Poem Analysis: On The Subway By Sharon Old

“On the Subway”, by Sharon Old, a woman encounters terror and presents certain stereotypes when profiling a young boy based on his appearance. The narrator explores her insight in the subway alone with the young boy. By contrasting their opposing characteristics, the author portrays literary techniques such as tone, imagery, and organization to illustrate these differences throughout the poem.
The imagery the author uses, in the beginning, highlights the difference between the white woman who’s the narrator and the black boy who she’s observing. “In black sneakers laced with white in a complex pattern like a set of intentional scars” (line 3-4). The speaker describes the white lace as “intentional scars” (line 4). The symbol of the scars can allude to the discrimination against blacks by the white’s society. The word “intentional” can signify that the whites deliberately try to hurt the blacks. This image contrasts whites with blacks by interpreting the idea that whites are dominant than blacks and that blacks are obedient. It’s because as you can infer back in the old days where blacks were slaves and they were abused when they disobeyed their owners. So this represents that the whites had more authority than the blacks and it proves the discrimination. “We are

“He is wearing red, like the inside of the body exposed. I am wearing dark fur, the whole skin of an animal taken and used” (Line 9-13). This means that the woman is comparing that he is the inside of an animal while she is just the outside of an animal. This displays the boy is poor because he doesn’t have many clothes on and is exposed while the speaker is covered in fur. The woman uses the boy’s clothing to symbolize the stereotypes and inequalities between the races because it shows how he doesn’t have much clothing like she does. This supports the idea of opposition between the white woman and black