Summary Of On The Subway By Sharon Olds

(1) Toni Morrison’s Beloved takes place after the Civil War during the Reconstruction era, when the violent oppression of the black race continued, with flashbacks to the horrific trauma of the early 19th century slavery period. In Margaret Atwood’s review of Beloved in

The hidden purpose of the subway system which Jurgis helps to construct is to break the teamsters’ union. Because Jurgis got hit by one of the rail freight cars, he broke his arm and lost his job.

This contrast relates to the theme because it shows how an adult can negatively be affected by materialistic things such as money. In the first stanza there is a strong use of positive imagery- representing a child’s mind. For example, “grass grows soft and white”, gives a floral and peaceful description about the place used in the description. However, in the second stanza there is the use of negative imagery. The imagery used helps to describe a dark and lifeless city, a phrase which influences this would be, “smoke blows black”, which means pollution. Within the second stanza, the narrator introduces personal pronouns. These pronouns influence the reader’s thoughts about the

In “On the Subway” Sharon Olds uses metaphor, tone, and imagery to bring together two ethnicities which are black and white. First, Olds uses a metaphor when she compares the man’s face to a mugger. Olds remarks, “He has the casual cold look of a mugger, alert under hooded lids.” She expresses how the man is on guard and makes the comparison to a mugger because she believed that he would have the power to steal any of her belongings.

Sharon Olds contrasts the two different worlds of a white lady and black male throughout On the Subway. Olds utilizes plenty imagery, tone and unusual syntax to contrast opposite worlds within the white lady and the black male. Olds first creates imagery within the first couple of lines. “His feet are huge, in black sneakers laced with white in a complex pattern like a set of intentional scars.

In the poem “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds, the author uses various literature devices throughout the poem such as imagery, point of view, and tone shift. Additionally, the devices are used to tell a story about a white woman who strongly feels that she will potentially be mugged by an African American man. Furthermore, the author distributes a vibrant poem by using techniques. Furthermore, it is easier for the reader to follow along with the story. Firstly, the author decides to use imagery to describe the difference between the African American man and the white woman who board the subway together.

Imagery comes more into effect when Olds describes “the rod of his soul” as “dark and fluid and rich” which can be seen as pure in a sense. Furthermore, the narrator implies the problems people like the boy constantly confront since they are always “alert under hooded lids.” Olds can’t make it more clear when she compares the boy and the female with the line, “And he is black and I am white.” Olds also implements slavery with the reference of “black cotton” being black the color of the slaves that picked cotton for the whites. The white female realizes the contrast between her and the African American sitting in front of her ; Olds wants the reader to see things in the same eyes the lady is

In the prose, “On The Subway,” the author, Sharon Olds, used imagery, tone, and repetition to emphasize the great differences that come between the two different colors within people. It is evident that the author uses imagery, to visually get a representation of literal separation. “We are stuck in opposite sides of the car” shows emphasis of the difference in social classes both people are. “The way I am living off his life” allows the reader to imagine, that the white madam is racistly trying to call the black man a slave, saying he works for her.

Olds uses imagery in this poem to juxtapose the stages of life the narrator and her daughter are experiencing and to illuminate the effect of age upon the body. She contrasts the daughter’s “brown silken hair” with the narrator’s greying hair

Riding the subway to a New York City resident is nothing new. It’s something that many of us New Yorkers have to use as transportation because living in a crowded city with limited space to drive is not very ideal. For the people who do drive, they do so for personal comfort and convenience. But for us commuters, having to not look for parking and worry about traffic takes up less of our time. On the other hand we experience train delays and disturbances in personal space. Nonetheless, the pros outweigh the cons and using the subway has become a part of our daily routines for many of us New Yorkers. Marc Auge states that, “If he draws himself into the field of his ethnological inquiry, it is no less fitting for his readers to broaden the scope of appreciation of the work for riders.” With that in mind, I observed the connections with my experience riding the subway in a city integrated with many different peoples and cultures.

Question 2 On The Subway In the poem “on the subway” sharon olds brings to worlds into proximity and there is a lot of contrast within the kids.the way they dress, the color of their skin, and how fragile one individual is compared with the other. Furthermore, he uses these contrast by putting together the tone, imagery and organization in the poem.

​Karen Solie’s collection of poems The Road In Is Not the Same Road Out focuses mainly on the interactions of the world. Ones that aren’t always thought of but that shift and change as humans age. How one reacts with the outside world and nature is a strong theme in this collection. From the living affecting the non-living to living and living interactions, there are many instances in a day in which one is forced to act upon the world in which they live. Solie explores what these interactions may mean and how they create a lasting impact.

Certain choices are made by the individuals and in most of the cases; choices are based on the surroundings of the individuals. One of the main aims of the paper is to compare and contrast two characters from selected short stories. The first character is Sylvia from "The Lesson" written by Toni Cade Bambara and the Narrator from the poem written by Robert Frost "The Road Not Taken". The reason to compare Sylvia and The Narrator is to compare the choices made by an individual.

For my second poem I decided to take a more original pathway. Night vs Daylight tells two different poems (depending on how you read it), if you read it normally it will talk about night and if it’s read backwards day. This poem is a metaphor for my own life as I sometimes try to be the person that I’m not (night), but only a few people can read past me, backwards and bring out the best in me (daylight). Sometimes we try so hard to fit in we lose ourselves, the real us, and we become totally different people. This poem is a metaphor for my own life, and others. As identification is a real problem on a days. The literary device that makes my metaphor possible is a reverse poem.

A second conflict introduced in the first couplet is the gap between the old and the young due to the loss or change of language. The speaker states that the “old still remember” and contrasts this with the young, who “have fewer words.” In the fifth couplet, we see a similar situation with parents and children. The speaker gives us two ends of a spectrum to demonstrate the distance that the change in language has created. We see a physical representation of this with the line, “farther and farther away.” The gap is also represented in the sixth and ninth couplets, particularly in the lines “we are wrong and dark / in the eyes of the new owners.” By referring to one side as “we” and the other as “them,” “new owners,” or “somebody,” we can see two sides and that what was once familiar to the speaker is now replaced by something “foreign” (line 21) and an “us vs. them” gap is formed.