Hyperboles In On The Subway

In the story “On the Subway” the author is showing the two different lifestyles and life struggles from each person. There first appears to be a man, of lower class, and a woman, of higher class. The woman uses hyperboles and metaphors when explaining the drastic differences in lifestyles that they live. The man is described as poor and scary looking. For example, “he has the casual look of a mugger, alert under hooded eyes.” This is used as imagery in order to be able to identify and explain these characters in the narrators perspective. A statement like, “I am wearing dark fur, the whole skin of an animal take and used,” is also used as a metaphor to show the contrast the narrator makes between the dark furred animal and the man.

She doesn't know if, once looking at each other, the woman should be afraid of the man since he seems more intimidating and he could easily take her belongings or even her life, or if the man should be afraid of her because of her higher class and society status. She feels as if she, in her own rich and privileged way, is intimidating to this man on its own. She proves this by showing examples of her everyday lifestyle. She eats and does things that she doesn't necessarily need to do or eat. Meanwhile, the other man needs food and a job, but it is very hard to get even if it's the simplest thing. She also drifts into a slight racial discrimination topic. This showing allusion really bring out another perspective to the story. Examples such as “…he is black, I am white…,” “…the way he absorbs the murderous beams of the nation’s heart, as cotton absorbs the heat of the sun and holds it,” and “…break across his knee like a stick the way his own back is being broken…” show the allusion that the author is trying to tie things into racism and old time slavery. This like the reference to cotton and back whipping directly tie these in and make it easier for the reader to make the connection of unfair treatment to the man. She says how she will never truly know how much more privilege she has over him since she's white and he's black. She acknowledges this fact but can't really do much about it. Using these allusion statements