Lorena Ambriz
12/11/14
Within “On the Subway”, Sharon Olds portray the complicated relationship between African
Americans and Caucasians in an attempt to portray the reality of stereotypes. In the
commencement of the poem the author presents a typical stereotype of each race. “His feet are
huge in black sneakers…laced with white. Through his use of the characteristics of what
individuals believe to be a typical African American, Olds begins to evolve the symbolic gap
between African Americans and “Caucasians” that prevents harmony between the two; giving
the readers an insight on the scene as well as in our daily lives.
“Black sneakers laced with white in a complex pattern like a set of international scars” is
an analogy Olds utilize in order to establish the relationship that has been present between the
two races for over centuries. “The black sneakers laced with white” represents the ancestors of
African Americans that were laced (enslaved) by the “white” (“My Grandmother’s Coat) who
left them with emotional scars. Olds describes the “complex patterns” as “international scars” in
an attempt to emphasize what some believe to be discrimination in the society. This concept is
interwoven and developed throughout the poem. Including when Olds utilizes allusions in an
attempt to display the way in which African Americans and Caucasians are “stuck on opposite
sides”, he exploits the theory that the two characters are destined to be separated permanently
from each other.
As the poem begins to reach its climax, the author begins to shift his tone and approach in
order to fortify his connection with the readers. Where the first section was composed of finite
physical descriptions, separating the two races, the second portion takes a more philosophical
approach in order to indicate the woman’s apprehension. The section consisting of “I don’t
know if I am in his power… or if he is in my power” ratifies the uncertainty of the woman. The
statement is an essential portion of the Olds message because it illustrates that the buffers
between whites and blacks are not as they appear to be. The truth is that the woman begins to
grasp that the image of the stereotype created in the commencement of the poem is mistaken.
The author’s repetition of the word “life” is his way of stating that the connection between the
two characters had developed from what it once was. The woman is caught between the concept
of who hold the power and who usurps the power of the other.
By the time the woman is about to discover the message behind the boy’s and her
connection, she once again takes a shift in tone. Within this portion, the reader can clearly see the
woman attempting to gain an understanding between her relationships with the boy. At first she
interprets the differences they have as a consequence of color “he is black and I am white”. They
symbolic “black cotton “alludes to slavery that once again refers to the scars and distinctions that
have been enacted by the “white Society”. Nonetheless, the differences between the two
individuals stuck in the same space are adjusted in an attempt to bring peace. Olds continues use
of repetition acts as an emotional entity that reminds the woman, that like the boy she is human.
“This he could break so easily, the way I think his own black is being broken” is used to
emphasize the emotional and physical injuries that both races have caused. The message that
Sharon Olds are trying to portray through symbolic eyes of the woman and the boy is that
although the two races have caused each other pain that has created a buffer between the two of
them, they share a connection that’s is held together by their pain, aspirations, and by their
humanity.