In her poem, “On the Subway”, Sharon Olds attempts to lay bare the similarities si milarities and differences between the life of a Caucasian person and that of an African African American person by contrasting two people of this description through the poem. Olds uses uses a vast array of poetic devices, imagery and traditional racial stereotypes stereotypes to develop her insight insight into the connection connections, s, separations, separations, needs needs and wants of these these two societal societal entities. entities. The poem is written from the perspective of a white white person. I can assume assume that the white person here is actually the author herself. The poem tells a story about a black boy and a white man stuck inside a subway and their thoughts of each other, or more precisely, the white’ white’s point of view view of the black. black. The poem mostly mostly doesn’ doesn’t foll follow ow any any particu particular lar mete meterr or rhyme scheme, also its not divided into stanzas. Yet there are actually 3 sections in the poem. In the first section the author presents an exposition that contrasts a white person with with a black (lines 1-13). In the second, the speaker begins to develop the apparent disparities so that interrelationships emerge (lines 13-20). In the third, the narrator narrator gains insight insight into how this scene is representative of American American culture at large (lines 20-34). 20-34). The chosen chosen point of view and the setting setting is important important here. Olds could could of course choose the black boy ’s perspective for her poem but instead, she put herself in the setting and evaluated her very own thoughts. Perhaps the white was the dominating color here, as always, black were the the suppressed ones. In the the setting, they both are facing each other. other. But they are described as being “stuck on opposite sides ” of the subway car; subway car; they are separated permanently from each other other (lines 4-5). Olds uses her first metaphor for the poem saying r od of light rapidly moving through darkness ”. “a couple of molecules stuck in a rod ”. The image of the subway car is beautifully reflected in this metaphor. The chosen word ‘stuck ’ the actual settingsetting- the subway subway car, and special specially ly the metaphor, metaphor, they they all all are symbol symbolic; ic; they they reflect reflect the broader reality as we can think both black and white are on the same journey of life, the share the the same place, place, the the same roof, roof, the the same way way of life life and yet they they are stuck stuck on the opposite sides, for an unknown reason perhaps, divide d by lines created by themselves. Sharon Olds utilizes a lot of imagery in the poem, most vividly dark and light as well as animal imagery imagery to contrast her her two characters. characters. The imagery imagery Olds uses in the first section section emphasizes the difference between the white woman who is the narrator and the observer and the black boy, who is the observed, as they ride the subway. With subway. With the two lines “in black sneakers laced with white ” and “I am wearing dark fur ”, ”, Olds shows that each of them, although they have different skin pigments, contain aspects of dark and light. This is very significant, as it reinforces the fact fact that race is merely skin color, color, and that underneath all of
this we are all the same. The speaker describes the white zigzag s as “intentional scars” (line 4). The scars allude to the discrimination against the black man by white society. The adjectives “intentional” denotes that whites purposely harm blacks. The image contrasts whites with blacks: whites are powerful; blacks are subservient. Maybe it is also a reference to the beatings and whippings that blacks were subjected to during slavery and in the Jim Crow south. But, Olds takes it further than this, showing aspects of dark and light in what they’re wearing on the outside. The description of the clothing is a third contrasting element. Here, the black man is “exposed,” while the speaker is covered in fur (line 11). Olds insinuates through this comparison that not only are we the same on the inside, but each of us strives for a small aspect of the other world. The ‘black fur’ is symbolic of the way in which whites have historically tried to profit from black labor during slavery and even after slavery ended. The boy’s white laces and the speaker’s fur coat represent the struggle for equilibrium between these aspects. Olds uses a lot of animal imagery as well, to describe her two characters, and to dig down and show the primitive nature and similarities of the two people. The lines “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 ” shows that the boy represents the inside of an animal, and the speaker represents the outside. This is used by Olds to enforce the idea that each character is only part of the puzzle. Without skin, an animal would die, but without insides, an animal would never live. Aside from the various connections established by Olds between the boy and the speaker, she utilizes a lot of racial stereotypes to show the distance between the characters that exists despite the close ties and connection that they share. Lines such as “ he has the casual look of a mugger ” and “He could take my coat so easily ” develop the psyche of the speaker and her instant fear of the boy due to the color of his skin. This helps to develop the theme of the ridiculousness of racism. This is especially important to look at, because of Sharon Olds being an American poet. American society is one of many races and nationalities, but a rift has always existed between the African American and Caucasian populations, dating back to slavery. For American society to flourish, black and white people must become as one, as each can gain or lose from the other. The second section of the poem sees a shift in tone. Where the first section is composed of finite physical descriptions, the second is more philosophical and indicates the speaker’s apprehension. She is uncertain and writes that “I don’t/know if I am in his power…or if he is in my power ” (lines 14- 15, 18). Such a statement is important because it illustrates that the boundaries between whites and blacks are not as clear-cut as they may seem. Perhaps the speaker begins to realize that the image of the subservient black and the
powerful white presented in the first section of the poem is incorrect. The repetition of the word “Life” is another way the interconnection between the two characters is developed. The narrator cannot decide whether her wealth usurps the power of the black man or whether his potential aggression usurps her power (lines 17, 19). She admits that he may be looking at her in such a way that would lead him to believe that she "is taking the food from his mouth.” The first racial identification also comes in the second section as she says “and he is black and I am white.” Placing this acknowledgement at the middle of the poem is significant. Form the beginning of the poem, there is no mention of direct racial influence, so the tension arises in the readers mind about what is going on and why there are so much differences and what is it that frightens the speaker . After actually describing the boy ’s image and conditions, she finally tells it and the line follows- “… and without meaning or trying to, I must from the darkness …”. Like the white always profited from the black, enslaved them even though it was meaningless, and now it has become a discourse. The speaker recognizes that the color of her skin makes his life very easy; this mirrors that fact that the color of the boys skin makes his life very hard. The acknowledging line also indicates towards the final tone shift of the poem. The tone, again, shifts in the third segment. Here, it is clear that the speaker is trying to gain an understanding of the relationship between the white world and that of the black boy. Olds writes that the black man "absorbs the murderous beams of the nation’s head, as black cotton absorbs the heat of the sun and holds it." The use of "cotton" is apropos here, as many black slaves picked cotton, and many black people were employed as sharecroppers picking cotton after slavery ended. In a larger sense, black people had to absorb the anger and heat of white Americans over the centuries. Yet, at the end of this section, the differences between the two people are strangely reconciled. This is accomplished using the technique of repetition. Instead of repeating a word as in the second section, an image is repeated. Lines 29-31 state that the black man could hurt the white woman; he could “ break her across his knee the way his own back is being broken .” In other words, both whites and blacks can hurt; both races can be injured by either repression or aggression, and so they are connected through their pain and unrealized dreams. In conclusion, based on a formalist analysis, it is quite clear that the poem provides a historical point-of-view is regards to how Whites have, and still continue to, regard African Americans. It is about the long-standing unequal power dynamic between black and white people in the United States. White people have privileges simply because of their skin, and they have historically profited from the labor of black people. Just as the parts of an animal, African American and Caucasian people in American society must function together in order for the body of society to function properly.
