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Summary Of On The Subway By Sharon Olds

757 Words4 Pages

In Sharon Olds poem, “On the Subway”, the author attempts to investigate the intricate and difficult relationship between blacks and whites. The author seeks to accomplish this by juxtaposing two people on on the same subway car coming from two opposite sides of the social hierarchy: the audience views a deprived black boy through the eyes of a prosperous white woman. The woman trembles with the thought of being jumped by the intimidating boy with “the casual look of a mugger” (8). Olds employs the use of tone, similes, and juxtaposition to examine the complicated connection between blacks and whites and seeks to identify the cause of tension between the two peoples. The author juxtaposes the two different passengers by contrasting of the black …show more content…

The boy gives her the impression that he knows she gains from his struggle, “I don’t know if I am in his power…or if he’s in my power” (14-18). The woman possibly begins to question the idea that the boy is actually living in a subservient white world and wonders who actually has the power now as they sit face to face in person. The woman may be at the top of the social pyramid but is now held at the mercy of this boy who sits across from her. This portrays that there are undistinguished lines between black and whites and leads the woman to doubt if her fortune and social position can defeat the boy’s hostility towards her. As the tone shifts a third time, the speaker realizes that the she and the boy are different because of the color of their skin which has left him afflicted by a white society and is ultimately at a disadvantage. The speaker clearly tries to grasp how the black boy relates to this white world. The woman then contemplates “how easy this white skin makes my life, this life he could take so easily and break across his knee like a stick the way his own back is being broken” (28-31) juxtaposing that both the passengers are human and can feel pain whether it be social subjugation or physical violence. In this sense their differences are ultimately resolved and brings closure to the

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