“On the Subway” In “On the Subway,” Sharon Olds illustrates the differences of two individuals which contrast in a single characteristic. The narrator’s thoughts give more in depth understanding to how he feels about the boy on the other side of the subway car. Sharon Olds conveys the views of society about black and white people. Consequently, the reader can understand that even though everyone is supposed to be equal at the time, it can be seen that there is a vast space in between. At the beginning of the poem, the only thing the narrator describes is the other boy and the setting which is a subway car. However, the poem develops quickly after the first seven lines since the narrator establishes a stereotype of African Americans being
Juxtaposition is used to put two characters side by side and depict the similarities and the differences of them. Within the novel, Ethan Frome, Zeena and Mattie were two contextual characters whose individuality stood out. By studying Zeena’s and Mattie’s attitudes towards life, their roles as women in the late 19th century, their age, appearance, and their treatment of Ethan and each other throughout the novel, the reader can more deeply comprehend not only the similarities and differences of these two characters, but the function their differences serve as well. A person’s attitude towards life determines how successful they will be in life.
Olds works with likenesses in the selection to balance the general population with white and dark skin shading; furthermore, the most clear one is in line 24 and 25, "...he retains the lethal light emissions country's heart, as dark cotton ingests the warmth of the sun and holds it." The storyteller realizes that African American like the young man typically wind up noticeably uncovered and are harmed as, "He is wearing red, similar to within the body uncovered." Even however she trusts her kin have ended their lives, she recognizes that he can end her life and "break over his knee like a stick" effortlessly. The lady realizes that the kid's spirit during childbirth "...was dim and liquid and rich as the heart of a seedling" prepared to experience life. Indeed, even
Sharon Olds utilizes figurative language throughout the poem, Rite of passage including hyperbole, similes, and alliteration. When olds introduces the characters as “short men, men in first grade” it is to hyperbole which highlights the fact that the young boys consider themselves to be very mature. Olds continues the poem by using alliteration when with the phrase “jostling, jockeying” which sounds nice and helps make the poem flow. In order to enhance the reader’s visualization of the story olds employs a simile. See writes that the son has “freckles like specks of nutmeg on his cheeks”. The freckles simile also allows the reader to see that the mom still views her son as an innocent boy. Sharon Olds puts in another simile about how they
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad was written by Ann Petry. It was published by Thomas Y. Crowell in 1955. The book has 242 pages. This book tells about Harriet 's life as a young slave and how she escaped slavery. She led many other slaves to freedom in the North throughout her life.
The narrator and Henri are inmates Auschwitz who have the task of unloading rail cars filled with people and all of their belongings. As we relive the experiences, we will compare and contrast each of their perceptions as these events unfold.
Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye are two novels in which characters reflect on their attitudes and experiences as a source of emotional growth and maturity. Salinger and Toews show the importance of this reflection through the evolution of their characters’ – Holden Caulfield and Nomi Nickel – similar attitudes towards their schools, communities, and lives. Though Nomi and Holden both do poorly in school for various reasons, Nomi overcomes her obstacles by working to identify the source of them. Both characters also resent their communities because of the hypocrisy found within them. However, Nomi manages to find good within the East Village through self-reflection, while Holden completely
Sharon Olds' poem "The Race" is adequately named for it is a race against time that the speaker undertakes in order to see her father one last time while he still lives. In order to convey the meaning of despair in the poem, Sharon Olds creates drastic shifts in both the tone and theme of the poem in order to more profoundly convey the speaker's experience to the reader. To achieve such shifts, Olds utilizes both metaphors and imagery to better illustrate each tone and theme. To begin, the first and greater half of the poem depicts a rushed tone and emphasizes on a theme of persistence.
The story is seen through the innocent eyes of a 13 year old boy called Charlie Bucktin. The first person central point of view helps us to understand Charlie, to identify with him and his attitudes and values and for reader positioning. Silvey uses language
This story begins to drive the sense of emotion with the very surroundings in which it takes place. The author starts the story by setting the scene with describing an apartment as poor, urban, and gloomy. With that description alone, readers can begin to feel pity for the family’s misfortune. After the apartments sad portrayal is displayed, the author intrigues the reader even further by explaining the family’s living arrangements. For example, the author states “It was their third apartment since the start of the war; they had
We hear of her moving to New York to escape her life as a child bride after being orphaned at a young age. This story allows the audience to gain a sense of sympathy for Holly, and enhances the pathos of the story. This pathos puts the audience into the shoes of Holly and enables them to understand the reasoning behind her escape. The use of language features like pathos and literary allusion allow the authors of both texts to convey the theme of escapism.
The settings are important in a story because they tell where and when the story takes place. A reader should always focus on the setting, so he will not get lost in the story. In Doris Lessing’s “Through the Tunnel,” the story focuses on a boy named Jerry trying to accomplish something very difficult while his mother wants him to stay safe. He sees some boys swimming through a challenging tunnel and he tries to go through the tunnel to impress them in order to become friends with them. The setting in “Through the Tunnel” has an impact on the characters, the plot, and the symbols.
Riding the subway to a New York City resident is nothing new. It’s something that many of us New Yorkers have to use as transportation because living in a crowded city with limited space to drive is not very ideal. For the people who do drive, they do so for personal comfort and convenience. But for us commuters, having to not look for parking and worry about traffic takes up less of our time. On the other hand we experience train delays and disturbances in personal space. Nonetheless, the pros outweigh the cons and using the subway has become a part of our daily routines for many of us New Yorkers. Marc Auge states that, “If he draws himself into the field of his ethnological inquiry, it is no less fitting for his readers to broaden the scope of appreciation of the work for riders.” With that in mind, I observed the connections with my experience riding the subway in a city integrated with many different peoples and cultures.
The author in this poem shows us two different point of views coming together. Both poems have been written to demonstrate us the differences and the similarities. Sharon shows us how both world are in reference to one another but at a final time they come together. At the beginning of the poem, the two boys are from different races and are on the opposite side of a car. That symbolizes the separation among races and color. The simile in this poem is being used to describe the little boys apparel, for example, “ black sneakers with complex pattern make a self of invented scars”. Then the color he talks about “red” shows the color inside, which refers to being something very dangerous. However, the poem has a change in mood at first it had
The short stories, “Turned”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Good Corn”, by H.E Bates provide strong examples of how the representation of characters influence’s the reader’s perception of a text. Both stories depict similar characters: a middle-aged, childless wife, her husband and an 18-year old girl who works for them. They are both about a similar situation: man cheats on wife with girl and girl falls pregnant. However, the author’s of the text are from very different backgrounds and this is reflected in their stories. Although there are many similarities between “The Good Corn” and “Turned”, the values reflected in these stories, their resolutions and the reader’s perception of them are vastly different due to the contexts of
Collectively, these literary images go to describe a young ethnic man, probably of Latin descent, who lives with his mother in a poverty stricken area. The careful recitation of instruction given to the younger man seems to demonstrate an intricate knowledge the narrators has accrued from both predecessors and experience. Singularly, this part of the story is very powerful in that it shows a young man having to hide who he is and where he comes from in an effort to seem appealing to women, and speaks volumes about the deception that both genders go through all in name of the chase.