On The Subway Summary

In On the Subway, by Sharon Olds, the narrator describes two different people, one being himself and the other, an individual in the same train car.
The narrator describes herself as someone that resembles purity. Ideal and rich. She describes herself as wearing fur and being white, a color associated with peace and purity . She claims that she is living off of his existence, “eating the steak he does not eat,” which indicates a symbol of wealth or living in the lifestyle of the upper class.
The narrator describes the man on the other side of the train car with symbols of evil or cynical characteristics. She describes him with “the casual look of a mugger” and describes him with black sneakers and wearing red. The man seems to be average, which
would cause fear in the likes of someone in a higher class. The narrator also describes the man as having the ability to take things from her, a trait. She says that the man in the train car is black, a color associated with evil and darkness. The imagery and diction is organized in a way that the reader can clearly identify the contrasting character portraits. The two were even simplified as black and white. Through diction used in the poem , one can also infer that the two can also be contrasted as rich and poor, as one is wearing fur and the other, a “mugger.”