journalist who has experienced various forms of prejudice throughout his life. In the essay, “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Ability to Alter Public Space,” Staples’s diction, irony, and examples help him to explain that, although he is an innocent man, racial stereotypes make people think differently about who he really is. Staples’s powerful diction helps him to explain how much of an impact his race has on his life. As a “youngish black man” with a “beard and billowing hair,” Staples has the ability to “alter space in ugly ways.”

"The Race" by Sharon Olds is an uneasy poem about the situations a daughter has to pass in order to reach her father. The poem is broken into what seems fear and retribution. In the beginning of the poem the author addresses the characters situation, " . . . When I got to the airport I rushed up to the desk, bought a ticket . .

Revealing his senses of “[surprise, embarrassment, and dismay]” when he first experiences the effects of society’s prejudice toward casual African Americans, Staples forms a connection with his readers. Elaborately recounting this initial encounter, the writer also suggests that this memory has been permanently and vividly imprinted in his mind for a reason: it pains him deeply. Tearing down the emotional wall between himself and his audience, Brent Staples presents himself as passionate about spreading awareness about the assumptions incorrectly attributed to African American males. However, the author politely attempts to comprehend the rationale behind people’s baseless fear of black men. Understanding that “[w]omen are particularly vulnerable to street violence,” Staples can perceive the reasoning behind the fear of casual passersby. Displaying open-mindedness, not only to his readers but to his opposers too, the writer exhibits his ability to genuinely respect others’ opinions: a pleasant

Casey Hopkins Ms. Kristen ENGL 101 9/16/15 On the Subway The Poem “On the Subway” by Sharon Old speaks on the ideals of social injustice through her use of literary techniques like Diction, Imagery Sharon Olds uses imagery throughout her poem to convey the difference between the African-American boy and the white woman. In the poem the speaker refers to the “murderous beams of the nation’s heart” and how he soaks up the beams like “black cotton”(24-25). The use of the word cotton is meant to refer to the way the nation relied on the cotton trade to maintain a strong economy.

Through the use of diction and exaggeration, Staples is able to create this intelligent and humorous persona for the listeners. Staples first starts by describing a white woman as a “victim” (543). He purposely starts his essay by appearing as a criminal sharing his stories of trouble. As the reader progresses through his essay, one can see that he continually becomes more complex and through with his word choice. This transition shows that audience that he never was a criminal, but a rather intelligent college student. Likewise, Staples uses this shift to show the audience that initial perceptions of people like him are generally wrong. He paints himself as a criminal, only to reveal his true self, like what most white people would do. This conveys his message because Staples showcases that black people are almost instantly seen as bad and scary, when they could be better than the person making the discriminating notes. Staples mentions how he and other blacks are quickly judged by everyone else. In one instance, upon entering a jewelry store, he is met by an “enormous red Doberman pinscher” (544). This use of exaggeration creates a humorous persona to Staples. The purposely description of the dog as enormous shows just how unnecessary the prejudice against African Americans really is. The humorous persona that Staples has conveys the message that people are too assimilated with the negative

Individuals should not feel compelled to remain a fixture in their respective culture or community because one has to cope with societal criticism based on the fictitious perceptions by fanatic individuals of society. In “Black Men and Public Space,” author Brent Staples demonstrates this by arguing that because of his culture, he is categorized as a criminal since he and most stereotyped criminals come from the same cultural background. Staples explains that he is a colored man who walks home but always minds his own business. But even though he does so, society views his appearance as a threat. He narrates an interaction he had with a woman where they were walking on the same side on the sidewalk, but after she noticed him, she took off and was across the street within seconds. Staples describes that he was only twenty-two years old at the time and was a college graduate of no harm whatsoever. As Staples explains to the audience how the women made him feel he describes that, “Her flight made me feel like an accomplice to tyranny. It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto” (Staples 267). Because Staples is bound to culture and his physical appearance is the same as those of criminals, the mindset of society is negative towards him without reason. Staples uses the literary device simile, a figurative comparison of two things often dissimilar using connecting words, to argue that since

In the poem The Race by Sharon Olds, we have a women who's father is about to die, and she has to overcome obstacles, such as time and her flight being canceled, in order to get to her father as soon as she can. The overall meaning of the poem is that when you have faith and are determined, no matter what obstacles get in your way, you will surpass them and do what you have to do. Parallelism, imagery and run on sentences help convey the meaning of the poem.

Poetry can follow your life all the way through, from the innocence of a child, to the end of your days. The comfort, seduction, education, occasion and hope found in poems are elaborated in Poetry Should Ride the Bus by Ruth Forman. As the poem reads on, you not only travel through the life of a person from adolescence to being elderly through vivid imagery, but also hit on specific genres of poems through the personification of poetry as the characters in the stages of life. This poem’s genres hit on what poetry should do and be, by connecting the life many of us live.