In “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds, the speaker is on a train and finds herself across a man, she describes has “the casual cold look of a mugger.” It is not clear as to why she sees him as a mugger, but he is larger than her. As the poem unfolds, we get a better look at her thinking process and the differences between the speaker and the man. “He is wearing red, like the inside of the body exposed” is a simile the poet used to express how simple and open the man looked; by comparing him to an open body. On the other hand, she is in a fur coat.
Sharon olds in the passage “on the subway” is trying to write the similarities and differences between the way people are with a Caucasian and an African American. Sharon attempts this by using literary techniques like imagery, simile, and tone. Imagery is used to see the differences between a white women and a black boy, the the first part of the passage. The narrator is the white woman and the black boy is the observer; the the shoes that he is wearing are black with “white laces on them”.
In the next stanza, the reader discovers that the narrator is a fourteen-year-old girl, whose best friend is a “white girl named Denise” (8). In the remainder of the poem, the narrator describes her friendship with Denise and how it eventually became spoiled. At first, the narrator and Denise spend time together and tease each other. Later on, Denise erupts with rage against her, and the narrator doesn’t understand what induced Denise’s anger. The setting of the novel is during World War II, and, at this time, people turned against the Japanese Americans, including the American government, who was concerned with Japanese spies.
The first section deals with hard headed African American women. Using prominent historical figures like Rosa Parks and Condoleezza Rice to help push the narrative along. The first poem in the section was “Red Velvet” in which she narrates the struggle of one one seamstress that became an important figurehead of a movement. She goes from there to poems about victims of hurricane Katrina in “Left” and finishing off the section with some choice words about George W. Bush in “Plunder” and one of the people under his command in the “Condoleezza Suite”. all the poems in this section
In the poem, "Rite of Passage", Sharon Olds depicts a mother's view of her child and of other children. The mother sees her child as a newborn by saying things like "specks of nutmeg on his cheeks" and "chest narrow as the balsa keel of a model boat". This perception of her child instills the idea that she raised a kind hearted and innocent kid. After this notion is stated, the son speaks of murdering a two year old. This creates a clear contrast between the mother's perspective and that of society's.
The author establishes her ethical appeal, by providing the reader with a vivid image of how her childhood was growing up colored. She let the readers see through her eyes by providing common grounds, with people of color. Growing up in an exclusively colored town, and only seen whites occasionally, gives the author no reason to see herself as colored,
The pursuit of dreams has played a big role in self-fulfillment and internal development and in many ways, an individual 's reactions to the perceived and real obstacles blocking the path to a dream define the very character of that person. This theme is evident in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is about the search for identity. A woman of a mixed ethnicity resides in several communities, each playing an important role and serve as crucial influences on her life. During the story, she endures two failed relationships and one good relationship, dealing with disappointment, death, the wrath of nature and life’s unpredictability.
Throughout the poem, the speaker’s mother seems to be upset. The poems tone shifts when the speaker begins to talk about themselves. The speaker talks down on herself. The speakers states, “I will turn out bad”(31). From this, viewers can assume that the poems tone is unsatisfied.
You see the speakers disappoint when she states, “dear mother and father/ I apologize/ I’ve worked very hard, /not good enough/ harder, perhaps to please you/ if only I were a son,” (4-10). This uncover how she is feeling how whatever she does is not good enough for her parents because she is not what they wanted, a son. As the poem continues the poem displays the way the speaker copes with it, when she states “I make this ledge my altar/to offer penance…on my broken body/cover me like whisper of sorries /sorries” (42-43, 52-54).
She addresses her father as “daddy” like a little kid, speaks in a child-like abrupt manner, and begins the poem with “you do not do/you do not do/ anymore black shoe,” lines that resemble the old nursery rhyme “There is an old woman who lived in a shoe”. However, this is not a happy child, but one with frustration and unresolved conflicts with her father, as she calls him “evil” and a “bastard”. Furthermore, the way an adult woman completely turns into her childhood self suggests an obsession and a fixation within the past, a phenomenon commonly associated with psychological deficiencies stemming from unsolved childhood issues. These observations correspond to how the speaker metaphorically refers to her father as a “black shoe” that she had to live in, showing her inability to overcome the shadow of her late father. Thus, by addressing him directly instead of referring to him in the past tense, the speaker confronts her obsession and tries to escape the
The balance between her reminiscing the past or holding on to so much aggression that she is forced to let go. These balances of struggle hold true throughout the entire poem to highlight the subliminal metaphors equipped with items typically used to destroy rather than build, along with symbolism that alludes to fighting
In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “The Changeling”, the hardships of gender stereotypes are exposed. The contrast between a young girl’s imagination and the reality of her gender role is clear by her attempt to appease her parents. She is neither manly enough to gain the attention of her father nor womanly enough to attain the respect of her mother. Her dilemma of not being able to fit in is emphasized by Cofer’s use of imagery and repetition.
In order to change history, people must learn from their mistakes. Segregation in North America has been a big issue in North America that unfortunately still happens in the world today, however, it is not as bad as it once was. In the poem “History Lesson” by Natasha Trethewey, the author uses mood, symbolism and imagery to describe the racial segregation coloured people faced in the past compared to more recent times, where equality is improved and celebrated. The author uses language and setting to influence the mood and meaning of the poem.
“On the Subway,” written by Sharon Olds, is written from the perspective of what is presumed to be an upper class white woman, who finds herself on a subway with a lower class black boy. In “On the Subway”, Olds focuses on the controversial issue of racial conflict, and the theme of White v. Black. She does so by use of contrast between whites and blacks, by using harsh enjambments, powerful imagery, and by using the tone to convey the purpose. A major strategy used by Olds throughout the poem is contrast; in this case, the contrast between blacks and whites.
“Life doesn’t frighten me” is a priceless primer on poetry,that represents and raises the voices of children, that are mostly stoped silenced by those younger ones. The poet presents the poem in a personal manner to make the reader feel her and all the children that she speaks up for, because the speaker doesn’t want to be seen as weak anymore in representing the difficulties of the life and how they (children) can face or are facing it. The poem consists of eight stanzas, using rhymes in the whole poem. Maya is the writer and chose to write the poem in the first person, perhaps reflecting the hardship that she has been through in her childhood as an African American such as childhood rape, poverty, addiction, bereavement, and
