On The Amtrak Poem Analysis

The Amtrak During the month of March, our composition teacher assigned us a poem to analyze in order to produce a research paper. The setting of this poem takes place on a train traveling in the United States where an Indian man and white women have opposing views of American History. In the poem, “ On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City” the speaker can be characterized by his thoughts, emotions, and actions. At first the Indian man is consumed by his thoughts only but soon realizes that he knows more about American history than the lady next to him on the Amtrak. The man on the train was born and raised on an Indian reservation. He also knew of different landmarks and “tribal stories / dating back fifteen thousand years ago” (lines 7-8). So when the lady pointed out different things to him he was not surprised because he once thrived in the same environment. The man stated that it wasn’t his people’s heritage, but the lady’s people’s heritage. He began to devise a plan

/ When he went to the food cart he returned with an orange juice” for the lady (29-30). Now don’t let that kind of action full the mind because the rest of their interaction he just nodded his head every once and a while. The restraint he showed by not belittling the lady because of her lack of knowledge is a feat within itself. To add onto that he kept his mouth shut by keeping his opinions to himself. The actions of this man speak for it self and show how easy it was for American settlers to take advantage of the Indians. In the poem, “ On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City” the speaker can be characterized by his thoughts, emotions, and actions. The poem shows the raw character of an Indian man and his view of the average American settler. It also shows tact, restraint, and respect that Indians showed too the settlers which later would lead to their